Sales and the Olympics — Find Success in Sales and the Olympics with Lauren Gibbs

The Jake Dunlap Show

This episode of The Jake Dunlap Show features Lauren Gibbs, Director of External Sales at Parity and a lifelong athlete who famously brought home an Olympic silver medal for bobsledding in 2018.

Lauren's story is about perseverance and pivoting to where her desires and strengths are. She looks back on her athletic roots and getting accepted into Brown for track and field and volleyball.

Uniquely for Lauren, she also got into sales during her college years. She graduated from Brown with 100k savings, then moved on to build on her already successful sales career afterwards.

In 2014, Lauren got introduced to bobsledding by chance. She committed to it and shares that Olympic training is no joke, all while working again in sales to support herself. Another unique trait of Lauren is her ability to drum up support and even land sponsorships very early in her Olympic journey.

She shares the best parts of being an Olympian and bringing home the medal, but also the darker side of athletics in the form of "Olympic Blues." As Lauren moves to the next chapter of her life, she now focuses on her work with Whoop and Parity and its mission to close the pay gap in professional sports.

QUOTES

12:01 "I just liked the idea of being financially stable and... I just wanted to be able to take care of myself. I didn't want to have to rely on anybody. I wanted to work earlier, but I think there some laws, work permits and all that stuff."

23:00 "A lot of US Olympians and Paralympians actually live below the poverty line, so you're also trying to find a way to support yourself. Luckily for me, I have a sales background and I have an MBA so I was really good at trying to land sponsorships."

26:46 "The US Women's Olympic Bobsled Team has medaled in every Olympics since 2002, which is when the sport was allowed for women in the Olympics. So there's quite a legacy there and so I think it wasn't like a, if I medal, the expectation was to medal."

28:10 "I'm also just ready for that next phase of my life. If I get to go to a second Olympics, it'll be an honor. But I mean, something I tried it as a joke ended with two world championship medals, one of them being a gold, I think I have 14 world cup medals, an Olympic silver medal."

More About Lauren

Lareun went to Brown University and was the team captain of the volleyball varsity team. She got in Brown for track and field (and performed well in it) but she was able to pivot to her passion which was volleyball. She graduated in 2006 with a B.A. in Public & Private Sector Organizations, Business, Entrepreneurship.

Starting in college, Lauren worked for a number of companies where she honed her sales skills. Lauren hustled hard and would chance upon bobsledding at the age of 30. She joined the team as a joke, but discovered that her skills would prove invaluable as a brakeman. This would later be proven true as she won a silver medal during the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Now that she is ready to move on, Lauren focuses on her mission with Parity to close the wage gap between male and female athletes. She also works with Whoop to deliver the latest in fitness wearables and speaks professionally for goal setting, authentic leadership, and confronting and overcoming adversity to a wide variety of audiences

Find out more about Lauren and connect with her in the following links:

• Website (Parity) - https://paritynow.co/
• Website (Whoop) - https://www.whoop.com/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-gibbs/
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lagibbs84/
• Twitter - https://www.facebook.com/lagibbs84
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/lagibbs84

Learn more about Jake Dunlap and Skaled by visiting the links below:

Jake Dunlap:

• Personal Site - http://jakedunlap.com/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakedunlap/
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/JakeTDunlap
• Instagram - http://instagram.com/jake_dunlap_
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JakeTDunlap/

Skaled:

• Website - https://skaled.com/
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/skaled
• YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsw_03rSlbGQkeLGMGiDf4Q