Laura Whitmore is used to asking the questions. However as a headline speaker for GLAMOUR’s first-ever Empowerment Summit, in partnership with Samsung, Squarespace, and Tinder, she discovered herself within the uncommon place of being interviewed – by none apart from GLAMOUR’s European Editorial Director, Deborah Joseph.
As a TV presenter, radio broadcaster, actor, journalist, podcaster and Sunday Occasions best-selling creator (we might go on…), the label ‘multi-hyphenate’ would not fairly cowl Laura’s huge achievements. And but, she nonetheless finds it bizarre that persons are so invested in her profession journey. “I solely interview people who find themselves much more attention-grabbing than me, so I nonetheless really feel like I am an imposter right here,” she explains.
However, as the remainder of the interview unfolds, it is clear that nothing may very well be farther from the reality. In an enchanting dialog, Laura displays on how she received began within the media business, her first experiences of sexism and paparazzi harassment, motherhood, and why she’s having fun with her post-Love Island profession pivot.
Listed here are all probably the most empowering moments from Laura Whitmore’s interview at GLAMOUR’s Empowerment Summit 2023:
The massive break…
Laura began her profession journey at Dublin Metropolis College, the place she studied journalism. “I come from a small city the place generally lots of people do not essentially go away,” she says. “And I simply wished to see the world.”
Her first journalism gig was as an intern on Newstalk, a nationwide radio information present, which she describes as “so fucking exhausting”.
“Whenever you go in as an intern, you are just like the lowest of the low and doubtless handled a lot worse than interns are in the present day. However I beloved it as a result of it was a studying expertise and I might do plenty of analysis calls, however working in a newsroom is actually exhausting as a result of information shouldn’t be essentially a constructive factor or an excellent factor.”
Laura describes one explicit incident the place she was nervous about attending an editorial assembly and never having something to pitch. “There was a very unhealthy automotive accident on the M50 […] And in my head, I received a bit excited to be like, oh, I’ve one thing to speak about.” This thought inspired her to take a step again. Did she actually wish to be in such a cutthroat surroundings?
“That night time, I bear in mind going house, and I bear in mind turning on the telly and watching MTV after they have been searching for the brand new face of MTV. I entered it – I did not inform Newstalk what was occurring.”
Clearly, she gained. “My mum at all times says, for those who’re not in it, you possibly can’t win it, primarily about lotto. Nonetheless, I wish to take that and apply it to different elements. And I bear in mind after I gained the MTV competitors, all my associates have been like, what? Additionally, you are not cool. Why are you interviewing all these rock stars?”
On her first day on the job, Laura was flown to Los Angeles to work on the MTV Awards. It was a lot. “You study probably the most by doing,” she explains. “And that is one thing that I’ve always. I do not wish to ever be in a scenario the place I really feel prefer it’s straightforward.”
