Lauren Ruvo Carroll of Santa Monica on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We recently had the chance to connect with Lauren Ruvo Carroll and have shared our conversation below.

Good morning Lauren, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Without a shadow of doubt, integrity. Intelligence and energy are certainly important, however, integrity is not something you can teach. A person either is or isn’t living with integrity and in today’s world, integrity matters. I think integrity is important in both personal and professional relationships because it builds trust and there isn’t a single relationship I can think of where trust isn’t the foundation of a solid relationship. The majority of my coaching clients are highly intelligent individuals who hold themselves to high standards and are unwilling to settle for less. Oftentimes they come to me because something has happened at work that is misaligned with their value system and they know they need to make a change but don’t know what that change is. At this point in my career I can tell whether I’ll work well with a client or not based on how they show up in that initial meeting and what I’m looking for is whether the potential client lives a life of integrity or not.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Lauren! I’ve held a variety of roles throughout my career but the most important one to date is being called “mom” by two little boys. In addition to raising my sons I have a career coaching business where I help busy professionals figure out the next step in their career. I am also SO excited to share that I’ve been working on a new endeavor that’s near and dear to my heart. Prior to switching to career coaching, I used to work in the sexual misconduct world where I handled student-on-student cases at a university as well as writing policy. My new endeavor is a mix of all my past work, where I’ll be able to work as a Survivor Advocate and offer direct-to-survivor resources, support, and options. I’ve been working to build relationships in the community to be able to build a list of supportive connections to refer survivors too and given my legal background and training, I have the experience and expertise to walk survivors through various options available to them. Ampersands Advisory Resources is a partnership with Alissa Ackerman and I can’t wait to share more as we get our feet off the ground!

Okay, so here’s a deep one: What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
Oh I love this question! Humans are complex and at any given time have a million and one things on our minds. Oftentimes bonds break because of a breakdown in communication. For example, if I’m having a bad day and respond to a text with an unenthusiastic “ok” people who know me and my communication style will likely think something is wrong even if it’s not. I might be busy with my kids and just wanting to fire off a quick response. Similarly, in more heated conversations, things are said that are often either not meant or misconstrued and even without meaning to cause harm, the words we choose in these moments can. In the same vein, what restores these relationships is communication. In the silly text example, a friend texting and asking if I’m ok allows me to explain I was busy but wanted to respond. In bigger moments, checking in with other people and letting them know how their words or actions made you feel gives the other person a chance to explain what was going on when they said or did whatever they did. So often what was said or done was taken out of context and by checking in with those we care about and giving them a chance to respond allows everyone to pause, talk, and reconnect.

What’s something you changed your mind about after failing hard?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned from “failure” is that failure is often redirection. What’s meant for you, you will not fail at. Maybe you’ll stumble, but you will not outright fail.

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
I try to live a life that’s very intentional, meaning whatever I’m doing in my personal life is what I reflect out in public. I think there are very few times where I’m not authentically myself and usually these situations show up for me when I’m with new people who I’m learning about for the first time but as I get to know them my guard comes down and I become my authentic self pretty quickly.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What will you regret not doing? 
The only things I will ever regret not doing are things I choose to do out of fear of other’s opinions. As I said previously, I strive to live a life that is truly aligned with who I am and when I make decisions I do so based on those values. How can you regret decisions based on that?!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.laurenruvo.com
• Instagram: @laurenruvo
• Other: Ampersands Advocacy Resources website forthcoming!

Image Credits
Veronica Crawford