Loren and I met on Zoom in early 2021. I was 23 at the time, and she had recently started her first business called The Commons. It was an online education company that allowed students to enter or accelerate their careers in tech. Its charm? A focus on mentorship and community.
During the pandemic, Loren successfully created a lively and authentic learning space. One that serendipitously led me to respond to a Slack message in The Commons group about helping a startup founder with his marketing, which led to me becoming friends with said founder, who introduced me to my friends in Miami. A bit confusing, maybe, but the takeaway was that meeting people or networking didn’t have to feel transactional—it could be friendly and mutually beneficial.
That was Loren’s goal after all.
Today, as always, I consider Loren exceptional. She’s well-spoken, graceful, and gives reasonable and encouraging advice. A year ago, I called her to ask if 52 Friends made me look like a loser. “Why?” she asked, confused. “Anyone who thinks that is a loser.”
Unafraid to be challenged, her company, The Commons, was acquired in 2023. Since then, she’s become a mother to two daughters, and in the summer, we met for coffee while her six-week-old daughter Rosie slept in the stroller beside.
“Having a newborn is lonely,” she admits. Explaining that it’s because of the all-consuming nature of caring for a baby. “I do have a lot of help, though.”
Loren is glad she was able to raise funding and experiment with business before having kids, but shares that her priorities have shifted. “There are a lot of great businesses that would allow me to be a leader in the community and generate stability for my family. That’s what I’ve been looking into,” she says.
“I’ve always seen you as someone optimistic. How do you maintain that optimism?” I ask.
“That’s interesting because I wouldn’t consider myself to be optimistic. I think I’m realistic. Unfortunate things happen to everyone; that’s part of life. It happened to me,” she says, alluding to the sudden passing of her father in 2020. “Obviously, we need to take the time to heal, but it’s important to move on.”
“Being realistic means knowing that it’s smarter to look at the good things to come,” I expand. “And being grateful for what we have.”
“When something happens, the friends who are there for us, those relationships grow,” she says.
“How have your friendships changed now that you’re a mother?” I ask Loren.
“I was never the kind of person who had one best friend, but we spend more time with friends who have children, and those who don’t, those friendships have stayed the same,” she says.
Her eldest daughter, Mikaela, who is only two, has a best friend at daycare named Ava.
“If we buy something for her, she’ll say, ‘and one for Ava.’ They’ve told us it’s rare for children this young to have such close friendships,” says Loren.
A sign of her intelligence. Like mother. Like daughter, I assume.
“I’m excited to see Mikaela and Rosie’s friendship develop as sisters. I have a brother, and there are certain topics that I think only sisters can talk about. Even mother-daughter relationships are different, there are some things you don’t tell your mom,” says Loren.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I always knew the woman I wanted to be.”
― Diane Von Furstenberg