livin' the dream

Starting a business isn't easy. Doing what you enjoy is easy, but actually making a living from it is where it gets tricky. I think very few people have unlocked the secret to making this work while keeping a reasonable work-life balance. We've made a lot of progress here at 3A, but we still have a way to go. 

Being where we've been, it always gives me a dose of joy and inspiration to see someone else taking the leap. Especially when it's someone I personally know!

Friends, meet Lauren:

She's making it happen, y'all. Last week she launched her website, the Department of Agra Culture. When I saw it, my first thought was this is SO her!

Lauren and I met in college in our grueling interior design program and became friends (as most of us did as a result of spending the majority of our waking hours together in studio). Growing to know her, I can say three things about her:

1. She is kind-hearted and hard-working.

2. She has a traveling spirit and a love for new places.

3. She has a true knack for collecting treasures in looked-over places and putting them together in a beautiful way.

The "thrift store" method of decorating and design has caught on like wildfire: going to the nearest salvation army, finding an old discarded piece of furniture, painting it, and displaying it as a treasured object. But this method has it's flaws: either people don't really know what they're looking for (i.e., honey, you should have left that at the thrift store), or their house starts to look like a thrift store. Lauren takes it up a notch, knowing how to take something overlooked--whether it be new or old, local or from across the globe--and putting it together like something out of a magazine. And she's been doing it as long as I've known her. Even having my own talents, I've always been envious of hers. It's beyond local shops--it's into lands unknown; it's a unique gift she carries.

Her new business takes all of that and rolls it all into one unique career perfectly made for her. 

Follow her as she travels all over the world (literally), collecting things to repurpose, create, and share. Personally, I love her style. It's bold, it's bright, it's cheerful, and it doesn't follow any trend. 

Lovers of neutrals, I challenge you to open your eyes to culture and color. Lauren will make you love it!

Happy reading!