Member Spotlight: Lauren Appa of AppaInk

Each month AWC Austin highlights one very special member making a difference in the communications industry in Austin, Texas. Just as cool temperatures hit the Austin forecast, we spoke with Lauren Appa, freelance content creator and owner of AppaInk Copywriting. Lauren is a successful entrepreneur, sharp, and a long-time AWC member (just new to the Austin chapter!). Please take a minute to meet Lauren and learn a bit more about her background and perspective on the communications industry.

AWC Austin: Hi Lauren! Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your background.
LA: I’m originally from the Houston area and received my Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin in December 2003. For my first two college years, I studied Advertising in New Orleans, LA. I remember receiving an assignment to write a movie review, and after reading it, the professor immediately advised me to switch my major to journalism.

After two years, I ultimately decided to transfer to UT. Between sophomore and junior year, I was trying to get comfortable with campus and the area, and I found myself passing by the Daily Texan office. I stopped in and learned they were looking for layout designers. I thought it would be a great way to get involved and gain experience. I took the job and it clicked. I loved it, and immediately knew journalism was what I needed to be doing.

I remember one of my first journalism classes at UT was with Bob Mann. Here’s this gruff guy, jumping around excited, talking politics, talking about things in the news that pissed him off. He knew about national issues, the names of foreign leaders, basically the state of the world and had an opinion about it. I thought, ‘Yes! I want to know all of those things! I want to be pissed off too!’ He inspired me to wake up, read the news and start analyzing that was happening in the world. That was around the time of 9/11, the turmoil, the reaction on campus and around the nation. Watching it all unfold and reading about how it was changing the country was a time of awakening and it changed my life.

AWC Austin: How has your career path evolved?
LA: Ever since then, everything I’ve done has been from a journalism point of view. I analyze facts and information and present it in the way that I write. Toward the end of college and after graduation, I was a feature writer for the Texas Thoroughbred Association magazine. After that, I took my first job as a newspaper reporter for the Athens Daily Review…which meant picking up and moving to the small town of Athens, Texas where I covered education, city government, breaking news, general interest stories, and spoke with the mayor on several occasions. It was a great experience getting my foot in the door, learning to understand terminology, how systems worked and how to write about it. After about a year I decided to move to Seattle, Washington because of a relationship and began researching writing positions there. Through a friend of a friend, I found out about an environmental engineering firm looking for a marketing coordinator. I love science and writing about the environment and sustainability and this job was a way to bridge my interests and still be able to write. Again, it was all about learning the terminology, how business and marketing work, how to explain complex ideas to a wide audience. I was there for 5 years writing proposals, marketing collateral… you name it and I wrote it.

AWC Austin: What was the turning point in your career where you knew you wanted to pursue an endeavor of your own?
LA: 2008 rolled around and everything was turned on its head because of the economy. I was thinking about what my next move was going to be, wanting to always be in a place where I could learn. I decided I wanted to go out on my own. I loved writing, working with others and I wanted to combine that marketing background with my journalism background. I decided to offer marketing collateral writing as a service on my own, as my own company. I started AppaInk Copywriting in July 2010, just after turning 30 years old. I’ve been doing that ever since and it’s been awesome.

AWC Austin: Did you have a vision for AppaInk before you started? How did you come up with the concept?
LA: I wanted more control over the type of work I was doing. I also really wanted to make content creation my core service. I started my freelance writing career to focus my energies on doing what I do best — providing my clients with engaging copy that communicates their story and the unique capabilities they bring to what they do. My number one goal is excellent customer service and to create effective, factual, relevant content that my client’s readers need and deserve. Today I am the sole owner and operator, but regularly team with other people who have specialties I do not have (graphic designers, web developers, etc).

AWC Austin: Describe a day in the life of Lauren Appa:
LA: My morning begins with my Pulse news app that I read on my iPad. From there I’ll go to my computer to read the NYTimes, the Austin Business Journal, Seattle Times, and basically anything I can get my hands on to get me going for the day.

As a solo business you’re responsible for doing everything, so my to-do list varies. It may be project management, following up with new or existing clients, or content creation (whether that’s interviewing someone, transcribing my interviews, writing, or researching). If I’m not at the office I’m probably at an AWC Austin luncheon, networking, or learning something out in the community. It’s tempting for solos to stay home all day and go a week without seeing another person besides their significant other, but it’s important to get out there, stay in touch, meet people and learn. I try to take a break about mid-day to go running or do some sort of exercise and get up out of my chair. I find that’s really helpful, not only for the creative process but also mentally. It gets me thinking a little bit more clearly and helps me be more productive when I get back to my office.

AWC Austin: How did you hear about AWC Austin? When did you become a member? Why did you initially choose to join?
LA: I became a member very quickly after I left my full time position at the engineering company in Seattle. I was looking for a supportive community of women where I could ask questions and just feel like I was part of something. I heard about AWC and immediately thought it was for me. I joined AWC Seattle in September of 2010 and jumped on a committee for their holiday program. Spending time with members in a smaller group environment made it easy to get to know people.

AWC Austin: Are there any major differences between AWC Seattle and AWC Austin?
LA: What surprises me about the two groups is they have such a similar feel. Of course, being the same organization the missions are the same, but both feel similar: the warmth, openness, and approachability of the members makes it easy for someone like me to just feel at home.

Size is a big differentiator: the Austin chapter is much larger than the Seattle chapter, and as a result there are more committees and activities in Austin. Though different, the quality of networking and referrals are equal. No matter how big or small or where you are, networking and referrals are core traits of the group and a major benefit of joining.

AWC Austin: When creating content for the web/print pubs/etc, what are your go-to resources? How do you get started?
LA: My projects end up being pretty different. I’ll write an article one day, then a landing page the next. I think the thing I always want to circle back to, and am always asking my clients, is who is the audience? The audience is the number one consideration – who is reading it? That will change everything. It will drive how long the piece is, the formatting, how technical it should be, how non-technical it should be, and it does go back to my journalism training. It’s my job to look out for the reader in a way. Your client wants content, but you’re also trying to be a bit of a devil’s advocate. They may want to write about a subject one way, but what are the readers really looking for? What questions will readers have that we need to answer right here and now BEFORE going to print/publishing? It’s our responsibility to content creators to do that. We’re the only ones in the reader’s corner at that point.

AWC Austin: From what we’ve read on your Twitter, you are a big Betty White fan. Can you describe some of her recent successes that appeal to you most? (Or are you an old school Golden Girls fan?)
LA: I’d say I’m more of an old school fan. I am old school Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mama’s Family and of course Golden Girls. The four girls in my dorm room were watching Golden Girls all the time! Betty White’s just great. She never changes and it’s kind of like comfort food on TV for me. Betty White’s gonna be Betty White, it doesn’t matter what’s going on in the world.

AWC Austin: Where do the best ideas come from?
LA: I think the best ideas come from creating a new idea out of two other ideas. They come from paying attention, and really connecting the dots in a way that no one else is doing. You can’t do that unless you are reading the news and as much of it as you can.

AWC Austin: What is your favorite live music venue/theater/etc in Austin?
LA: My husband and I enjoy jazz so we have made it down to the Elephant Room a few times since we’ve been back in town.

AWC Austin: Do you have a favorite lunch spot?
LA: I love County Line on the Hill on Bee Caves. It has a beautiful view and I have 7 years of BBQ I need to catch up on!

AWC Austin: Personal motto?
LA: “Make it work,” the Tim Gunn quote from Project Runway. It’s applicable to so many things. To me it means be resourceful: no matter what is thrown at you, there’s a way to make something out of it. It’s a good motto to have, especially for anyone who has to give themselves self direction.

AWC Austin: What inspires you? A movie? Someone you know?
LA: Women inspire me. I find that I work a lot with women. I’m in a lot of professional organizations that have female memberships. I try to surround myself with very passionate, talented women who are just awesome role models. I’m fortunate to have had opportunities to work with women I want to be like. My role models inspire me, even today, and we keep in touch. Now that I’m in Austin I’m still finding those women.

AWC Austin: How do you see the communications industry changing and do you have any tips or insights about today’s communication scene?
LA: No matter what changes in communication — new media, social media, mobile delivery — staying true and authentic with yourself, your clients, and your readers, will never become obsolete. It’s hard work. You can’t get lazy or careless. It takes research, interviews, fact checking and empathy for the reader that enables you to anticipate questions they’ll have and get them the information they need to be informed customers, members, residents, citizens – whatever the issue might be. Leaving out details is deceptive and misleading. Readers will remember it and you’ll lose trust. That can be a death sentence to any company — whether it’s a one-person shop or multinational organization or a government. And with the explosion of social, mobile devices, blogging platforms, YouTube, it’s getting tougher and tougher to cover up deception. I’m so glad to see that people are demanding transparency because everyone should be held accountable.

AWC Austin: Any words of wisdom for new or seasoned communicators starting (or restarting) a career?
LA: Word of advice to students: get a mentor. Find somebody who inspires you and that you want to emulate in a way, whether it’s what they’re doing or how they approach life and work. I think something that eventually happens is you go on your way and have various jobs, but if you do not have that mentor it’s easy to get a little bit lost, and lose what it is that you’re trying to do and what drives you.

If changing gears: even if you’ve been doing something for a while that doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind and do something else. That learning process is ongoing, it’s just a matter of finding that “thing” that drives you, that you want to do next, and pursuing it and not thinking that there’s a point in your life where it’s too late to do that or that that door is closed to you for any particular reason. It’s not. It’s all about your mindset.

Lauren Appa’s Resource Rundown:

New York Times
Twitter
Austin Business Journal
Pulse (news app for the iPad)
NPR (I use the iPad app to stream radio from different cities, playback interviews and read articles)