I'm Lauren, a 21-year-old journalist from North London. 

I knew from about the age of 16 that I wanted to get into journalism but it took me two years to pluck up the courage to actually write. I pitched my first music review to an online blog called Sicka Vision (now defunct) and got into the habit of writing about recent releases and started my own column 'Reload It' to house my articles within the Sicka Vision site. 

I thoroughly enjoyed music and particularly discovering new artists, so with a friend I met in college, we created a radio show for Wizard FM. The show, An Hour Underground, showcased 'underground' music from upcoming artists and provided them with a platform to reach new audiences. We were lucky enough to conduct interviews with innovative rapper Trezzor,  BBC Introducing Artist of the Year, Nia Archives and beautiful soul singer BINA.

My stint in radio was fun but after a year of An Hour Underground, I chose to focus on written journalism. I stuck to writing about music and culture, practicing and perfecting my craft, which eventually led to me being featured in the likes of gal-dem, NME and Clash and landing roles as a regular contributor at Frontline Magazine and Mixtape Madness.

I've started to explore hair and beauty journalism more, having had the opportunity to write for Refinery29 UK, Refinery29 Unbothered and stylist Melissa's Wardrobes' blog, It's A Lifestyle Hun. As well as forming reviews and opinion-pieces, I share my thoughts, tutorials, tips and hacks via my Instagram Reels and TikToks.

Whilst working freelance, I completed my Journalism degree at the University of the Arts London and landed a job at Reach PLC as part of their new Optimisation team, where I created surveys and widgets and optimised evergreen, SEO content. After an exciting two-month secondment with the Showbiz team, I joined the Daily Star as a Showbiz and TV reporter.