Meet Lauryn Lee: Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lauryn Lee and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauryn, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“Not one of us was here when this house was built. Our immediate ancestors may have had nothing to do with it, but here we are, the current occupants of a property with stress cracks and bowed walls and fissures built into the foundation. We are the heirs to whatever is right or wrong with it…

And any further deterioration is, in fact, in our hands.”

– Isabel Wilkerson, Pulitzer Prize winner and author

This quote means a lot to me. It’s become part of my mission statement for The Frequency House.

The analogy that Isabel Wilkerson writes, creates the perfect visual for the current state of our experiences in our country, and inspires me to create business practices that support communities of color.

I believe that we all have the responsibility to address how we’re treating our “foundation”, which encompasses our neighborhoods, relationships, networks, and businesses.

There’s accountability in how we operate our businesses to ensure that we’re either helping people or putting cracks in our foundations. From decisions on how we treat our customers to make sure they feel good and safe in our spaces to financial decisions like which vendors we work with or what software programs we allocate budgets to, entrepreneurs make choices on a daily basis that create impacts much bigger than we think.

We have the responsibility to dive deeper and decide who we’re working with, and why. Even further, which customers we’re servicing and why.

What should our readers know about your business?
The Frequency House is a WOC-owned BIPOC marketplace that sells gifts and apparel exclusively created by BIPOC brands and founders.

One of my financial goals is to directly support projects that positively impact communities of color across the country by profit sharing.

Thus, customers’ purchases help fund the dollars that are given to BIPOC creatives and projects!

It’s important to spend our dollars consciously. I believe that supporting BIPOC-founded brands and companies is one of the best ways to be better allies for communities of color. Putting your money where your mouth is helps bridge the gap between minority groups. It’s an effective way to show your support on a day to day basis.

I’ve launched The Frequency House as a vessel to demystify our assumptions about each other, and to value collaboration over individualism. On the blog and social media, I speak on topics about racism, bigotry, and stereotypes. In particular, I focus on deconstructing anti-Black sentiments in the Asian community in order for us to break this cycle of communal prejudice. I celebrate Black creators and entrepreneurs as well as Asian trailblazers.

I believe that we can come together as minorities, and focus on the true adversary rather than perpetuate the conflicts that exist among us, which is white supremacy.

Now more than ever, we need to take care of each other and we need to continue the meaningful discourse about our different, but related histories. We minorities are more connected than we think, and often times used as wedges against each other. I am hopeful that if we’re able to do the daily work to fight against white supremacy, we can transform the tensions between us into positive energy.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Our itinerary would include:

Food:
Poppy + Rose in DTLA
Openaire at The Line Hotel in Koreatown
The Little Red Hen Coffee Shop in Pasadena
Bone Kettle in Pasadena
Rascals Teriyaki Grill in Torrance

Shopping:
Melrose Trading Post
Rose Bowl Flea Market
Wasteland

Drinks:
Potions and Poisons in Koreatown

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I dedicate my shoutout to my partner Julian. He is somebody with insanely creative ideas, and has his ear on the ground with what’s going on in our local communities. He keeps me focused and inspired to constantly remember the “why” behind what I do, and is always encouraging me to keep moving forward.

As an entrepreneur, it gets difficult to stay self motivated in the beginning stages of a business because you don’t see wins every single day. There are actually more losses in the beginning, and these Ls could last for a while.

Having a partner who understands my mission and gives me the encouragement I need to succeed is something that I will always be grateful for.

Website: https://www.thefrequencyhouse.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefrequencyhouse

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefrequencyhouse

Image Credits
Lauryn Lee