Lauren Florek

I'm an executive coach who helps leaders through conversations they've been avoiding: the review nobody wants to give, the overdue apology, the boundary that should have been set two years ago. I've worked with executives, founders, and professionals in fields where getting a conversation wrong has real consequences.

Then there's the conversation I avoided for years, which was the one I needed to have with myself.

I've been divorced twice. After the second one ended, I went straight into a relationship that failed too, and the math got hard to ignore. The one common denominator was me. Not as a verdict, or as blame. Just the beginning of an actual question: what was I bringing to these relationships, and what was I giving away in them?

Answering it took years, which is the part nobody wants to hear. The pain of each failure didn't teach me anything on its own. Suffering is not a curriculum. What it did was hand me material, and then I had to sit down and decide what it all meant, on purpose, long after it stopped hurting. What I know now is where my boundaries were loose, where I let myself down, where I lost myself entirely, and what is no longer up for negotiation.

That's the distance my debut book, "Making Lemonade: A bitter, sweet, and brutally honest guide to heartbreak, divorce, and starting over.” My writing refuses the usual comforts; there’s no blaming the ex, no silver lining, no yoga retreats, journaling, or affirmations. It’s telling yourself the truth, letting it hurt, and then letting it heal. It’s accountability without shame, and learning that self-worth is the same skill whether you're rebuilding a team or rebuilding your life.