S12 E32: Delaware State of the Arts - Loren LoRosa Live at The Mill Summit

Get ready to make your entrance into the entertainment world with Loren LoRosa. She's a powerhouse in pop culture, news, and entertainment, and she's got a tale or two to share about her transition from TMZ to founding her own production company, Brown Girl Grinding. As a first-generation college student hailing from the inner city, Loren will provide you with an abundance of invaluable insights into how her upbringing fueled her journey to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Settle in as we journey through Loren's enchanting world, filled with high-stakes interviews and Bronco grinding meetups. Discover her secret to staying connected in the energetic entertainment, fashion, and social media industries. Loren opens up about the unexpected twists on her career path and the critical role her support network of family and friends has played in her success. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or just love a good success story, Loren's experiences are bound to inspire.

Our enlightening conversation doesn't stop there. Loren brings fresh perspective on what success really means, emphasizing the importance of happiness and lifting others up. We'll tackle the challenging aspects of creative industries, such as financing projects and relationship building. We wrap up our chat with an engaging discussion about Loren's work with the Delaware State of the Arts Podcast. Don't miss out as Loren shares her commitment to guiding future entrepreneurs. Every story, every insight is a step closer to your own success story.

The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Learn more at Arts.Delaware.Gov.

Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Division of the Arts, in partnership with NEWSRADIO 1450 WILM and 1410 WDOV.

Transcript

Andy Truscott: 0:12

For Delaware State of the Arts. I'm Andy Truscott. Today, our guest for this exclusive two-part interview, live from the Mills Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, Loren LoRosa. Born and raised in Wilmington, Loren, studied marketing at the Delaware State University. She got her start under industry influencer Angela Simmons for Angela IMTV and has contributed as a host and red carpet correspondent for the Electronic Urban Report. She set up her YouTube channel in 2013 and regularly posts new content three times a week aimed at fellow dreamers. As seen nationally on TMZ, on Fox, bet and Loren. centers her career on providing the voice of a strong minority woman within culture-defying digital and television platforms, as a host, podcaster, producer and influencer. Her work accredits her with the experience of breaking some of the world's biggest entertainment stories, while sharpening her ability to captivate audiences all over the world via exclusive content and the intellectual and fearlessness of reporting of it. Thanks so much for joining us, Loren. How are you today?

Loren LoRosa: 1:20

I'm doing good. Thanks for having me.

Andy Truscott: 1:22

You achieved so much in already such a small period of time in the entertainment field. What sparked your passion for pop culture, news and entertainment?

Loren LoRosa: 1:33

I grew up in a family. I'm from Wilmington, so I'm from Fifth and Washington, literally like a few blocks over. My family was just always big on doing stuff. I had a little cousin who was on Broadway she was baby Nila on Broadway. We were dancing right up here at the Christiana Culture Arts Center. We were performing at the Grand. We were holding fashion shows at Howard High School Technology. If you guys have ever been to the Howard High School fashion shows I don't know if you guys have or heard about them we had a run for like four or five years. We sold out every single year eight to 900 people. We met friends who produced that.

Loren LoRosa: 2:07

I just grew up in a family and a household where it was just a thing, even at our family reunions. We got one this weekend. If you want to pop out Family reunions, come. We do talent shows. Everybody in my family is just funny and witty and quick. It just was always like a thing, with my mom being a former fashion designer who lived in New York, we always took trips to New York to see our family and just do stuff. That was just like you couldn't not love the lights and the clothing and all the theatrics and stuff like that. So it just was kind of embedded in me. It's just always been a thing.

Andy Truscott: 2:41

Even just the intro there. Right, you do a lot. You're out there, you're hustling, you're grinding out there. How do you balance these various roles and projects to ensure that you're dedicating your full, 100%, at the time you're working on them and making sure that these things succeed and get out there at the time that they need to?

Loren LoRosa: 3:01

I think that that's still something that I'm learning, especially now. So I recently resigned from TMZ. I've been resigned from TMZ for about two weeks now. Because of that, things started to pick up in a way that I felt like I wasn't able to give 100% to them and to Brown Girl Grinding as a production company and a media company. But it's kind of like trial and error. A lot of stuff is still new for me.

Loren LoRosa: 3:27

I'm still like a very small business, so money and finances are not always as abundant as you want them to be. So paying a team is hard, so you have to do a lot of things by yourself. So a lot of times it's trial and error, like, okay, I tried to do all three of these major projects and then one of them slapped and I felt the brunt from that and I'm like, okay, I'm never going to do that again. Next time I'm going to say yes to maybe two, wait later for number three or figure out a way to be able to bring on a couple of people to help me or whatever. It's really not something that I think you ever learn how to do. You just learn how to flow with it, because at each level things get like they pull your time a bit more. So, like now that I'm stepping away from a major platform like TMZ and deciding to develop and produce content and be talent.

Loren LoRosa: 4:16

Outside of that, I'm doing what I was doing before I got to TMZ and what got me to TMZ, but it's just a whole different level now because I've been nationally syndicated for like seven years, breaking some of the world's biggest stories for like seven years, and you don't realize how much of a different playing field that puts you in until you get back outside and you're like, oh okay, wait, so my peers are these people. Now, like you know, I'm on a different level. It requires a lot more now, but it's still the same where I'm in it. I'm like the new kid in school where I'm learning how to juggle everything. Who should I have on my team? How do I pay the team? How do I delegate? Because this is my baby, you know. So I don't know if that answers your question, but I don't think that you I've figured it out fully. I just go as it comes and learn from what didn't work the day before.

Andy Truscott: 5:04

Talk to me about moving from post TMZ world now into 100% Brown girl grinding. Tmz opened doors. Right, you could pick up the phone, say you're with TMZ. That would open a door.

Loren LoRosa: 5:17

They depend on who you call baby, because some people might hang up on you, others they're like, oh no, tmz, no, but I get what you mean.

Andy Truscott: 5:24

But so have you been. Have you felt that you're successful in kind of pivoting those contents or contacts and that relationship now, post TMZ world, or as you kind of approach that world, do you think that there are some opportunities for you to kind of matriculate over some of those relationships?

Loren LoRosa: 5:43

I think that and I was worried about that, right, like I was like, okay, you can say what you want about TMZ, but TMZ you can't get around them. Like TMZ is the biggest pop culture, entertainment, news, political, like whatever you want to talk about, tmz is number one, at the crust of it and breaking major stories. So we're not just a part of the conversation, they're not just a part of the conversation, they are leading the conversation. So, to be a part of that for so long and have these relationships because of that, because everybody wants to be a part of that vehicle, whether they hate it or not, because it creates superstars, it makes restaurants the number one restaurant in LA or the world. You know, we talk about things or they talk about things. For a certain amount of time, you literally can become the biggest at what you're doing in that moment, right? So because of that, you're in demand. Everybody wants to talk to you, everybody wants to do lunch, everybody wants to do drinks and all that stuff, right?

Loren LoRosa: 6:36

So my fear was like and I think that's why I stuck there so long because I got into the point where I was like I think it's time for me to figure some stuff out outside of here. This is good, but, like there's other things I want to do. But when you build those relationships, it's tough because you don't know who, when you step away, will answer the phone or continue to answer the phone. But one of the things that I found and I'm like wow, like this is a blessing is that you have to build it anyway. So, regardless, if I had stayed there for more years, when I stepped off, I was going to be the new kid at school. So whoever doesn't pick up the phone just doesn't. And I have enough confidence in what I'm doing and where I'm going that you're going to have to spend a block on when you do what's going to cost you.

Loren LoRosa: 7:18

And I say that with the most humblest, most sincerest, like you know, intention behind it, because I think the relationships that I built and the people that I worked with, in the morals and integrity that I have, those people have carried over. I have not yet picked up the phone and told someone I'm sorry I don't work at TMZ anymore and I've been like, okay, cool, we'll call you back. Everybody's like well, where are you at? What are you doing? How can we help? When are you back in LA.

Loren LoRosa: 7:40

I want to hear what you're doing, and it's because, yes, I was a part of this brand that is major and was way bigger than me, but as a person, I treat people good, I'm very thorough in my work, I'm very, you know, factual, and I'm just myself, and a lot of that comes from where I grew up at, you know, grown up in the city Like you are who you are, and if you're not, people know it. So I've always kept true to that in my jobs, and because of that, I think I built relationships where people are just waiting to see how they can help me, and people are like I even had you know leadership, you know, within jobs and within certain roles even there it'd be like you're going to be great. I'm surprised, you know we were able to keep you for this long, so I was worried about that, but it has been working. I think the biggest thing, though, is I always tell people like you have to stay ready, so you don't have to get ready. So I've been building Brown Girl Grinding as a marketing and production company, so we are currently doing development and selling shows for different people. Now it'll be one of mine. We do marketing. We have a client called Lobo 1707, which is a tequila brand. Some of you guys may know of it because LeBron is a major investor, but our job in LA is to help them, you know, build their sales in their marketing footprint Right.

Loren LoRosa: 8:50

So I was kind of slowly building these things because I knew I was going to have to step off. But what I noticed is that when people call me, the first thing they say is well, where are you at now? And it took some getting used to, but now I'm just like I'm at Brown Girl Grinding. So, yes, we are marketing and production as you knew us before, because we couldn't be a media outlet, because I couldn't compete with TMZ. But we built up that audience and that community because now you know, the one thing that TMZ doesn't have is me, in my opinion. So now all of my opinion and everything I'm building up in my own platform. So I've had friends call me with major artists.

Loren LoRosa: 9:27

My first week out of TMZ I was able to break a story with a little Uzi for his upcoming album or project, barter 16, which is like really highly anticipated. The fans are like, where is it at Right? And y'all know rap fans. They don't want to keep seeing pictures in studios. They want the music. So fans are like you know, where is it, where is it, where is it? And I had someone from one of the teams involved call me and say, hey, we don't have a release state yet, but we do have a EP. Like you know, london on the Track will be executive producing this project. So it's real, it's happening. Here's some photos y'all can do. And I'm like well, I'm not at TMZ anymore. And they're like well, where are you? Wherever you are, you can take it.

Loren LoRosa: 10:05

So we were able to break our first exclusive, you know, rap news, which is really where I want to center, although we talk about everything the first week out, because, again, these are people that, like I've built really good relationships with, where they're like if we can support you by you tweeting something and then having our artists retweet it, and we're looking at you like you know what I mean, we'll do it. But it was a natural transition, like so many people. No one, no one asked me like well, why are you talking about news and you're not at TMZ anymore? No-transcript, like went with it. It was kind of crazy. I'm like okay, so you guys like we're here, we're really here. So it's rolled over fine, because I had the structure a bit still building it out.

Loren LoRosa: 10:44

But the staying ready so you don't have to get ready is a thing, because there was a time period where I was like, is there gonna be a fall off Because people aren't gonna see me on that station anymore, but the people on my social media they kept up.

Loren LoRosa: 10:57

Hey, we were looking for you to talk about this. If I don't post about something like when Carly Russell, when she, before her attorney, came out and admitted that you know all of that was false, they did a press conference prior to where they talked about the fact that they they couldn't say it, but you knew that, you know they talked about what they found in her phone and all that stuff. I was live tweeting a press conference from my Twitter. I was thinking I think I was like four days out of TMZ. People really didn't even know I left yet because I hadn't announced it and everybody was commenting on my live tweets like can you go live on Instagram? We wanna hear you talk about this. Like we didn't see you on the show today. So I went live on Instagram and it was like my biggest live that I've had in like probably two years because people wanted to hear me. You know what I mean. So the platform was there and I just did it. So it's been an easy transition in that point.

Andy Truscott: 11:44

What do you think are some of the attributes that make for a successful relationship, as it relates to kind of creating this circle of advisors, circle of trustees, in order to help kind of move the brand forward?

Loren LoRosa: 11:57

I'm still learning. You mean, like a team, I'm still figuring that out, but you know from trial and error what I'm really big on is like people that move with intention, people that move fast. You know I work in media and now reporting on it, everything goes Like in the time that we sit here, so many different things are gonna happen. But also, too, I think you know like it's really just a labor of love at this point because, again, I'm not a big vehicle yet, right? So you're not here for the money.

Loren LoRosa: 12:26

You know anybody that's working with me, whether it's a one-off or you know even me being here it's because you believe in what I'm doing and you see that there is potential and that's what I want Like. So everyone that I've been working with, everyone that you know I'm looking to work with, it's always about are you gonna love my baby the way that I do right? Like? And how well are you gonna play your role? How well are you able to be like? Hey, you might be graphic designer today, but I might need you to come to an event with me and hold the camera, like because we're building, and once we build in whatever, you'll be able to do whatever, but are you locked in, like are you 10 toes down? So that's kind of like the biggest thing for me right now. I was like people that are willing to like go like this with me, like it's a roller coaster right now.

Andy Truscott: 13:08

You've interviewed huge names like Mariah Carey and Larry King. Can you share what makes those interviews so successful? As you're planning those interviews, what do you find as kind of the best prep?

Loren LoRosa: 13:20

None of those were planned at all. So again, it's like heavy on the stay ready so you don't have to get ready. I think so. During those times I was working for the TMZ tour and that's how I started. So I literally started from not even in the newsroom and built my way to senior news producer. It was all about just knowing what the world was talking about and what was happening, and I've always been a person that, like in everything I do, I want to like if you're never, ever going to have a chance to talk to Mariah Carey or Larry King, I can talk to that person for you, but I have to know what you, as that regular person who gets up and goes to your nine to five every day, would want to hear from them, right? So, just staying very connected to like what's happening in the world, who's outside, what are the conversations.

Loren LoRosa: 14:06

When I did Larry King, he was at a bank in my tour bus row by him and I pulled over, hopped off the tour bus because that's how it works for the TMZ tour bus and at the time it was all the Donald Trump stuff where people were like, oh my god, donald Trump may be president. We don't know this guy, who was this Trump? And I knew that Larry King and Donald Trump used to be friends. I didn't really know the depth of the friendship, but I knew Larry King is a big New York guy. Donald Trump ran New York forever you know what I mean and he was a socialite in New York. So I'm like there's no way that they haven't crossed paths. So I was like you know, it'd be a good idea to talk to him about Trump. And Larry King is very, very opinionated. I've watched some of his interviews, just knowing the industry and just studying the greats staying ready. So I asked him. First of all, he didn't want to talk to me. He was like I don't have no time and I was like, ok, well, I said I have a question how do you feel about Donald Trump right now? And he stopped and he paused. The question caught him off guard and he got emotional. It was very weird because you never I don't think I've ever seen Larry King be emotional about anything. He's such a good keep your composure guy and he was just like you know, I don't know this person and he was. He went in on his opinion, but you could tell that it was very like. It was almost like two girlfriends who get into it because one girlfriend and show up at the birthday dinner. You know how. Y'all know how dramatic that is right. So it was like he was betrayed by his friend and he felt like I don't know. He just felt away and I don't think anyone had ever asked him so he just let it all out. So that interview, when I submitted it it went everywhere and at the time I'm not in the newsroom. So these are also me like dropping little hints, like hey, I work for y'all, I need y'all to know my name inside the newsroom.

Loren LoRosa: 15:51

Mariah Carey had just broke up with Nick Cannon. She doesn't talk to anybody, but I knew I'm like Mariah Carey is a girl, she's on Rodale, drought, or Beverly she's shopping. I'm a girl, it's Labor Day weekend, I also like to party. So I'm like she must be shopping for her weekend, she's about to get ready to go out or something. So I just pulled up to her bus, hopped out, I said, oh, what are we shopping for? Oh, I'm going away for Labor Day weekend. I'm like, okay, we'll bathe in two color, white or red. Like you know, regular stuff, mimosas, margaritas, like stuff to kind of make her feel like she's a person. That's another thing too.

Loren LoRosa: 16:24

Celebrities, I think, always get approached like you want to make them comfortable and you want to pad your conversations and there's a way that you can get what you need news wise and break news without being disrespectful, without gaslighting whatever. You treat them like a person. So, as we're talking, I'm like okay, cool, she likes me. Her security guard tried to move me. She's like no letters there. I'm like all right, bet, now I can go for the kill shot. So I'm like listen, I'm 25 years old. This was a long time ago, y'all. I'm like I'm 25 years old. You just recently split from the cannon.

Loren LoRosa: 16:54

I've always told people I don't think I don't know how marriage will work for me because of what I do. It seems like you guys didn't really work out because you're Mariah Carey, like what's your advice to me as a 25 year old watching you divorce him? She said don't do it. So now she's speaking directly on a recent separation that she never talks to anybody about. Her first response is don't do it. So you know everyone's going to go crazy with that. And then she friends on them. She was like you know he's a great person. But because I'm like, well, you're saying, don't do it, but you guys spent some time together, we had kids together. Like you never go back. And she was like, no, he's a great person, but baby, that's over. Like so, to get that from her, 45 minutes of conversation is all because, like, I just talked to her, like she was a person Like me, you sitting here right now, like you know what I mean.

Loren LoRosa: 17:38

I think if you can make people comfortable and everybody that I study the Angie Martinez, the, larry King's, the, you know, even at the most tough interviews, howard Stern, whatever they make you feel like, okay, I could talk to this person. And then, boom, now you're talking and hours went by, you breaking national news from TMZ to CNN, the Shade Room, the you know what I mean. So, but I had to know what was going on in the world, too. I had to know what people cared about. If I had never asked Mariah Carey about Nick Cannon, that would have been a mess. If I had never asked Larry King about Donald Trump, that would have been a mess. But I had to know how to do it where they're not like, who was this girl with this camera? You know what I mean, mm-hmm.

Andy Truscott: 18:18

You your YouTube huge, and some of the best content that we can see from you is either on Instagram or YouTube. What inspired you to start it and how do you feel like it's involved over time?

Loren LoRosa: 18:30

I couldn't find a job and LA, nobody would hire me, nobody would put me on camera. So my cousin actually was like, well, if you can't get a job, you might as well just like make it. You do that anyway with everything else. And I was like, okay, cool. So she was like, yeah, you know, like YouTube, like everybody's there now and people want to know the behind the scenes. Like I've always been a person that did stuff, whether I was here in Wilmington, new York, la, wherever. She's like you post all this stuff and you're doing all this stuff consistently, but we don't know how you do it. Everybody wants to get the sauce, Everybody wants the game. You should start doing more behind the scenes, taking us with you, type of stuff.

Loren LoRosa: 19:11

And at the time I didn't know that that was called vlogging, because I didn't watch vloggers on YouTube. I watched shows. Like they're early. People Like Funk Flex had just started picking up a camera and putting stuff on YouTube. Breakfast Club was new. So I was trying to create that because I'm like this is where the world is gonna go. This was before podcasts were on YouTube. This like I used to come up to people with my camera and they'd be like who are you with, and I'd be like YouTube and they'd be like what? And now everybody's there.

Loren LoRosa: 19:38

But I just knew I had to do something because if not, when I finally got the opportunity to be like I'm good on camera, I would have nothing to show people because I couldn't get a job on camera in LA. So I started just going to events and I would take a camera. I would have a friend with me and I have my cell phone. My cell phone would be the microphone for the audio, my friend would hold the camera and then I would just edit it together and put it up, and then I was also at the same time. So I had a show called 2L Television on the Rosa TV and then I did the vlogs behind the scenes because I might I don't know like I just need to create something to do for myself.

Loren LoRosa: 20:17

And I realized that those vlogs the numbers were better on that than they were on like the celebrity interviews, because people really like people were so excited for me too, like I've always had like a really supportive, like group of people, like hometown group, family, all of that. So people were like we want to see more, we want to see more, we want to see more and I had the time. So I was on multiple vlogs a week sometimes and I just realized like, okay, this is doing well, um, my marketing background. I'm like I'm on YouTube and I'm trying to figure out how do people I literally used to get on YouTube and be like, how do you afford to live in LA? Because I don't get it, like I'm missing something, and I really couldn't find people who were really being real about their experience with it. Everybody was like super curated and no shade to the girls who do this because they, you know, they get their money. But everybody was super branded. It's like the fashion over. Try on hauls and I'm like, you know, I like to get dressed in an mbq, but like I really need this information. So if I need it, I know someone else does. So I was like okay, there's a hole in the market, like boom, I'm just gonna fill that hole, I'm just gonna keep serving that hole.

Loren LoRosa: 21:22

It got bigger over time because of things I was doing in real life got bigger. But it did get difficult because, like you know, when you're working with certain people and you know You're working at certain platforms, you can't really go into detail. I was so used to telling you guys like A to Z, everything like my description on my channel, like the bio is from my friends couch to national TV, because literally I talked you guys through my journey from my friends couch to national TV. When I got to TMZ and, like you know, even outside of there, when I'll be booked by certain brands, it's like you can't talk about certain stuff like you know you NDA or you just don't feel right putting out information about things that you don't own or do. You got to check with the brand.

Loren LoRosa: 22:04

So I kind of always felt a little restricted once things started to get bigger. But people, I would run into people in LA. I do to this day. I still run into people that are like I moved to LA because of your YouTube channel. I'm like you did you kind of crazy, but but thank you, but. So I knew that there was a need for it. So I just kept going and then you know now I cannot, like I was able to afford videographers. So like the quality got better. I learned about Editing a bit more, invested in a better camera, I wasn't just using my iPhone, so the actual content got better too.

Andy Truscott: 22:37

Part of this conference theme is about generations passing the baton from one generation to another. Do you feel like you've had an opportunity in your career where someone's passed the baton to you, and if so, can you tell us a little bit about it?

Loren LoRosa: 22:50

Yeah, um, I Couldn't even name all of the people. There's always been that that like entertainment and working in this field and just being an entrepreneur in general, I feel like everything that you do relies off of your relationships. Like you can know Everything, you can know the book from front to back. You can have all of the money, but a lot of times and I would say 90% out of the hundred of the times if you don't have the right relationship, that's like the last thing you need to green light something. So I've had people you know from being here in high school.

Loren LoRosa: 23:24

I went to Howard High School. You know like mentors there, people that I produced fashion shows with there. Like when I came into Howard was a transfer student so nobody liked me. I like ran from his sophomore one. So it's like the girl that nobody knows is like doing all this stuff. Who does she think she is? But I had leadership and counselors there that were like don't worry about that, you're gonna be fine, you should do this, you should do that. So early on I learned you know like if you're in a position, you put people in a position and then people in that position learn who they are. Then you know, like home has always been supportive, so like being booked to come back here to do like HBCU week. You know, even being here right now is because of a relationship that I have with Greg. Shout out to Greg, it's so many people all the time.

Loren LoRosa: 24:09

My first entertainment job I met a woman at Delaware State who was casting for America's next top model and I was like you're gonna be, you know, my mentor. I'm gonna get on America's next top model. I am the next model. Like it's it the world. If I don't become the next big model, there's no modeling like it's over. And she's like you don't want to do that. And then we talked a bit over time. She to this day is still my mentor. She got me a job at Project Runway All Stars. I was fashion accessories coordinator. So that was my first, like you know, on camera credits and working with a network and seeing that entertainment really is a real career. Everything I've done has been because somebody has passed up a time.

Andy Truscott: 24:48

No doubt part of our journey right is failure, and you know using that as a stepping stone to success. So can you tell us about a moment when you faced failure and how it led you to either pivot or grow in your career?

Loren LoRosa: 25:01

There's been a lot of different times, like something recent, because how far you want me to go back whatever you're most comfortable with I.

Loren LoRosa: 25:08

Think. More recently, like before I decided to step away from TMZ, my biggest thing was I need to build a team. I need to build a team. I need a built team because I know what's coming, I know what I want to do, and that is not easy. Sure, like hiring people, understanding people's needs. When you're hiring them, working with them, whether it's, you know, full-time or Contracted, it's not easy at all.

Loren LoRosa: 25:30

And we had our first person be like I don't think this is gonna work for me. And I was like, like in my mind, I'm like, well, what did I do wrong? Like, oh my god, like I wanted this to be like the best experience from start to finish. Like you know what I mean, I was always very transparent about what we have, but we don't have what we can do, what we can do. So I think in that moment I kind of felt like as an entrepreneur, like, is my business like the type of business? Because I've worked at jobs? I'm like I hate it here. I don't ever want to be here again. I don't understand why anyone else works here, and I've always said that I wanted to build, like you know, corporations and different businesses that people who worked, or you might not love it every day, but you're never gonna feel like that. I always want people to feel like we care about them, we're investing in them as much as we can, but we can only do what we can do. So I was like for a while I was just like in my head, like, wow, am I that boss that people hate? Like, is this, you know, is this company not, you know, giving what I think it needs to give? Like, are we still in line with our mission? Am I too focused on, you know, hitting goals and not really figuring out the middle part? You know, is it just because I don't have a bunch of money? Like, where do I find the money Grant? Like grants, all this stuff? And then I realized, like I talked to a couple friends who you know run businesses Very successfully that you know have bigger teams, way bigger teams, like two to three hundred people.

Loren LoRosa: 26:49

And one of the things you know that a good friend of mine said to me is, like you know, that's one of the hardest things that will ever happen to you is either someone deciding to leave your company that you feel like you've invested time and resources in, or you know you having to let someone go. But it's a learning lesson in each thing that you do, you learn and you should take that and make the business stronger. You should take that and kind of know what you're ready for, because maybe you weren't ready to have that person in that position internally. Maybe you should have contracted her you know what I mean or maybe you should have. Whatever the case may be. And when she said it to me that way, I was like okay, bet, so like I got some work to do, like I don't think that there was anything that I did wrong. There was, you know. I just wanted to make sure that, like you know, everyone's experience with me and with the brown girl grinding is the best that it can be at all times, especially because we're new and we're growing.

Loren LoRosa: 27:39

But from that I felt like it was a failure. But in that I really learned like you can only do what you can do and being as resourceful as you are, positioning is going to be very difficult for you because you have so many different people you can reach out to. But you really need to understand what is the strategy, what is the reason when you're reaching out to people, when you're bringing them on your team. When you're deciding, you know if you want them internally, long term or contracted.

Loren LoRosa: 28:05

Why, like, is it just a thing of to be able to say, oh my god, I have a team and I think entrepreneurs getting that too, especially with Instagram. It's like I want to have a team and I want to post behind the scenes and we're working and everybody's grinding, everybody's hustling, but it's like you got all these people here. You know the strategy doesn't make sense. You really don't need them here for all this time. What's the mission? What are we accomplishing? What's the project? Can a person be project a project? Can they be contracted? Can they? There's so much that goes into it that people don't talk about. So I felt like a failure, but I learned like no, you just need to learn what your business really needs, like inside and out, and Then take it to other people and fill those voids.

Andy Truscott: 28:44

What do you think are some of the most important attributes when you're building a team? What do you look for in other individuals to know that they're right for you?

Loren LoRosa: 28:52

I think you have to Be honest again. You got to be honest about what you need and be honest, upfront about that. I definitely think that self starters are always going to win the race. I don't care what industry it is, people that can hit the ground running, people that are very resourceful. And I also think that it's the thing of, especially when you're a small business and you're growing I mentioned this earlier you need people to really believe in your vision, because what I've learned to from that experience is I'm not the day-to-day Like. I'm day-to-day with my business, but I'm the visionary right. So like. I see us as like.

Loren LoRosa: 29:26

People always ask me like, well, what is Bronco grinding? Like I don't get it where you're gonna go. And I'm like you. Everybody in here knows Nike right. When you see a Nike shoe, you know it's top quality. When you see a Nike commercial, you know, okay, this is legit. If you meet someone that says, oh, I work with Nike, you're like, ooh, they're serious about their business, brown girl grinding.

Loren LoRosa: 29:45

I always say we will be Nike when it comes to content, production, when it comes to, you know, show development, script writing, marketing, anything that we touch and decide to do in any realm, but I think that I see that now as a visionary, the same way I saw everything else that's happening right, but a person who may not have my forward vision only can see what's in front of them, and you need those people. Everybody plays a role in a business and when you're hiring a team. So I need people on my team who see day-to-day and like the incrementals of day-to-day. Like I have an assistant who literally all she be on me and I'm like I know I'm annoying and you feel like you might be babysitting me sometimes, but like I'm so high level sometimes that all the stuff down here it's not getting the hundred percent. So One of the biggest things that I learned was like you need people that are those day-to-day. We don't have the big vision, but we're here for the vibe. And then you also need people who understand the vision as well, too, for the long term, but can also work that day-to-day.

Loren LoRosa: 30:47

It's like Like when you're you know, like when you watch a race, there's like everybody has a role, so it's like you have the Supporters on the sidelines, that people are to actually in the race, the people that are like monitoring, making sure that all the rules are correct the people who are announcing and talking, but like all together says grand production. I think about it like that, like when I'm building a team. Now I've learned Everybody doesn't have to be like the Huge oh my god, we're going to make this Nike person. But as long as when you say that to them they're like okay, I believe it. So, day-to-day, if you want to be Nike, we need to do a BC and D. I can't talk to you about next week, because if I'm working at Nike, you know Today these are the things we need to get done so that tomorrow is successful, so that Wednesday, thursday, friday and then we'll get to next week. But then you also need those long-term planners too.

Andy Truscott: 31:37

How do you feel like being from Wilmington, delaware, or rather, do you believe your roots in Wilmington, delaware have played a significant role in shaping your career path?

Loren LoRosa: 31:46

Oh, a hundred percent. I feel like you never know what you're going to get from me. Like I Grew up here and I grew up in inner city, so it's like you know, it comes a little bit of flavor that a lot of people don't have. And then I also Grew up here to the point where I got to watch when Wilmington didn't have stuff like this and we were literally here making it. Like me, my friends, the blakes, the newties, the like we were creating, like the social life and the sit-down conversations in the fashion shows and the you know I mean, and they were historical. People did them every year. We supported the hair shows or whatever. So I got an entrepreneurial spirit from that.

Loren LoRosa: 32:26

And then you, you come back from college. I went to Dell State and I came back and I worked for Barclay Cart and then I'm like, wow, so there's a corporate world here too. So then I got to see that and I think it just made me like Super well-rounded. I feel like I can go in any room, I can go in any state, any country, wherever, and I'll be fine. Like I, you know, the lights might be off for like a second or two, like I take the heels off until I can find a light switch. But once I do I'm going to flourish and I think that I don't. I really I tell kids that I talk to all the time I'm growing up in the inner city. It has its challenges. You see a lot of stuff early. You, you know you have to learn to deal with a lot of stuff and you know I was a first-generation college student. So even doing fast foot and all that I was like, okay, this is a whole different world but you are built with like a fight that it I don't, it's just unmatched and and then it becomes like what I learned is is that you learn strategy early Because you got to stay afloat. You can even to this day in Wilmington Like there's a lot of good things going on here and you know things are supported, but at the same time there's also a lot of other stuff that's happening and the people that wake up in that and live that every single day. You got to strategize if you want to make it to next week and it's a tough situation to be in, but when you come from a place like that that also has the positive things that really like draw things out of you. You learn that like that type of strategy could become a A producer on a major TV show because you understand how to take nothing to make it something. That type of strategy can become one of the biggest basketball coaches in whatever conference, because you understand kids and like hunger and pushing and pushing somebody to the limit and using Bad things to turn into good and motivation, all that stuff. Like you just understand things so differently and you're just you're really just Coming from Delaware.

Loren LoRosa: 34:20

I think that I was just raised with a certain level of integrity and morals that when we talk about those relationships that I had to figure out if they were gonna still answer the phone for me, they're still answering the phone and it's like what do you need? How can I? And then this is like from here at home to LA, to New York, wherever, like when I got on breakfast club, no one knew that I quit my job. I don't think I told you guys yet Nobody knew so, but I knew. I'm like if I announced that I'm leaving one of the world's biggest platforms On another one of the world's biggest platforms, it puts me in a whole different conversation because I'm also talent. I'm a free agent now you know and I mean people didn't know that I, you know, wanted to do anything else but to be at TMZ because I was good while I was there.

Loren LoRosa: 35:04

That was strategy.

Loren LoRosa: 35:05

That was me, you know, growing up in woman's, and it's like okay Cool if you go to Howard High School and Howard High School is known for the fashion shows and then you go to Delcastle and Delcastle is known for I don't know like sports at the time you got to know what house you're and you got to know how to navigate the game in those different houses and I learned that literally here.

Loren LoRosa: 35:22

So that was like me being like okay, babe, so I'm about to do this, I'm about to put it out there and it'll work out. But I learned a lot of that, like you know. I mean my phone blew up. Like for two days I literally couldn't even get through my phone because so many people were like what do you need? How can we help you? When's the podcast dropping? Do you have episodes we can watch? I have a corporate partner here that you know does advertising for podcasts. I got people here at you know this network that are looking to give money to black women based and centered content and I'm just like whoa, you know, just wait, it's all coming, it's all happening. We're gonna do this right now, fast. But those type of things, when you're you know, you're raised a certain way, you come from certain stuff that's embedded in you and I don't change.

Andy Truscott: 36:07

As an entrepreneur, can you share some habits or routines that you think have contributed to your growth or success?

Loren LoRosa: 36:14

Getting up at a certain time every single day, even though I don't have I don't have to Following through with something which I'm still getting better at. Like, for instance, I'll make 50 to do this, and it'd be like you know what I need to take a nap. That was stressful. But now, as an entrepreneur, I can't do that because it's like if I don't get through those to do list, I have, you know, people that need to be paid, that if I don't get paid, they don't get paid. It all that runs through my mind. So I'm getting better at if I put something on my to-do list and I can do it right, then, and there, I don't care if I'm sitting at this table, if I can still hear the conversation. I'm on my phone and I'm getting it done. Yeah, and being present, I think that that's important too. We miss a lot, of, a lot of stuff. So, like when I'm on a zoom meeting, if I'm, you know, out and about at an event like you know, this is a couple days of a conference and it was an option to just speak here today and just going about my business and I'm like you know what. No, like you know, I'm the new girl at school. We have a lot of things coming up. I want to be present. I want to be here. I want to meet people. This is a new world for me and women's and I didn't even know a lot of this stuff existed. I want to be here. I want to meet people. I want to put my phone away. I want to all that. So I think all those things are important.

Loren LoRosa: 37:26

You got to put yourself on the schedule, stick to the schedule, get up early. I learned from working in media. The world operates on East East Coast time. New York is a center of it all. So if I'm in LA, I'm used to waking up around like four or five newsroom starts at six. I'm keeping that.

Loren LoRosa: 37:43

When I'm here, especially if you're working in content or creative, the world starts to go between, I would say, anywhere from 6 am Really like 5 am Eastern Standard Time to like 9 30. After that there's a big fall off and you have like your evening stuff that people care about. But like that's why the morning shows are numbing like the biggest, the highest rated. They're paid very well because the world works off of like that early time. So now I don't have a content person, I am the content person, so I'm getting up every morning making Sean posting at least three things, you know, something motivational, inspirational, something news related, maybe something opinionated. So I'll tweet something instead of just retweeting it. I'll add my opinion to it, repost it. But I'm on that schedule and that's very important because it leads the rest of my day.

Andy Truscott: 38:32

As we talked earlier about one generation passing the baton to a next, how do you see yourself contributing to the development of future talents in either the in the entertainment industry or Fashion or social media? How do you see yourself really helping to to bring up that next generation of influencer?

Loren LoRosa: 38:49

I want to do more and that that's kind like the building back of Bronco grinding. We have these events called the Bronco grinding meetups and the name of it comes from the days when youtubers used to be like yo, I'm in Time Square, kai sent sent Kaisen it. He just did that and it didn't go well. But um, but like back, like when you two was first like Building as like the place where everybody was. You two was used to do that all the time and it was a way for them to connect with their audience in person and to get content. So I've always wanted to do those. So we created this event called the Bronco grinding meetup. My first one kicked off in Wilmington, delaware, with don't call me white girl Mona, who was a podcaster. Then we went to New York Fashion Week and sold out and we are coming back to New York Fashion Week in September. Those events girls whoever, but primarily women. You know we are heavy in the the black women space because I'm a black woman, but they come out. They get to learn from people firsthand, right here, that like they may not have been able to just reach out to the next questions to. So that's a thing. But I also want to get more involved with the brown girl grinding and doing more things.

Loren LoRosa: 39:58

Delaware state is like a heart, like you know, part of my heart, because I went there and I feel like I learned so much about myself While I was in college. So you know, I've been in conversation and just reaching out to people at Dell State trying to figure out what we can do on campus for undergraduate students Conversation wise, bring in some resources to the school, even if it's just people to come and talk. So those are the type of things. But also to like, people hit me up all the time. People call me, text me, they DM me. If I can get back to you, I will thank you know, drop you a couple lines. I got you. I try to do as much as I can, honestly.

Andy Truscott: 40:30

What's been one of the more surprising or unexpected parts of your career journey so far.

Loren LoRosa: 40:35

I think what is most surprising to me all the time is, like you, you ever had like a party and you invite a bunch of people and you're like I'm gonna say like 20 people might show up, and then like 20, like maybe 30 people show up and you're like, oh okay, every single time I do something, whether it's an event or like just anything, I'm always like these people really came, like they're really like I'm a little crazy. I'm like y'all are really here. Like okay, I appreciate the support. I've always had like a really really good support system on family, to friends or whatever. But I think it's different when, like you don't know me whatsoever. We recently shot a commercial because I'm still campaigning for the breakfast club. So if you guys are on Instagram, twitter or Facebook, go tell the breakfast club Loren Rosanie Rosanie is to be their next house.

Loren LoRosa: 41:25

Shameless club but we shot a commercial at my event space at our own right around the corner on 9th, and Tatnall and I just Like one a friend again was like bro, you can't just like wait for them to like give you the spot you need to, like, you know, run it up. So I'm like I bet we're gonna do a commercial. I tweeted like, hey, I need people to show up at all black. We're gonna do the commercial. I didn't really know how many people were gonna show up. I didn't know if people were gonna show up at all, but people showed up.

Loren LoRosa: 41:50

They were on time, they were in all black, they were like the commercials on my Instagram it's about to 100,000 views. They were like with it, like they got, we did a protest scene. They were in character, they were, they were like giving us ideas and I'm like wow, like you know, people really believe in what you have going on. Wow, like that's always like a whoo, because you never know, when you put things out there into the world and as talent, I'm putting myself out there every day how people receive you and how they connect with you.

Andy Truscott: 42:19

Sitting here today. What does success look like for you?

Loren LoRosa: 42:24

Success for me looks like ownership. Success looks like happiness and being able to spend time with my family. Success for me looks like being able to do things for other people and pass the baton back. Like you mentioned, success looks like Brown Girl Grinding as a production and Broadcast Media Company, standing next to the ESA Rays, the Nikes, the TMZs, the big, the shade rooms, those big conglomerates of the world. And I think success for me looks like just waking up every single day and being like I love what I'm doing, even on the worst days. I love what I'm doing. I love how it's affecting people and it's really changing somebody's life, even if it's not like I might not know who directly, but just a conversation that we're causing from our content or something that we're posting, or an event that we had. You came and you left feeling like, okay, I can go do this or I can get through this job, and you actually went and did it and it was successful. Like those. Those like things are a success for me.

Andy Truscott: 43:31

As we wrap up, can you think about one of the more significant challenges you or other young aspiring people may face today and how you feel like we can overcome them together?

Loren LoRosa: 43:41

I think money is a big issue when you're building, especially when you're in the creative field. You hear so much that this is a dying industry. There's no money in it. You watch as teams get smaller. You know people get fired, your friends around you are losing jobs and like so much changes so fast and you're always trying to figure out how to keep the lights on even if you don't have lights right, like you're trying to figure out how to pay your rent, how to pay that camera guy because you need the content, how to, you know, pay for the merch that people want to buy, how to throw the next event.

Loren LoRosa: 44:19

So I think being able to figure out, you know funding, having a conversation about like loans and and and like debt, and how to manage it and not always being a bad thing, but it being a building thing. I didn't learn that credit wasn't that debt and credit wasn't bad until I got the college and I come from entrepreneurs. You know what I mean, but they were always taught you don't want to owe nobody, nothing. And I learned I worked at Barclay Card. I'm like wait, so you mean to tell me people get credit cards, I'll build their business and they pay it back and the credit in the business and then they keep other people's money is the key Like, so, I think, education around that, but actually like giving people that as a resource and not just the big people to like, not just you know, the people who are really building. They needed to, the people that already there, they needed to.

Loren LoRosa: 45:05

But there's a lot of people who are very small, very startup, maybe local, that have great ideas that can turn into major things, even if locally. That I think sometimes people overlook and they go for, like the means of the world, come to me, I need the money to. But I have a lot of friends here who I'm like yo, that's so dope. Why don't you know about this person who gives grants for that? And it's like oh, because you know they don't want to talk to me. They want to talk to the girl with Instagram followers or whatever. So that's really important and just support.

Loren LoRosa: 45:37

You never know how just showing up for somebody can mean something. Like if somebody, if I'm in town and, like you know, the homies are having an event, I try and pull up. I try and you know if I could post about it, I do. You know I'm still building as talent. So I appreciate everyone who reaches out to me and books me, especially if they from hometown. Like people have been literally keeping me booked since before TMZ. Like I was in high school hosting events and all that stuff, because people here supported me, because I support them as well too. That's really major showing up for people when you can, even if it's just an Instagram post or comment.

Andy Truscott: 46:10

Talk to me if you could go back and tell a Loren or or another younger artist looking to go down your same path, what's, what's your first piece of advice for them?

Loren LoRosa: 46:20

Girl, you got this. Like, honestly, it's just because you, you don't know what, you don't know. Like you get in these rooms and you feel like, oh, my God, like I'm in this room, how did I get here? But it's like you're not here by chance. You're here because you're support getting to your God. Don't say, oh, it's going to make it worse, no, but I'm just. I think I'm just really looking back over everything. It's just like this is crazy, like I would have never imagined all of this stuff ever. Like I knew, like I knew I was going to do good and I knew I was going to provide a living for myself. But every day I'm just so blessed like, wow, and if I had new then, what I know now, I would have took chances on myself way sooner. Yeah, I'm not afraid to jump off the bridge at all because I know, you know, I'm going to hit the ground and running and I'm going to be OK.

Loren LoRosa: 47:18

But at the same time, there's always that fear of like if it doesn't work or this platform is so big, will another one come? Or, honestly, sometimes you get into the imposter syndrome of like, how did I even get here? Am I supposed to be here Like walking into a mainstream media outlet every day where you're the only black woman on camera. Every single day is a battle Like I used to have to ask my friends like, am I giving too much Angela Davis today or am I good? Because every single day you're speaking for people who are not in that room or who may be in that room and don't feel like they can say anything black, not black woman, non-woman, whatever and for some reason I'm like, I'm always the person like, I'm always the person that's going to speak up about something and have to figure out a way to find a solution. And I didn't realize, honestly, until, like probably in the last year or this girl, you always, you've always been here, you always had this. You just not you're just not realizing it, but you kept running into these you know spaces, being successful at these things, getting into these rooms Because other people already saw it.

Loren LoRosa: 48:25

So the more that you know that I think you do things like decide to resign from one of the biggest platforms in the world and say, hey, I'm going to do this myself, I'm going to figure it out, I'm talented, I'll book the next big job. Brown Girl Grinding will be the next big content house, media, house, you know all things black women, or you know, buy black women for the world. But like you have to know, like girl, you got it. Like what do you mean? Like I literally have been waking up every single day like, well, we'll see what happens. Today I told myself I would give myself these last two weeks to do that, because you really have to get in the space of girl you got this or you don't have it, because everyone else will notice it and the worst thing that can ever happen to you if you're building a new business, if you're talent, whatever is that someone sees that you have it and they also can realize that you don't know it.

Loren LoRosa: 49:13

Business is always big fish. Little fish Can't get around that. But if you were strategic about how you let a big fish come into your small area of being a small fish, you can leverage. I'm a small fish in this and I know that. But at the same time I also now know that I've stood toe to toe with you know some really big conversations, really big names, really big. That's why I walked into Breakfast Club about a week ago and I was like, oh, I'm home. Everybody's like you never met them before, never in my life. But, girl, you got this and I left that show and I know that I made an impact there. You can't forget about my week there, regardless if I get the job or not. So, girl, you got this is the biggest thing, and everything from there is just going to blow your mind, because I literally to. I'm still like whoa, okay, all right, just get dressed and look cute, because you never know what happened today, Loren, I love it.

Andy Truscott: 50:03

Loren, drop us information about Brown Girl grinding. Where can we find you?

Loren LoRosa: 50:06

So Brown Girl grinding. We're on Instagram, common spelling Brown Girl grinding. You can also visit our website BrownGirlGrindingcom and find out about our marketing services. We have merch there that you can buy and support. You're able to see some of our past events that we've done. If you really like to get into conversations, though, we post news, we post conversation pieces, relationships, stuff. Instagram is like we're really heavy there.

Loren LoRosa: 50:31

I'm Loren LoRosa on everything from LinkedIn to Instagram to Facebook, l-o-r-e-n-l-o-r-o-s-a. And yeah, podcasts will be here soon, so we'll love for the downloads on the audio. Watch us on YouTube, too, but I need the downloads on the audio, and yeah, that's it. And also, too, I want to tell everybody, if you're looking for an intimate event space and content studio, I opened up a space about a year ago on Ninth and Tattoo.

Loren LoRosa: 50:59

You can literally walk to it from here, and I did it here on purpose, like I really should have done it in LA, because I need the space now that I have a podcast. I knew that that was coming, but I wanted to do it here because I feel like I wanted people to understand that you can start here, and if you're already started, you can still do it here. So if you're looking for a space to rent. You just want to come and tour because you're just interested in all this stuff that I've been talking about. Come by, do a tour, drop into this space. We do everything from intimate events to meeting spaces, to pop up shops, podcast hosting all that good stuff.

Andy Truscott: 51:35

Loren, thank you so much.

Loren LoRosa: 51:36

Thank you, you made me cry.

Andy Truscott: 51:38

That's my goal for Delaware Save the Arts. I'm Andy Troscott. Have a good rest of your day. Everybody Live from the Mill Summit. Delaware State of the Arts is a weekly podcast that presents interviews with arts organizations and leaders who contribute to the cultural vibrancy of communities throughout Delaware. Delaware State of the Arts is provided as a service of the Delaware Division of the Arts in partnership with News Radio, 1450wilm and 1410WDOV. The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. To find out more about the division, visit artsdellawaregov.