Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Gimbert.
Laura, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I came to Los Angeles 10 years ago from Barcelona, Spain. I was 21 and had just graduated in PR & Advertising by the University Of Barcelona. I came to continue my studies in Marketing at UCLA. While I was a student, I started doing internships, back to back, learning directly from the working field, hands-on, in different industries that I was passionate about.
Slowly, I learned how competitive this city is and how hard you have to work to make it. I also learned what I liked and what I did not like. What my working strengths and weaknesses were. And, who I wanted to work with and who I didn’t.
All of those internships gave me more knowledge than my 6 University years combined. I finally got a few freelancing jobs (first clients were past internship companies) and decided to freelance during my OPT year (the year of work permit they give you inside the student visa after you graduate) instead of being employed for one company full time.
Once the OPT year came to an end, my freelance clients wanted to continue hiring my services but, so I decided to risk it and go after the E1 business visa and keep them as my first clients in the business. It took me 12 months to finally get that visa approved! It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, so much money and time went into it, and I had to do so much to get it: several employees, an office, more than the clients I originally had, a lawyer, the list goes on. Not to mention the cost of surviving in LA!
Anyhow, after I got my business visa approved it was time to get to work, and I have not stopped since. My Digital Marketing business is 8 now and more successful than ever. I focus on clients within the wellness, hospitality and lifestyle industries offering services including PR, influencer reach, social media, events, web development and more.
I am loving every minute of it and glad I never gave up. Love all my clients and seeing it grow! My business and my 20-month-old daughter are my LA babies!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course not. The road was SO hard. It was one challenge after another. To me, being from outside the country, getting my business visa was the roughest thing. Because it did not allow me to grow organically, taking on clients slowly, it forced me to go from 0 to 100 real quick, since it required me to have X amount of clients and income in only one year. It also made me hire employees and a big office the 1st year of a service business. Which I would never have done. I had to spend more money in my office than rent, and my employees were making much more than I was. It was a rough situation to go through but, that also forced me to work even harder, quicker.
My advice is to follow your dreams, to not listen to what anyone has to say because they will tell you you can’t more than you can. Only you know what you are capable of and only your voice matters. Believing in myself and knowing that I could was what pushed me forward, daily, with no doubts. If I had listened to others, I would not have tried, and I would not be here today.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of. What sets you apart from others?
My business is in Digital Marketing, which includes PR/online media, influencer collaborations, events, social media management, content creation, branding, re-branding, digital strategies, web development and more.
I started focusing on the hospitality industry and now I do that as well as wellness & lifestyle. I love the fields I work in which helps me develop better strategies, branding, and content. I am very hands-on, committed and understand my clients needs to be able to deliver a very unique strategy and look for each one of them.
What makes me stand out from the other agencies is my experience. I am young but have been doing this for 8 years in LA, other agencies that have this much experience are big agencies that: a) charge an arm and a leg because they have a huge infrastructure cost to cover, and b) delegate everything to their team members – with less experience – their directors are never so hands-on. And the other boutique agencies like mine, are typically much newer. They may be great at what they do and hands-on too, but experience is EVERYTHING since the number one way of learning is by offering the exact services in the exact field of expertise. Live and learn.
Who have you been inspired by?
Honestly, I never had a role model that I was inspired by specifically. But I always knew that women are powerful in every way. I am a mom, business owner, run my household, plan our family trips, I literally do it all. And because we tend to hear “you won’t be able to” more than anything, I started my IG page five years ago @prbossbabe to share my journey while I lived through challenges and showing other women how I overcame them. It started business-journey focused and now it evolved to balancing motherhood, business, and traveling the world. How I do it all with a positive mindset, dedication, and hard work.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lauragimbert.com and www.mombosslife.co
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @prbossbabe
Image Credit:
Laura Gimbert
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