Latest / Mama Making Podcast / Lauren Sims | Baton Baton: The Members Club for Teens That's Building the Mental Health Movement Nobody Else Started

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Lauren Sims | Baton Baton: The Members Club for Teens That's Building the Mental Health Movement Nobody Else Started · Mama Making Podcast

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to the Mama Making Podcast, where we share stories of moms making impact in their own lives and in the world around them.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Jessica, and each week I sit down with women who are building businesses, leading communities, shaping culture, and redefining what success looks like inside of motherhood.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because motherhood does not have to stop your ambition.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: It can transform it.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's get into it.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone and welcome to the Vama Making Podcast.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Jessica.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: If you're new, welcome.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not new, then welcome back.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Today I am so excited to have Lauren Sims on the podcast.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Lauren moved from Miami to LA 20 years ago and built a career designing environments for brands, events, pop-ups, dinners, concerts, you name it, developing deep expertise in how physical spaces shape human behavior.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now she is applying everything she knows to what she believes is the most urgent problem facing parents right now, the teen mental health crisis.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: Baton Baton is launching this fall in Los Angeles.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: It is a social house for kids ages 11 to 14, a physical space with creative labs and mental health exploration built in, designed to give teens somewhere to go that isn't a screen, a scroll, or a performance.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: It is a movement and she is building it from the ground up.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome, Lauren.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being here.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: Hi, thank you so much for having me.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so tell me a little bit more about you, who you are, where you're from, whatever you would like to share.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm Lauren Sims.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up in Miami, as you mentioned, moved to Los Angeles with the intention of pursuing entertainment to some degree.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't long before I found my way to experiential.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: I started in TV and film, that sort of thing, and then found my way to which is essentially when brands want to communicate with their audience, um, what those strategies are and how they get executed.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: So what I became an expert in studying experiential is how environment shapes behavior.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: When brands want to communicate with an audience, whether it's a product launch or a brand partnership or anytime they want to be out in the public sphere, the intention is that there is an objective at hand and then they want consumers or press or whoever to feel that intention and then act on it.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: So for example, if a brand is launching a product, let's say a uh FX or Fox is launching a new TV show, maybe they'll take that to South by Southwest and create an experience.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: And our job as experiential creators or producers is to consider what's happening at South by Southwest, where these people have been before, what might entice them to stay with us a little bit longer and to do whatever it is we want them to do, whether that's um watch a clip of the show or watch the entire first episode and fall in love with it and then post about it or come to a second event or whatever the objective is.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: We are designing spaces with the intention of making people, usually consumers, feel what it is we want them to feel, move through the space the way we intended, and then do the thing at the end, whether it's post about it or, you know, become a lifelong advocate or whatever that objective is.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: How did you fall into this?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's a really strange, there's no major for this sort of thing.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: Essentially, I'm one of those people who's all I think I've been built for this my whole life.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: The concept of I was a kid who was really into choreography.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: I was a dancer as a little girl, and I was like, okay, what am I feeling?
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then what do I want to impart with this community?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I would like choreograph pieces that that were based on like books I read, or um, yeah, that were intended to invite people into my universe.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: And that really wasn't a far stretch from the universe of Experiential.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: What happened for me is I started in film and TV and I was like, okay, this is interesting, but I don't feel connected to it personally.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then I moved into event production, which was similar and it was really organic for me, having worked in a corporate entertainment space.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: But what happened there was it felt a little cookie cutter and like a bunch of checkboxes.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then I found my way into experiential, which is really spatial storytelling.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, I can like perceive an objective, curate what it feels like to move through something, build it, and then watch people move through it and feel those things.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: So then I became integrated into the sort of storytelling by by way of being the storyteller.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I I think it it's always just been very organic for me.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: What are some of the projects that you've worked on and what like paint us a picture of what some of the things have looked like?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: One of the very early notable projects I worked on was the Vanity Fair Social Club.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so easy to explain.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I use this as a reference all the time.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: But Vanity Fair at the time, this was ages ago, Vanity Fair at the time wanted to have a ubiquitous relationship with entertainment.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: With, I don't remember if it was filmed directly or entertainment, but Vanity Fair wanted to be synonymous with entertainment.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: So their plan was to host at the Oscars, around the Oscars.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: And it was right at the beginning of influencer, I don't even remember what they were called then.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but we created a social club a block from the Oscars for the entire week leading up to the Oscars.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: And we invited about 150 influencers to come in and work as they would.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: They had their laptops, um, walked in the door, they checked in, and then they were provided all these opportunities within the space to write and photograph and engage with content.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: So we had programming all day long.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: So different like folks would come in and speak about Oscar predictions.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: We would have fashion folks and musicians and different groups coming in and talking about what they could anticipate or what they were noticing about the industry.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_02: We would have partners like Grey Goose would take over the Vanity Fair Cafe at a Vanity Fair salon, and a different brand would come in and host the Vanity Fair salon each day.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: So you could book for like eyebrow appointments or blow dry, there was a blow dry bar, and you could sign up for these things, and you were getting exposure to these brands all day long.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: So every nook and cranny of the space was like living and breathing, and you would get a chance to move through them and feel whatever it is you they wanted you to feel, walk away with that objective, but you were getting what you needed too.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: So it was this beautiful symbiotic relationship where everyone was getting their needs met and it was like grandiose and beautiful and thoughtful and every day leading up to the Oscars.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: And then as a result, tons of content got disseminated on the internet from every single influencer.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: We had access Hollywood on site, shooting every day.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: It was very alive and did its job of making Vanity Fear synonymous with entertainment.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: I and you painted the perfect picture.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: I had the exact image of what it looked like to me.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And having a mix of I used I I have a background in nonprofit and I also did weddings and events.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: So I was I was deep for a very long time.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you know the nuances.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it sounds like a mix of like Soho House meets a Wii work and then having entertainment involved in there as well.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds super cool.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for that one, we actually did take over a Wii Work.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: So it was like that kind of a build-out where there were like mini rooms and it was really exploratory.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: So tell me where that took you throughout the last few years and how it brought you to Batonba.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: So over my career, I did Vanity Fair Social Clubs for so many brands in so many different respects.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: We did concerts and after parties and immersive spaces at South by Southwest.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: We did stuff at Fashion Week, we did stuff at Coachella, like the breadth was astronomical.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and as I was like going through that, the industry itself was changing a lot too.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: And when I started, it was like, let's throw five guys out of a helicopter holding Stax Fith Avenue bags.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: It was like we could do anything we wanted.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: There were no restrictions at all.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: And then as time passed, it was like brand, makeup brand, beauty brand A would come to us and be like, I want the photo booth that Beauty Brand B had last week.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: And all of a sudden, we got it got really contained and it got really predictable.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I think what was so exciting and adventurous about the industry at the beginning was flat learning.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: And the industry has gone a lot of places over the years.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: But at that time, I was like, there has to be a place where this expertise, this concept that environment can shape behavior, there has to be a place where this can be better utilized.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's such a beautiful craft, and we're using it for consumerism.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: And that was 2018-2019.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I was playing around with likepreneurial company.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: Where can I take this expertise where it could be useful and it could also be meaningful for me?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: And at the end of 2019, obviously, I was messing around with the entrepreneurial stuff, and it was really fulfilling, and then COVID hit, and life got really quiet and experiential.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: And that was my chance to really take inventory of what about my career had been really fulfilling and meaningful, and what about it did I wish was a little bit tweaked, and what how could I use that to create something big and new and different?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I had come across a statistic that that suicide rates in the 20 years priors um had had increased, that they had tripled.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: So they had increased 200%.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: And that sounded outrageous to me.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: As a person who was an adult through the social media evolution and culture, I had a pretty charming childhood.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: I was like in the yard, I went to my dance class, I didn't have social media and stuff watching it with an adult lens.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_02: As I was mastering this craft around environment, I was like, okay, I see an issue here and I think I might have a thing that could really be helpful.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's where it started.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: During COVID, I was like, should I build a business plan while I'm just sitting around?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Which is this an opportunity?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's how I moved from that to this.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's so awesome.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: How did how did you transform what things look like for you after COVID?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always fascinated to know how people pivot and move differently after that crazy year, two-year period.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's funny because when I think about it, there was never a time in my life where I had this much control.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: Even if COVID was not my control, I was working for a person.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't choose my time off.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: I never knew when I was gonna work late and not be able to make my dinner.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: I had a really lated life.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: And COVID was the first chance I had to be like, okay, if this is the goal that I want, these are the steps I'm gonna take to get there.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: And so I had this zoomed-out lens.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I, of course, you don't really know how it's actually gonna go, but I was like, okay, when I move back into the workforce, I'm going to take these types of jobs that will allow me the chance to build this business slowly and deliberately.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, I'm gonna take jobs that either pay very well, or I'm gonna take jobs that aren't full-time, or I'm gonna take jobs that don't take so much brain power for me that I have a chance to really focus on learning what I need to learn and building the network I need to build to be able to get to this place.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: And it didn't go exactly as planned, but certainly I did land where I wanted to ultimately.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it's so interesting.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: COVID was so revealing for I think all of us, but I think but it was a good time for all of us to take inventory of what we wanted and what we wanted our lives to look like.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it sounds like you definitely ran with that.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Get into the mental health side of things, how mental health became so illuminated during COVID, and then what you saw on your end from experiential how you feel in a space, how those things started to come together for you.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of ways to address that question.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: I think when the industry came back, it was very different.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: Not separate from the teen mental health crisis.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like I think everyone, it's been a long time since the whole world had a shakeup, you know?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: War is the like we as American culture were really hesitant to step back into the world.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: There was a lot of calculated risk taking.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: There was a lot of very slow pacing as we moved back into the workforce.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: And especially as consumers of experiential, we would jump back into brand work and create experiences and people would not come.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_02: It just looked a lot different.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: There were there were a lot more digital incorporations than there had been before.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: We were assuming that a lot of people would live stream in or chime in from home because there wasn't a lot of drive to be out in the community after all this fear had been instilled in us.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: And also, as I'm sure you remember, people come back in and out.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: We were constantly like, it's getting, it's getting hot, it's getting cold.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: How are we, how are we responding to these patterns?
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: And what can we learn about what the CDC is saying?
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it I don't think it ever came back as it was.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: It it looks a lot different now.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: And with that, I think everyone had to be really strategic about where they would spend their money and whether people would want to eat things and all of the nuances of experiential.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: They just the priorities changed and the infrastructure changed.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so with that, how we built everything just really looked different.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: I I remember during COVID, I worked my last nonprofit job in fundraising.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: And our main fundraising engine was live events.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: So having to change the way that we were doing things, COVID was a whole thing in and of itself.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: But when we were able to come back in person, it was things as small as well, we can't do a buffet anymore because nobody wants to share food in that way anymore.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Or the the activation that we're doing has to be really quick.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: So people are moving through and not having to congregate in one area.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, as small as that, in terms of the grander scheme of experience, so much of it changed.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then on a mental health viewpoint of it, that everyone was so mentally exhausted after COVID anyway, that the attention span was so much shorter.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um, like like you said, getting people to come out or wanting to come out was a whole other game.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think when we went back to in person, that very quickly became a reality that not a lot of people are wanting to come out anymore.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: And if they do, none of us know how to interact with each other in the way that we did before.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: It changed so much.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I would love to hear from your end where you were like how you adapted and how you realized there was this mental health thread that needed to be addressed.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't know that experiential necessarily led me there.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: Experiential came back to life.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember we would produce full premieres, million-dollar premieres, and the day before they would just get canceled.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: There was just no way to manage that how the industry would unfold.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: But for me, around mental health, particularly teen mental health, I knew during COVID that this was going to be my track.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I jumped back into experiential, knowing that that would happen.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_02: So witnessing the industry unfold the way it did was interesting.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't know that it pushed me into this further or anything.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: But what I will say is the world is functioning in a lot of ways as if it is in a mental health crisis overall.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_02: Because of COVID, post-COVID, even employees, even my clients were losing their minds.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: There was so much anxiety and turmoil and temper because there was just this underlying hitting our ceiling.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_02: There was just constant discomfort, not just in the workplace, but in life.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so between that in clients and that in bosses, and my intention to build this, like behind the scenes, every moment I was like, man, we really need this.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: Every time something would happen in the regular workplace, I was like, I'm so glad that I saw this then, because every sector seems to really want these tools.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: Even if they don't know it in the moment or don't know what they need, everyone's hitting their ceiling.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: And it was just validating our underground noodling around this concept.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't know that like spiritual pushed me there necessarily, but it was extremely validating to be in that workplace while I was cooking this concept under the table.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me how you narrowed in on teens.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: I was a teen who really needed this support when I was young.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think a lot of these themes that we're promoting inside Baton Baton shaped me as a young adult.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: And if I had access to those when I was 11, the trajectory that my life could have taken.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: I can't even fathom.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: You talk about this with adults all the time.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: And no matter the age, every adult is like, I wish I had this when I was young.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone's like, can I come as an adult?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: And the truth is, everyone does need this stuff.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: When and and listen, our our our we're a members club for early teens.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so we offer many things.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: But the piece that I'm most proud of is the mindfulness part because emotions bubble up in all of us.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: And like once they climb up here and you're ready to explode, what do you do?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: You can lose your temper, you can smoosh it down and pretend it's not there, but it's gonna come back up on its own terms, you know?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_02: Everything about difficult emotions controls you unless you learn how to control it.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: And that's so much of what we're passionate about.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: So the mental health crisis was everywhere.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: But because I knew teen suicide rates were rising, because I knew that they weren't coming down anytime soon, and because I deeply understood what I needed, if I had extreme clarity around what I could do with my expertise to make a really significant impact.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's where this started.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: And also I started to build my network, as I mentioned, and I was working with a number of psychologists, particularly closely with our key clinical advisor, who was basically talking about identity formation in these years, in these 11 to 14 years, and how you like try on these identities.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's the point, that's the exact point where everything comes to a head.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: We joke all the time at Baton Baton about how when you're 11, you're like, I love squishies and I don't care who knows it.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then when you're 14, you look like Kim Kardashian and you have cleavage and you're looking around at the mall and you're like, who's here and who's not?
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: So how do we self-abandon so dramatically in such a short span of time?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then, right, we go to college, we pick our colleges, we pick our majors based on this social conditioning.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: We pick our partners, we pick our careers, and then at 30, we have our sabbatical, we quit our jobs, we drop everything, we start over.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, we don't really all have to go through this, do we?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: I I love that idea of trying on many different faces, essentially, many different, not personality types, but many different identities.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I love seeing that kind of evolution in people.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: And like you said, it's like this textbook thing by 30, you're like, burn it all down, let's start over.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: What did I do?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, what was the moment you were like, I'm doing this, let me get going?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: And then how it all has developed since.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: Wish I had a moment.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: I just, it was a good idea.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: It was a good idea, and I was like, that's all I know.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: All I know is that it's a good idea.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it started as this traveling circus thing, and it it was like very museumic, ice cream inspired at the beginning, where it was like bright color rooms, and you experience something different in each room, and you walk away with knowledge and memories and experience in these modalities, but they're fun and colorful.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: And then I spoke to an investor once who was like, if people like this and it's working, you can't close down and move to a new market.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Okay, fair point.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so I I got I had conversations with different people at different points over the course of six years, and it really honed itself for me and became what it is now, which is essentially a members club for kids 11 to 14.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: The parents secure a membership for their kids.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_02: Their kids get a key card, um, which we're still working on.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's like in a bag charm, or we'll see how it goes.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: But you swipe yourself in the building.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: Only 11 to 14-year-olds are allowed in the building during business hours, except for our staff.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's yours.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: You get in the door, and it's your first chance in your life to just practice growing up.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: Everything's on the table.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: You say the wrong thing, you apologize.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like you, we're all schooled.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: The whole staff is schooled in emotional fitness and active listening, and we're all mandated reporters and CPR and first aid, and all the all the certifications that we need to be able to show up in community as friends, but.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: Be skilled in cueing.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: Who needs what?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: How can we, you know, guardrail and send kids in the right direction and be supportive?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: They'll come in, they'll do their homework.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's a really vibey space.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: They'll love being in the space.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: Everything about it looks like a super high-end adult club, the exception of it being really the furniture is really bright and colorful.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: So the silhouettes, the wallpaper, the bodega, our little cafe in the middle of the room, everything feels very adult because that's what we're doing here.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: And they're meant to walk in and be like, wait, where are the birds and the rainbows?
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_02: They're just, they're used to all this kid stuff.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: But like with the internet and social media, we know that kids have evolved so much.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: And we just haven't caught up experientially.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: So they now have this place where they can do homework, where they can hang out, where they can play chess or backgammon or run a cube.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: And then we have foosball tournaments and pinball and Pac-Man and all the things that we loved as kids.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: And then we have screens for robots tournaments and things like that, which we know are habitually games kids play at home in their bedrooms by themselves.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: Cool, come play it in community.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: We're not shying away from technology.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_02: We're just we're picking the hours that they happen and we're inviting you to do it together with dedicated time.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: I love the idea of trying on young adulthood in a really safe environment.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: I feel, like you said, kids are growing up faster these days, which I feel like an old person saying, but I feel like we're as a culture, our kids are growing up very quickly and they're like learning adult topics and adult emotions and adult everything earlier than I remember learning about things.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if we can allow kit, like you said, that perfect age range between 11 and 14 to really try on being a young adult and doing it in a safe space where it's like trusted people, you can have conversations, you can learn from each other, you can learn from adults in the room, but in a space that's like fun and exciting to be in, I think is a really cool concept.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's so interesting culturally.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, we think so too.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: But like in the 90s, the media went crazy, right?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: Talking about child abductions.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: Keep your kids indoors, hold on to them tight, put them on a leash.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: They're so scared.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: They couldn't do anything.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: And parents really took that to heart.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_02: And as a result, there's so much data about how Gen Z is the most overprotected and under-resourced generation we've ever had.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so as we move out of that, I think parents are even today are so afraid.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_02: When in reality, the number of child abductions were so small relative to the amount of kids who didn't get to play in the art, but go for a bike ride.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: So when we talk about calculated risk, bring them to us.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: We have cameras.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: We have, we have the most state-of-the-art security team I could possibly get my hands on.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: They do like all of the private schools, all the religious institutions.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: We are talking about materiality and backup plans for backup plans and safe rooms and access control and like all the stuff.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, don't you worry about that.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: We've got that part.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like bring them to us and let them mess around and fail and apologize and like try things they've never seen before.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: Because I think when parents start getting acclimated to like re-establishing risk in their kids, which is imperative for childhood development, like we're a great place to start that.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think, I think what you're saying is so interesting.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like we're we're on this overprotection pendulum swing.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think in the in the nine like 80s and 90s, it was like, keep your kids, don't let your kids out of your sight.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I think for good reason.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think that there was like validity to it.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: But I think we're at the point where there's this huge intersection between educating your kids on how to be safe and how to interact in these environments that are unsafe and how to protect yourself from situations.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like this upcoming generation of kids, the Gen Z and even the kids we're raising today, um, I I only have a three-year-old, but we are a little bit more, I think we're hovering less.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: We I think we all still have the same worries as parents, but we're all hovering less, we're having more conversations.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that trust factor is still there.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: Who can I trust with this my heartbeat on the outside of my body?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what you have completely eliminating that barrier of, oh, you can trust us.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Not only can you trust us as people, you can trust our systems and our processes that your child is going to be safe.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like that's a huge barrier for parents.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: I know, again, I only have a barely a toddler.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that being able to put him in a room that I feel like his best interest is at the core of it among this other group of kids whose best interest is number one, I think is a huge barrier that it's just getting eliminated for parents.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we have how much can you control of what kids see and experience online?
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: We are wildly safer than that.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the other thing to keep in mind is that as a kid is developing socially, if they don't like what they're experiencing in a video game or a chat room, they can close it, they can just leave.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: There is no navigating of difficulty and coming out on the other side.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: And those skills in the workplace and relationships and friendships are so imperative.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: And if you don't get a chance to make a mistake and cry through it and apologize and navigate what does integrity mean to me?
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_02: The joke, the the like silly example we use all the time is like if you love your best friend and you have a moment where you gossip about them, right?
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: Your body will feel a little nauseous.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna be like, ooh, you feel great.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_02: And the more we start to listen to our inner alarm bells, our inner compasses, the happier we are surely to be as we move through life, when we make decisions about our majors and our life partners and our careers.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: And so nurturing those inner alarm bells, it sounds so light and unserious when you're 11.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: But the truth is, this is a muscle that we don't get to practice, that we don't get to build anywhere.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: And it's so important that we have that self-trust as we move through the world.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_02: So internet has its advantages.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's easy, it's quick, they can do it anywhere.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: But we really see the value in nurturing this skill set.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think to your point, parents are really struggling from my viewpoint, figuring out we live in a world that's so tech-centric, and every kid has a phone, every kid has an iPad, there's a TV in every every room, their school is on computers.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: How do we get involved in changing that?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what you're doing is it's not changing it, but putting them in the room to experience that and being able to combine that in person, dealing with a problem, solving it together in person, along with that.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Bring that tech to the room, we're gonna learn how to do it together, which I think can be huge in terms of fully equipping your kids and yourself with the knowledge to handle a situation that is uncomfortable, just as you start to navigate as a young adult.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we know it won't be easy.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: Parents and even specialists, we talk to people all the time about banning phones, about what that how attached kids have become to their technology.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_02: And there is no right answer.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: What we know is that if we are a place where kids practice growing up, we are not in the business of restricting them and handcuffing them from all the things that exist in the world.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: Our work as facilitators is really to create experiences that compel them to be in person.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: They have their phones, they are allowed to be on them all day long.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: But if we are not creating opportunities for them to have more fun with us, to learn more things and try new things, like pick up a new instrument, connect with a new person, produce their own podcast, then we're not doing our jobs.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_02: So the whole point of this is yes, you do have a phone.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: You can sit your first two weeks and be on your phone all day long.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: But in the meantime, we have trivia happening, we have tournaments happening, we're giving away gift cards, we have special guests in the house, we're bringing in like music producers and artists and like, you know, YouTube, YouTubers they already follow, and like people that they idolize with the intention of getting them in person.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: So this is an experiment that no one has tried yet.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: So we're very excited to get our hands in here and really explore what it means to teach accountability but before they've had a a chance to taste it yet.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: You talked a little bit about community and creating a network.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Why have you chosen LA?
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the LA is a really LA is a city that's used to change.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: And LA is a really evolved place to live.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_02: We oftentimes get the first of everything.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: Every company has a location here.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: No, every piece of technology has their beta here.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uber and Waymo, and like we got everything pretty early.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: And this community is pretty good at adapting.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: We endeavor to grow nationally.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: And LA, given I spent 20 years building a career here and have a network here, and given my relationship with the community here, I really know how to do this well here.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's a great case study for us to understand kids, to watch them, to study them, to really engage with our parent council and get to know the needs really well before we step into territories that have more nuances.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: But we do have our eyes in territories that that will be new to us that we're starting to really hone in on because I think a lot of markets could really benefit from this expertise.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: So you guys are planning to launch in the fall.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me what this looks like.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: So pre-sale, well, so what I will say is that permitting is we're in our third round of permitting and praying to the city permit gods that they're on our team this round.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_02: The hope is that we open in October, maybe November, and everything will open all at once.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: So our creative labs, which are our content studio or podcast studio, and our music production studio, all of our classes will open right on time.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: We have foundational classes and we have specialty classes.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: So foundational classes are included in the membership, and they're like yoga and dance, breakdancing and hit classes, you know, other fitness classes.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_02: We have meditation and sound baths, we have drum circles with indigenous drums and creative writing and art classes, which are like innovative art classes, cool art classes like graffiti and resin and that kind of thing.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: We're doing the life work with exhibitions at the end of the semester, and it's really meant to be inventive and reflect self-exploration.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so anyway, we've got the classes, we've got the labs, we've got solo reset rooms, which are like a chance for you to privately explore some of this stuff.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like if you want um to check out meditation, but you don't want any pressure, you want to do it all by yourself.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: We have these little soundscape meditation rooms where you can go in and listen to nature sounds.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: There's plants in there and lights, and it's cold, and you can book that for 10, 15 minutes and check it out.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: We have a red light therapy room, which is the same thing.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: You jump out of this catamaran net and turn on the panel and see how that feels.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_02: We have a coloring kiosk where you can sit in front of a TV and trace psychedelic video art with watercolor, and it's just meant to stop you from ruminating.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: And all of these tools are meant to be tools that you can take.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, if your parents are fighting or your siblings are really loud, or you're waiting to find out if you got into college.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: All of these tools will really serve you if you have them in your tool belt.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_02: So we're meant to just be a practice brand for that thing.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: And then, and then the stage.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a stage in the lounge where we host workshops and panels and live music performances, and we keep talking about bringing in Olympians and nutritionists and talking about, okay, we know nutrition's not cool when you're 11, but if you have soccer tryouts tomorrow, what are you gonna have for dinner tonight?
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: So just the real, just really basic introductions in formats that kids really do care about at this age to things that we hope they will care about as they look after themselves as they move through their lives.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's so amazing.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: I I love everything that baton baton is going to be.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_01: Where what is your big dream?
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: What do you what do you hope for baton baton?
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_02: I to be honest, I think this is a movement already.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_02: I heard it, but there has been wrestling in the leaves for a minute.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_02: I think that people are thirsty for this.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I hope to be the first brick and mortar that like awakens the movement and like gets those leaves really wrestling.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I hope more companies step in and do this too.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: I hope that we can have more like conferences and conversations and research and like shine more of a spotlight on what really can make an impact as opposed to continuing to talk about the dangers.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_02: What does a safe place mean in 2026, 2027?
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: I I think that we can do this really well.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it starts with listening to kids 11 to 14 and making them feel seen and heard for who they are today and not for who we were then, and then continuing to create that space.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_02: Who do they want to hear from?
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think when when you think about it, we all remember being that age.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_02: Anything going wrong is the end of the world.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_02: Your girlfriend held somebody else's hand at a party and your whole universe is collapsing.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: If we can give context to adversity and struggle, just being a part of the story of every successful person's story, it doesn't carry so much weight.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_02: You need that.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_02: We all need that to be great.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_02: So the more kids, the more like of their role models they can hear from, the more of these stories they can repetitively get acclimated with, the less power these little moments will have on their lives.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so our intention is just to be more and more ubiquitous in the world in more and more formats so that they have the perspective and the tools and the resources they need, despite their developing brains.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, tell people where they can find baton baton, where they can find social media, website, whatever you'd like to share.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: So we're batonbaton.us, and that's b-a-t-o-n-b-a-t-o-n.us, and we are that's our website and that's our Instagram.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: And you can find us at either of those places.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_02: We are located in Sherman Oaks in the valley in Los Angeles.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: We will be opening in the fall, somewhere between October, November, Christmas, somewhere in there.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, hit us up.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: We would love to chat.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_02: Parents, specialists, practitioners, musicians, like anyone who has a passion for this work.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: We are so committed to advancing this sort of movement and doing our part to make sure these kids get seen and heard and grow into people they're really proud of.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I love this.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited to see you guys launch and look forward to keeping track of where everything goes.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we'll have to have you visit when you come to LA.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to.
• 38:32
  unknown: Yeah.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: Well you come and you can do your podcast in our podcast takes space.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_01: I would love to.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for your time.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate you sharing your story and baton baton with me and my listeners.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's been such a pleasure.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: If this conversation resonated with you, I'd love for you to follow the podcast wherever you listen and share it with another mom building something meaningful.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: If you want deeper behind the scenes reflections that I don't share anywhere else, join my email list at the Mama Making Podcast.com.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being here, and I'll see you next time.