Q&A with Lindsey of LLScene
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Lindsey and was born in Philadelphia (Go Eagles!) but have lived most of my life in Boca Raton but currently live in Delray Beach. I was an English/Creative Writing Major at Florida State University and recently “started over” at the ripe old age of 33, while most of my friends are married with 2 kids by now. I love my dog, Bean, Halloween, and working out - on my Peloton, LOL I’m one of the Co-Founders of LLScene.
My business partner, Lilly, and I started our business as a fashion, beauty, and lifestyle blog 6 years ago because frankly, we were sick of people messaging us and texting us for recommendations and thought a one-stop platform like a blog would be perfect for that. My background is in Public Relations and Journalism so 1 year into our launch we implemented full-service Public Relations and Social Media Marketing services into our company. I personally specialize in Social Media Marketing for the wellness and skincare industry.
What is an obstacle you have overcome or may still be struggling with daily?
It literally changes every day, especially with the world we are currently living in. Every day I wake up and there’s something new in the media that could potentially compromise the success and growth of my clients and my company as well.
What are you doing to achieve your goals or overcome your obstacles?
Honestly? Figuring it out as I go. It’s all we can really do now, right? Durée Ross came out with a great blog post about “pivoting your business” that has really helped me handle my clients and “talk them off the edge” so to speak. I’m learning to quickly adjust with the times and figure out ways to shift the narrative so what we do remains relevant. For example, one of my clients is XO8 Cosmeceuticals, which is a high-end luxury skincare company. We came up with a campaign called #MaskForMask where we donated over 500+ 24K Gold Placenta Stem Cell Masks to doctors, PAs, and nurses at NYC hospitals. The ingredients in these masks having healing elements that can really help with the pain and deep lines that come with wearing N-95 masks all day. Not only did we want them to feel better, but we wanted to bring some kind of normalcy and give back as well. I’m doing that a lot with my clients, “what can we be doing RIGHT NOW to remain relevant during COVID-19?” Call it insensitive if you want, but we’re all doing what we can to “survive” these days in more ways than one.
Share a story about the funniest mistake you’ve made. Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Oh gosh, I’m sure I have more embarrassing mistakes, but this one sticks out the most in my head. It’s exceptionally embarrassing because I was an English Major at Florida State University. It was the summer of my senior year and the first week of my internship at Travel + Leisure Magazine in New York City. I was responsible for re-writing and converting travel-related press releases into articles for their website. This press release, in particular, was about the unexpected SPIKE in sales during the grand opening weekend of an extremely high-end resort in the Caribbean. Instead of writing that their sales increased, I wrote that their sales plummeted. Needless to say, I was brought into the Editors office for a lecture on paying closer attention and a slap on the wrist. This definitely taught me to slow down, which is something I continue to struggle with today.
Do you have any favorite quotes or life mottos you live by? How does it relate to your life?
“Fake it & ‘till ya make it” has always been something Lilly and I have said, especially when we started off! At the start of launching our business, you would think we were living the most lavish lifestyle with luncheons at elite clubs and resorts in South Florida, trips to the Hamptons...etc, but the truth is, we struggled for a while to make a true name for ourselves and can say it has truly worked out. I’ve also been through a lot in my personal life this past year but only my closest confidants really know the nitty-gritty of it all, ;).
I’ve done my best to keep it together during the toughest times so from an outsider looking in you would never know. I guess that has a lot to do with my PR background!
Do you have any routines to keep you on track toward your personal goals or success?
I’ve been a planner my entire life, so I always try to plan 1-2 months out for PR and social media campaigns for my clients, which gives me more time to seek new opportunities for my clients and grow LLScene.
What advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?
Cherish every single moment. When I was 20, I was living in a sorority house at FSU, which was basically living in a dream world I’ll never get back. Embrace this time in your life, capture it, and do whatever you can to fully appreciate it. I definitely had my fun but I wish I would have realized how good I had it back then. Also, don’t get so down on your body, you’ve never been skinnier.
What advice would you give to others?
I know this sounds cliche, but if it scares the shit out of you, do it. Embrace being afraid and doing new things, especially things you know nothing about. Take advantage of these “times” to get yourself in check. Everything is “googleable”.; if you don’t know how to do something chances are, someone has already written an article or tutorial on how to do it and then figure out a way to do it better.
Do you have a mentor or someone who keeps you on track or accountable?
Not so much as a mentor, but my business partner Lilly ALWAYS holds me accountable. Whether it’s in work or in my personal life she will always be there for me and is never afraid to call me out on my bullshit.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful to who helped get you to where you are?
Obviously, my parents are the first people that come to mind. They have always supported me in all my ventures and made sure that I was set up for success at an early age. Not a lot of people can say that, so I’m beyond grateful to constantly have had their love and support throughout the years. They have rarely ever said “no” to me, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.
If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I want to support the #FreeBritney movement, surprised?
Britney’s dad has had conservatorship over her since her meltdown in 2007. Did someone need to intervene then? Yes, but the way it’s been handled throughout the years is utter bullshit. She’s only allowed to do things when it’s financially beneficial and he is the only person that has control over her money. After she was hospitalized, her father was petitioned to be a temporary conservator. Within 6 months of this, she was seen on talk shows, guest appearances, dropped the Womanizer video, and started to promote her Circus album and a worldwide tour that grossed over $131.8 million. I was personally at that concert and she wasn’t the “same” Britney, but that was one of her best albums ever in my opinion.
If she was so “unwell” why would he let her do all of that? Eventually, he was granted permanent conservatorship because she allegedly had signs of early-onset dementia - in her twenties, which is unheard of and ridiculous. It’s a complete control scheme from her father and has been this way for 12 years. All of the information below is from a post that I shared from someone on Facebook by the name Sara Jo Harvey and it all checks out.
Britney Spears is a now 38-year-old woman who is not allowed to do the following without her father’s permission or he can legally lock her up in a mental health facility:
drive a car
vote
get married
have children
spend HER OWN MONEY
see how her money is being spent
see her children (she has 30% custody of both of her boys due to her dad assaulting one of her sons)
leave her home
hire her own lawyer
have any control over her career
speak about the conservatorship publicly
do interviews that aren’t scripted and all final cuts are approved by her father as well
use a cell phone without being monitored
use social media unmonitored
contact ANYONE without being monitored or having them extremely vetted. (Iggy Azalea allegedly had her house searched for drugs top to bottom when they collaborated on a song together)
go shopping
go for a walk
get Starbucks
A conservatorship is meant for people with mental health issues or decaying health. Most likely grandparents or people with actual dementia etc. They are meant for people who literally cannot take care of themselves. If she is so unwell that she isn’t mentally capable of doing anything for herself, why is she still working? Since the conservatorship began 12 years ago she has:
released 4 albums
done 3 worldwide tours
did a FOUR-year Vegas residency
was a full time judge on X-Factor
released multiple perfumes and a lingerie line
made $138 MILLION DOLLARS or so A YEAR
In January of last year, Britney was placed in a mental health facility for 3 months after being seen driving her car to In-N-Out with her boyfriend without permission and for refusing to take the sedating medications her father has doctors prescribing her to keep her under control. She testified to a judge in documents that she was held there against her will by her father. After it was leaked to the press that she was there against her will, the Free Britney movement picked up speed causing a judge to open an investigation into the impact and legality her conservatorship has on her life. Britney’s mother Lynn was also liking and commenting on Free Britney posts saying she agrees that Britney is trapped by her father. Britney’s team had Twitter disable the Free Britney hashtag, and regularly threatens any celebrity that speaks out using the hashtag with a lawsuit if they don’t remove their support for the movement. She was seen shortly after leaving a hotel thru the front door (99% of celebrities park underground to avoid paparazzi unless they WANT to be photographed) stumbling while carrying her shoes, and out of it.
Her team used that moment to justify to the public that she needs this conservatorship. She is not allowed to have any say in the hiring or firing of anyone on her team. Every year she pays $1.1 million dollars in fees for the conservatorship to continue, including paying her father a solid $100k+ salary and paying a lawyer she isn’t allowed to choose. She is allowed an allowance of around $1,500 a week for bills, shopping, and essentials. Her net worth is $250 million.
It also has credited medical articles that back everything up as well. Basically the #FreeBritney movement was started after her bizarre behavior on Instagram really started to escalate. It’s the only thing she has ANY control over whatsoever, so it was started to educate people so they stop making fun of her and help spread the awareness of what’s really going on with her life. She has a court date this month to review the conservatorship and decide if it is abusive or will continue to be in place.
You know how I feel about Britney and I’m sure you feel the same way, this is pure bullshit.
Here is the link to sign the petition, which needs 72,384 signatures by August 8, 2020 to get a response from the White House. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/conservatorship-and-civil-liberties-britney- spears
Who’s with me?
If there is anything else you feel is important to share, please do.
Everyone just chill out, please. The world is a weird crazy place right now and everyone is handling it differently. It’s okay if your mental health isn’t at its best right now, it’s okay if you have different opinions than your friends and loved ones, everything is going to be OKAY. Think about how you want to look back on 2020 in 10-20 years from now and start living your life to get to that point and do your part.