Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Victoria Reyes Lim.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lauren. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am a second-generation Filipino-American that was born in east Los Angeles and grew up in northern New Jersey.
My love for the arts started when I was a child, and it started with my maternal grandfather. He was an artist with natural-born talent who loved to paint, and I always remembered walking into his dimly-lit studio full of his work, with his easel and his canvas all setup. My mother’s side is naturally very artistic — they are a generation of musicians and artists, and growing up with them allowed for me to be immersed and surrounded by all forms of art for most of my life. I loved it so much, that I taught myself how to draw when I was 8 years old by copying photographs and animation cells. It started to manifest more so, when I won 1st place in a national art competition in grade school. After this, my parents nurtured my talent further, and enrolled me in painting classes and after-school art clubs where I could sketch and paint for hours with great mentors and other students alike. My father also helped set up my own little studio in our house – he bought an easel and supplies for me, so that I could continue painting and drawing at home. I was so absorbed in every medium of art, that by the time it came for college, I knew that I wanted to apply and attend art school in New York City, a city I dreamed of living in since I was a little girl.
I’ve always known that I wanted a profession in the arts, and so I made the decision to pick a career path that could combine my creativity and talent with something that was a bit technical, still colorful, and also a necessity for peoples’ lives. I decided to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology and was accepted into their accredited Interior Design program in 2006. For 4 years, it was a lot of studios, classes, and different type of design projects; but, I felt like ‘design’ did not really “click” for me until I started interning in my sophomore year. I wanted to gain experience so badly, that I decided to intern and work at various design showrooms, architectural firms, and eventually a famous interior design firm in my senior year (some of these were unpaid, some paid. I was very hungry for experience and knowledge back then!).
When I graduated with my Bachelors of Fine Arts in 2010, we were just coming out of the recession. I applied to every design firm accepting new graduates and was relentless to land a job; but, I was eventually found first by a huge branding agency in midtown. This led to the start of my career path of varying positions in different firms, eventually growing fast into senior and managerial roles in my early 20s. However, after living and working in New York for close to a decade, I decided to move to Los Angeles on a whim in 2014. I accepted an offer as a Senior Designer for Kelly Wearstler and worked with her and her team for three years until I decided to make another leap — and that was to start my own business, LVR Studios.
My then boyfriend (now husband, Edgar) was the one who pushed me into this direction and completely supported this idea. I officially opened my business in late 2016 but started working full-time on it in the fall of 2017, when I began my first high-end residential project in Hancock Park.
Today, it has been almost 4 years since I started my business and I have not looked back. Being an entrepreneur is definitely challenging, but very, very rewarding. It is what most people will say: you really need the passion and the resilience when it comes to starting and running a business. Starting it is easy, but maintaining it, growing, and being adaptable is the real challenge. I am thoroughly enjoying this journey and know that things just do not happen overnight. My business is very much still in its infant stages!
Has it been a smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. I was raised in a traditional household, so the norm was to always have a “stable job with benefits”. There are a lot of voices around you that raise concerns, but the best thing to do is to push forward and to go with your gut. You do not realize how resourceful and hungrier you become, especially when you are on your own. And no matter what the challenge, you will somehow always make it work.
I was pragmatic early on to have a good CPA and a good lawyer after a year in business, but not many starting entrepreneurs usually have this on their startup to-do list. Especially as a solopreneur, you rely a lot on your own instincts and the knowledge of the very few who have been paving this path ahead or alongside of you. A lot of my business relies on reputation, contracts, and referrals. Interior Design is a service-based business, so my goal for every project is to make sure my clients are 100% happy during the process, and especially after.
I always want my clients to love their space at the end of the day, and for years to come — and that usually means having to manage everyone’s expectations through-and-through. There are so many levels and people involved when it comes to making a great house, a restaurant, or hotel happen properly. A really great contract and management from the beginning-to-end is very important, otherwise things can easily go astray and can result in my business or my client wasting thousands of dollars or time. However, no matter how prepared you are, hiccups and mistakes will still naturally happen during the course of any project. It’s how you can react to it, and the solutions and options that can be provided to the client that make you a better business.
Work and life balance is also a struggle. I have been progressively getting better at it, but it took me a while to gain my footing. For some reason, entrepreneurship equals a hustler-mentality, meaning you have to be “on” 24/7. After realizing how toxic this was (for me), I slowly started to dial back and began placing boundaries on my work. It is so easy to become consumed by something – and sometimes rightfully so. After all, the company is your baby. But I cannot be my best and service my clients properly if I’m not taking care of myself and my mental health properly either. Boundaries are very important, and so I make sure my e-mail and work apps are turned off after 6:00 PM until 9:00 AM the next day.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with LVR Studios – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
LVR Studios is a full-service Interior Design company. That means that we take your project at its earliest stages, interview our clients to immerse ourselves in their vision, and transcribe those ideas into functional and timeless interior design, all the way through construction and installation.
I’ve worked in most niches of the industry, from Fortune 500 companies, to hotels and restaurants, to retail and residential. But I would say that I specialize mostly in high-end residential and boutique commercial projects as of recent.
At varying times during the years, I usually work with a lot of independent contractors, but at this time, it is me and my intern. I am the owner, the CEO, Principal Designer, Creative Director, and a Project Manager — being a solopreneur means wearing many hats and working through varying problems and solutions.
What I am most proud of is the amount of projects that have been finished or is still in progress, within this short period of time. To date, we have worked on close to 20 projects in just 4 years. Sometimes I am nervous that the phone will stop ringing one day, but our workflow has been steady, and for that I am immensely grateful. Most recently I just finished the design and build for a growing matcha brand called Junbi in Westwood Village, in which it will now be a part of a bigger franchise production nationwide.
What sets me apart from others I think would be a number of things. There are a lot of Interior Designers out there, but many who have not gone to school or received formal training. I can’t stress how much this sets us apart from the ones who have gone to school and put in this time. There is a vast amount of knowledge that you can only can gain by going to school or working in a design firm that will teach you what you need to know. Everything else after that is talent and a good eye.
My business is also a woman and minority-owned company. I completely bootstrapped and started this on my own, with little-to-no outside resources, and this I am also very proud of.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I’ve always loved Los Angeles’ laid back atmosphere and the FOOD! This city is a melting pot of delicious food that is so very accessible in every corner. I also love that everyone here puts more of an emphasis on their physical and mental well being — it was great to move here after grinding for so many years in New York. It gives me a chance to slow down and take care of myself properly. The weather is also a great plus.
What I least like about Los Angeles would be the traffic and the commute. A lot of my clients are based in different parts of the city, so I commute for about 2-3 hours in traffic from DTLA almost every day. While I wish that public transportation and walking place-to-place was more of a thing here, commuting does become routine after a while … something that a good playlist or a podcast could not easily fix!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lvr-studios.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/lvrstudios, www.instagram.com/lauren.victoria.reyes
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/lvrstudios
Image Credit:
Valory Evalyn Photography, Matt Wier, Teddy Nguyen, LVR Studios
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