Storytelling. Video production. Filmmaking. Three areas of visual media that have captivated Lauren Fitzmaurice since a young age, and ones that have deeply inspired her approach to the world of content creation. It was during her time at Syracuse University though—where she not only played Division I basketball but also interned for Cuse Media making videos in the Sports & Media Department—that Lauren confirmed her desire to pursue a professional career in the industry. Driven by her passion for video and film, she founded her media production company "Opulent Productions" during her time in college and began to hone in on the craft. She was on a mission. It wasn't all smooth sailing though. After encountering a sudden end to her internship with Cuse Media due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lauren was at a crossroads. What's the next step in her career? How could she break into the industry? Is there a place that would bring her closer to her dreams of producing and directing? All questions that ran through Lauren's mind and ultimately propelled her to move to Los Angeles. A decision that, as she recalls, was a "leap of faith" and a chance to "go all in" on her passion for media production. Little did she know, but this decision would lead her to an array of unimaginable opportunities in the years to come. Lauren began her journey in LA capturing photos and editing videos for an NFL trainer before being encouraged by a friend to dive into the world of YouTube. The rest is history!
After deciding to put all of her effort into building her channel, Lauren began growing her personal brand in the industry. She hasn't looked back since. With over 1.6 million followers across her social media channels, Lauren has become one of the world's top athlete creators and collaborated with a variety of brands and organizations in the space—including Adidas, Gatorade, the NBA, and the NFL. Along with this, she has also expanded Opulent Productions further and helped other individuals bring their visions in content creation to life. Truly inspiring!
Let's start with your journey early on! You played Division I collegiate basketball at Syracuse University. Could you tell us a little bit more about your time there as a student-athlete and some key takeaways that you took from your experience there?
Being a student-athlete definitely taught me a lot of what I know now about discipline, running a business, time management, hard work, and all of that. It's really, really hard to be a student-athlete but I wouldn't change that experience for anything.
You mentioned that you were passionate about the world of digital media, editing, and video production from a young age but really dove into that space during your time at Syracuse. When did you discover that this would be the career avenue you were interested in pursuing after basketball?
It's funny because, growing up, this was always my side hobby. Since fifth grade, I had asked for an editing software for Christmas when I was ten (years old). I was making little edits of me playing soccer in the backyard. As soon as we had the video production (program) in high school, I took all four years of that. I was taking these little projects and making them so dramatic for no reason (*laughs*). (For example), if we had a couple weeks to finish something basic that everyone was just filming at school, I would take it to the next level and have multiple days of filming. We were up filming on this like lookout on the mountain, and I would make these really complex plots because I wanted to. It was something that I was naturally pretty good at and people would always tell me that I should go into it. In my eyes, I was always thinking that that wasn't a very traditional degree or career path and I should go for something more concrete. I feel like—as most people find their passion or their career path—as soon as I got to college, everything just kept pushing me towards media. I had the opportunity to work with Cuse Media and then that definitely started to shape for me the vision of what I could be doing with media. I didn't know exactly where I wanted to go from there, but once I started to work with Cuse Media, I realized that I could get experience there and that that experience was more valuable than a degree in something. So I started getting into that, and then I decided that I wanted to be in LA because I wanted to work in the film industry and be a director.
How was that transition from college into the world of production and content creation like for you?
I was so devastated when my internship ended because I was hanging on to that as my connection to working and getting that experience in the industry. When it ended, I was like: “I graduate in a year-and-a-half.” I didn't really know how else I would get that experience, but it presented me with a great opportunity to make something happen for myself. That’s when I started my media production company. I was able to start it in Atlanta because I was down there training. Everything was shut down during COVID, but Atlanta happened to be one of the places that was kind of open. It's really good for starting a small business (as well). Everywhere I went with my business, everyone was helping me and everyone was always recommending me—trainers, clients, and other people that I could work with. It grew pretty quickly. Then, when graduation came around at Syracuse, I didn't realize how much interest I would get. I took so many people’s pictures. I earned enough that I knew I had the option of either going home after graduating—and then just figuring it out from there—or going straight to LA. My thinking was that if I could figure it out in Syracuse and figure it out in Atlanta, that I would just make it work in LA and find clientele. LA was definitely a little harder (*laughs*), but I think that being in a really tough position really helped. Pressure makes diamonds. LA is not an easy place to make it and there were definitely a lot of make or break (moments) in that first month that I was here. I sacrificed pretty much everything to be here, so I kind of put everything into what I was doing and it really paid off.
As you reflect back on that journey early on in LA, what were some of those challenges that you encountered and how did you work to overcome them?