Who is Lionfish Lauren?

Hello! I am Lionfish Lauren and am a local business owner in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

I grew up in Vienna, Virginia and started my love for the outdoors and waterways at a very young age. I grew up at the beach on the weekends as a baby; my family owned a a boat with our neighbors that we rode often on the Potomac; I traveled to South Carolina to visit with my Grandma where my sister and I took Kayak lessons and went white water rafting; As a family we often traveled to the Caribbean and Bahamas for all kinds of water adventures.

When I could start making my own decisions, like where to work, my first job was with Atlantic Kayak Co in Alexandria, VA and Fort Washington, MD where I had the opportunity to experience all different styles of kayaks for different types of excursions, weather, and skill levels. I began to outfit people who were avid kayakers or just starting their journey to a new hobby. I myself was learning more everyday and eventually became a lead guide in the summers for the company when I was only 16.

During the school year I was a competitive athlete. I was a rower for my high school as well on the Tennis team… Now here’s a curve ball to my background I am also a professional musician. I grew up playing Violin and French Horn. So when I wasn’t at work, or team practice I was in rehearsal somewhere. So if I am not outside, you may hear me comment on my music or hear about me discuss the rhythm of the water and the waves when I am outside. There is sound in nature and it is beautiful.

So at a very young age, with a very busy and demanding schedule, that I made for myself – my parents never forced me only encouraged my young ambitious self, time management is key. Now when you are really good at time management you also become very good at procrastination or working well under pressure. But that’s a story for another time…

Let’s fast forward a bit… You got the start of my Kayaking adventures.. well how did I get to Florida?

After Rowing DI at George Mason University and getting my BA in Music, I made the decision to go for a Masters and chose the University of Miami for my future! In 2011 I graduated with my Master’s of Science in Education for Sport Administration. At first I thought I would go into a full time collegiate coaching career, but Florida stole my heart and I haven’t left.

In 2011, I started working for the company I now own, Blue Moon Outdoor Center in North Miami FL. I worked as a guide and in corporate sales building up customers to do corporate teambuilding and monthly events. Eventually I was encouraged by several people who were close in my life that I needed a “Big Girl Job”…. So I applied, and applied and applied and applied…. finally got a snag. FedEx.

I left Blue Moon, temporarily, not even really, I still helped with events on the side, but now my blood was running Orange and Purple. FedEx gave me a ton of knowledge in working with different industries, learning about decision makers, different ways to penetrate clients, working with peers, fostering healthy competition, and how to keep moving up in the world. I worked there until I didn’t. Haha 3.5 good years with them was invaluable but I was ready to go back to the small business world. Corporate life was difficult for me. I wanted to help everyone, operations, sales, marketing… but in the corporate world your job is what you’re hired for and you need to stay in your corner.

I ended up working for two small software companies after that building up sales teams in different industries and building sales handbooks and helping people with cold calling over the phone to face to face sales presentations with enterprise level customers. I was so efficient at these companies, I started making my way back to the water.

In 2017, the previous owner of Blue Moon and I partnered up and went after the City of Fort Lauderdale to reestablish the Blue Moon name and business in Broward County.

And so the adventure has continued over the past 2.5 years and will continue to do so…

Follow my blog here to understand how we got that contract and what it entails to work with a City and how I have grown the business since then.

Lionfish Lauren

And so the adventure begins….