Laurel shares her journey of being thrust into running her father's Bassett Furniture franchise business at 26 when he was diagnosed with stage four cancer.
She details the emotional and professional challenges of managing and eventually selling the over-leveraged business back to corporate, which financially devastated her family.
After overcoming these hardships, Lauren launched her own successful marketing firm, Elevate, which she later transitioned to an ESOP for her employees. She also discusses the inception of Fabric VC, a venture fund supporting women and BIPOC founders, highlighting its unique marketing-driven approach to investment.
2:20 Laurel’s Unexpected Takeover of the Company
3:40 Facing Day-One Challenges as a Young Leader
6:53 Mastering the Art of “Fake It Till You Make It”
8:25 Navigating the Realities of an Overleveraged Company
9:12 How She Successfully Restructured the Company’s Debt
11:20 Negotiating the Sale Back to the Corporate Parent
13:37 Reinventing Her Career From the Ground Up
14:54 Launching Elevate, Her Own Marketing Agency
16:18 Making the Leap Into Venture Capital
18:24 Uncovering a Surprisingly Diverse Business Model
20:00 Understanding the Transformative Power of Venture
21:36 Building a Truly Differentiated Venture Fund
22:48 The Pros and Cons of ESOPs Explained
25:02 The Latest Progress on Raising Fabric VC
