In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Lauren Robinson, a literature and composition professor, former secondary educator, and founder of the pop‑culture news site El Boogie's Pop World. The conversation begins with a sponsor plug for Anchor and Authors Unite, then moves into Lauren’s personal storytelling. She recounts taking over her high‑school newspaper’s entertainment page in 1999, writing a passionate review of the Backstreet Boys’ Millennium album, and how that experience taught her to trust her gut and embrace her quirky interests. Lauren shares her expertise on education, describing practical advice for students transitioning from elementary to middle school, middle to high school, high school to college, and college to real life, emphasizing active engagement rather than parental pressure. Her core business advice is to stay true to one’s interests and not chase trends, a principle she also applies to creative work. When asked about advice to her younger self, she urges continual writing to develop the craft. Discussing happiness, she highlights self‑acceptance, recognizing imperfection, setting boundaries, and surrounding oneself with empowering environments. Lauren recommends the book Brutopia by Emily Chung, noting its revelations about tech founder culture and the importance of women of color in the industry. Her favorite quote is Oscar Wilde’s “Be yourself; everyone else is taken,” which she sees as a guiding mantra. The episode concludes with a rundown of her online presence across Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and her podcast website, inviting listeners to connect.
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Thank you for listening to the Business Blast podcast. So for all my listeners out there that have been wanting to do your own podcast, I'd like to introduce to you Anchor. Anchor is a one-stop shop for recording, hosting, distributing, and monetizing your podcast. So before I found Anchor, I had never actually done a podcast because all the research that I had gathered made it seem very complex. Then I found Anchor, and Anchor makes podcasting extremely simple. So if you want to do your own podcast, go to anchor.fm/start. I can't wait to hear your podcast. Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode. Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Lauren Robinson with us. M.A. is a college literature and composition professor of 10 years. Secondary education language arts educator for 5 years, Columbia University and University of Florida graduate, startup founder of El Boogie's Pop World, a popular culture, media, and community news website based in Miami, Florida, media correspondent, creative, and podcast host. So welcome to the show, Lauren.
Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
Of course. Pumped to have you here. We'll dive into the first one. The first question I have for you, Lauren, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Okay, the one story that was kind of interesting is in high school, I wrote for the school paper called The Beacon and realized I loved writing, et cetera. And the last senior year, the last few months of school, of course, it's senioritis. Everyone's already been accepted to school, so they're kind of not really interested in doing anything. And I took it upon myself, took over the entertainment page of the newspaper. And it's 1999, so I'm a huge, huge Backstreet Boys fan. So I said, and Millennium had just come out. So I totally took over the entertainment page, put my Vibe magazine worthy, Rolling Stone worthy review of Millennium on the front of the entertainment page, as well as a review of a intimate concert video that had just come out around that same time. Everybody at the school hated me. But more importantly, the article that I wrote was more— was talking about not just the Millennium, not just talking about how important Millennium was, but also how they had the longstanding— how Backstreet Boys had this longstanding status as being probably the pop band to watch. And certainly enough, 25 years later, they're going to be performing tonight on The Late Late Show with Stephen Colbert. So I feel like that validates not only my gut, trusting my gut, believing in myself, and embracing the inner weird kid in me. Yes. And so, yeah.
I love it. That is like one of the best stories ever. The next one I have for you, is what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
I think the— I would say education, because I have taught on 3 levels of education of middle, high school, and then upper, and then higher education in college. I have seen kind of like what students really need to have in order to be prepared for each level of education and beyond. A lot of my former students still communicate with me on communicate with me on social media, which is great, and very great supporters of the— and often see them at events and everything. So for me, it's important to kind of give the practical information about what you really need to be ready for, for, you know, the school year that's coming up, whether you're going from elementary to middle school, or you're going from middle school to high school, or you're going from high school to college, or even college to real life. Really being about making your education valuable for you and not just going to school because your parents tell you to go, but to be taking, taking an active interest in your education.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
I would say definitely stay true to your interests and to your Your gut. You know, I, again, I'm an MTV kid, so I love pop culture, but I've also seen what pop culture can be the junk food or can be the healthy meal. And choosing the kind of music or choosing the kind of art that's out that you personally resonate with is very important. And believing in that, that's valuable. And not just going with what the trends are saying, 'cause I tell you, 90% of the week, I don't really necessarily listen to live radio. I'm usually listening to albums on my streaming services. Albums that I know that I love, new albums of artists that I respect, and getting so much content from that, seeing television shows and movies of artists that I respect, and creating these great projects, because they, and then being able to write about it. So I think it's definitely important Stay true to who you are and not follow trends.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
I would say keep writing. Keep writing. You know, there's interest in it. And it's a muscle that you have to continue to work regularly. And again, staying true to your interests and what you find fascinating, what you think would be great to write about, usually it's something that people really like and are really going to gravitate to.
And in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Oh my gosh, this is such a hard question. Oh man, I guess the key to happiness is recognizing that you are not perfect and that you don't— you can't have it all, but that you can get a lot of what you need when you allow yourself to have it. So if, for instance, if you're, you know, you, again, you want to have the things that you're, the things that you love, that makes, that feeds your soul, that empowers you. And that could be whether it's with the job that you're in, the career path you're interested in, the kind of people that are around you. Recognizing what you need to kind of keep you in a strong and competent space and in a positive space and making sure that that environment is, you have that and creating boundaries for people who are places that don't give you that.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Okay. It's like the one book, I'm reading two. So I'm just gonna, all right, I'll just say the one that I'm reading that I really find fascinating. I'm reading Brutopia. Utopia by Emily Chung. It's about the kind of culture that the founders of the big tech companies of Facebook and Instagram and all those big tech companies, what they had, how they were created and how the founders' kind of background, whether it was their college dropouts and the kind of decide who associates themselves with them. And how they were able to ascend to the level of where they are now. And more importantly, finding ways to go within that system and seeing, okay, well, there's something that they're lacking in this. How are they able to— how are women of color and minority entrepreneurs in tech able to find a channel to get into the industry without having to, you know, having to to give up something in the process. And for me, you know, reading about, you know, hearing, I have it on the audiobook and I have them reading it. It really is an eye-opener for a lot of things as far as what, you know, what you've seen in the news, as far as the kind of revelations that, you know, certain founders have been saying, but also it reaffirms this idea that, you know, the importance of women being in the room in these industries. Because when women are in the room, I tell you, 90% of the terrible things that you're hearing about in the news would never happen to those tech industries. So the, you know, all that stuff. So, yeah.
Yeah, no, no. And what is your favorite quote and why?
My favorite quote comes from Oscar Wilde that I have listened— I have had since college. Be yourself, everybody else is taken, is already taken.
I love that.
Yeah.
One of my favorite quotes, I actually, growing up, my mom had that quote hanging up in our house actually. So I saw that pretty often.
Yeah, and for him, you know, I'm a huge fan of Oscar Wilde and all that he had been able to accomplish and being able to kind of hold a mirror up to society, to the snooty rich society of England and Europe saying like, okay, you guys think you're so special, but really you are shallow and pathetic, but you're laughing at it. So it's hilarious, but really I'm making fun of you and everybody else knows it but you.
Yes. Listen, thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where is the best place for people to find and/or connect with you online?
Oh gosh, there's too many places. Okay. Social media. I am on Instagram, elboogiepopworld81. On Tumblr, Elbuggypopworld. On Pinterest, Elbuggypopworld. On Instagram, I said Instagram already. On Snapchat, Elbuggypopworld, no 81, just regular Elbuggypopworld. And Facebook, I have a Facebook page for Elbuggy's Pop World, an actual Facebook page. And Twitter, of course, Elbuggypopworld. So keeping it consistent throughout. And I have also, and again, on those platforms I have the website for my podcast, and I'm actually working on the website right now. So again, I have new episodes that are on my podcast, and if you guys definitely want to hear the events that I've covered, check that out, and look forward to hearing from you. And please be— don't be shy. Say hello. I'm super friendly and promise I won't bite online.
Amazing. Thank you again for coming on. We really appreciate it.
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. You have a great day.
