Lauren Bullock is a multi-racial writer, performer, and community organizer. As a founding and three time member of the 
University of North Carolina’s slam team, the former Artistic and Executive Director of Wordsmiths (UNC’s first-ever organizational board dedicated to poetry and slam), and Future Corps mentor for international youth poetry festival Brave New Voices, Lauren is committed to supporting the young voices of her generation and those after. Currently she serves as a contributing staff writer for nerd culture web site Black Nerd Problems as well as poetry editor for literary magazine FreezeRay Poetry.
Lauren used to be too shy to say anything for fear of rejection but in this episode, she will share how spoken word and poetry has help her be more confident in herself and also learn to speak her voice out loud to inspire others.
Bio
Lauren Bullock is a multiracial writer, performer, and community organizer.
Cultural Background
Lauren is of Vietnamese, Caucasian and African American descent.
Favorite Self Confidence Quote
In a time of destruction, create something.
Definition of Self Confidence
Self confidence strikes a healthy balance of believing in yourself enough that you can genuinely be supportive rather than bitter about the accomplishments of others and also being able to recognize that 100% effort looks different on different days and being okay with that.
Her Life Before the Discovery of Self Confidence
Lauren grew up a shy introvert so it was always easiest to follow the path of least resistance rather than face rejection when trying to make friends.
The “AHA” Moment
As an artist (visual and literary) Lauren slowly learned from positive feedback how to put her work out there and connect with other people. One specific memory of coming out of her shell she recalled was her first year at a high school where she knew maybe a handful of people coming in, and she forced herself to start talking to a random group of girls at orientation. Lauren was genuinely shocked at how positive and receptive they were!
Another was when she started forging into spoken word, realizing she could talk out loud about events that had shaped her life and her opinions and be supported in a room full of strangers.
Her Life After the Discovery of Self Confidence
Lauren definitely is still learning how to maintain self confidence every day, whether it’s advertising shows she hosts or featuring for, submitting work to be published, sharing articles she has written, or pursuing new friendships. It’s still pretty funny to her how much “faking it until you make it” works, that if you act like you know what you’re doing enough people believe it so that you start believing it, too.
It also definitely helps sharing your failures with people you can trust because they definitely have some they can share right back. Not feeling alone in rejection or failure is a good chunk of the battle.
The One Self Confidence Tip For the Listener
Find ways to love yourself, whatever that means to you. It doesn’t have to be scented candles and bubble baths or in depth self discovery. Sometimes it means stretching, drinking water, playing a phone game that you like, or letting yourself take a nap. When you’re run down that’s definitely when it’s easy to feel your confidence slip. And of course, fake it until you make it. Lauren hasn’t met a person yet who hasn’t done this!
Interview Links
Would you like to make a donation?
Click here to make a donation to support the podcast.
