Lara DeLuna - The Reset Podcast & Executive Strategy Associate at Fabletics
Lara DeLuna is an Executive Strategy Associate at Fabletics, creator of The Reset (a podcast centered around making change and realigning your life to whatever ignites you), and a member of Culture Shock LA, a dance non-profit focused on Education, Entertainment, and Empowerment. Beginning her career and working for years in commercial banking and finance, Lara took some time off and reflected on her career path during the pandemic. Before it was a podcast, The Reset was an Instagram account where Lara shared her job-hunting journey and advice. Through it all, she was able to successfully pivot to a more creative industry to have better alignment personally and professionally, while also using the hard-earned skills she picked up along the way in the finance world. In her new role, she tackles “a variety of problems day to day – it’s refreshing to use my existing knowledge to tackle business issues and play in a more creative context/industry. I’m learning so much and excited for what the future holds!” Lara recently flipped The Reset from an Instagram account to a podcast. On the show, she’ll be sharing her journey and conversations with community leaders, creatives, entrepreneurs, and other characters she’s inspired by. With The Reset podcast, Lara is aiming to build community and encourage listeners to change their lives for the better and go after whatever ignites them. With all the changes of life, dance has been a true constant for her. She’s danced since she was a kid and now is a member of Culture Shock LA. “Dance is such a dynamic art form. It’s a language I know, and something I know I can always revisit. It’s always there for me – a gift that pays dividends in other areas of my life,” shares Lara, and there is so much more to come!
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The Reset with Lara DeLuna
What was your first job out of college? Why did you get into banking and finance?
I was a Vice President of Credit Solutions at Silicon Valley Bank. I was in a client-facing role and would work on closing multi-million dollar debt deals for tech-based startups in the LA tech community. I learned a ton and it was a good experience that you need early on in your career, which I viewed as a necessary evil. It’s good to get the technical skills out of the way, and it’s a grind (not that you ever really stop learning). I was always running on a tight deadline with clients, could be working on 5-7 new deals at a time, and have a portfolio of 30+ borrowers – it was a lot to manage and juggle. It was a high-volume shop and the work could get overwhelming. There’s always good and bad with things. I gained a lot with that experience, but I was ready to move on and direct my skills to an area that fit me better.
When did you feel like a new career path was in your future? Did the pandemic have any effect on your thoughts about work?
I was wanting to move on right before the pandemic started, around February 2020. I told myself that it was time to start looking. I wanted to do something creative, even in finance, and work for a company that aligns better with my interests. But then the pandemic happened, and it didn’t feel like the right time to make a move. During the pandemic, I was working in finance and a lot of my friends have more creative careers, and not corporate-type jobs. So many people were being laid off and dance studios were shutting down. I really felt for all of them. I wanted to quit, but I was thankful that I had a job for the time-being and didn’t get laid off. The silver lining was the bank was very busy and I had a sense of job security – definitely a blessing that I don’t take for granted. I will say that I worked like a dog the entire pandemic. We were incredibly swamped and the role became even more demanding.
When did you start your job search?
I quit in May 2021. Through the pandemic I worked so much, a lot of my team left. Working hours were not ideal. That said, I had a lot of time to reflect on what I wanted to do. So, around Spring 2021, I was ready to quit. I made sure I had enough money to go 6-8 months without working (without making too many adjustments to how I was living) and attended a Product Management Bootcamp at UCLA. Product Management is interesting because it’s all about product creation and iteration, getting to know your customers and what they want/need, etc. I learned the basics of Product Management, Tableau, Google Analytics, and a bunch of other things. I thought exploring Product Management would be useful, because I’d love to start my own business one day and it seemed extremely relevant. I took a few months off, attended the bootcamp part-time and did whatever I pleased during the day. It was the most time I had to myself in YEARS and it was SO refreshing. Then I began looking for a new job in September 2021 and landed this current job after about two months of hitting the job applications hard! Applying for jobs was practically a full-time job.
Did you have any concerns about starting a career in a new field?
Yes, I totally did. My approach with my job search was pretty open. I did not have the mindset of “I need to do one specific thing.” It took a lot of sifting when I was looking at job openings. The pivot was tough. If I was looking at something that was more directly related to my experience, it wouldn’t have taken so long. At the time, I was getting inbound messages from recruiters looking for bankers. A lot of the time your application is weeded out because of the algorithm. There were so many moments during my break and job-hunt that I really questioned whether I was going to find the right role, and whether leaving my last job was the right decision at all. Job-hunting can be so draining – understatement of the year.
Are you happy with where you landed?
Yes, I’m super happy! I’ve only been at Fabletics for 3ish months, so I’m still getting acclimated. Everyone is wonderful. The role is called Executive Strategy
Associate, and it’s essentially an internal consultant that focuses on solving problems for the organization. I do a lot of ad hoc projects, which keeps the work interesting. My last role was very rinse and repeat, which is great for skill building but not necessarily for keeping variety. It’s refreshing to use what I learned in finance to do what I’m doing now. Since I’m a dancer and just creatively inclined in general, it’s been great to move to a fashion company. I feel more aligned and can still use my existing skills. In terms of the pivot – it’s not the most dramatic pivot ever. I’m still doing finance-related work. I’d call it a semi-pivot, but then again, pivots do come in all shapes and sizes!
What inspired you to start The Reset? What is the purpose of The Reset?
The concept for The Reset came to me when I was really going hard on the job applications. There were a lot of things I encountered and had to work through that I thought would be good to share. The Reset was my creative outlet that would help me with my angst from the job-hunt. I have anxiety and the whole experience about applying for jobs is just shitty. It’s crappy, even if you’re not pivoting. Throw in the pivot and it seems impossible. I created content out of my experience, little tips and tricks, and posted it on The Reset, hoping it would be useful to someone else. I’m not a career coach, but I had the experience and was successful in landing a job that I was excited so about and feel more aligned now. When I started it, I hadn’t landed a job yet, so I felt that I was being very vulnerable (I didn’t know how it would all shake out –for all I knew I would fail and would have to beg for my old job). I was taking people along on this process with me. I was figuring it out, and documenting it as I went.
You’re in the dance community and part of Culture Shock, how as that impacted your life?
I’ve been dancing since I was a little girl. It’s been a huge part of my life. I danced as a child in a studio and took hip-hop classes when I got older. I’ve moved around quite a bit, and dance has always helped me connect with people no matter where I went. All of my closest, dearest friends came into my life through dance, and I’m so grateful for that. Dance is such a dynamic art form. It’s a language I know, and something I know I can always revisit. It’s always there for me – a gift that pays dividends in other areas of my life. It’s also helped me get through some really tough times. The non-profit I’m a part of, Culture Shock LA, is a 401c3 non-profit that provides dance education and outreach to the community. Our key areas of focus are Education, Entertainment, and Empowerment. We do assemblies and school programs for kids, and it’s awesome because these kids sometimes wouldn’t normally have access to dance or the ability to go to a dance studio. We do a lot of performance and fundraisers. A big area of focus for the organization is our Youth Programs – we call them Mini Shock, Mighty Shock, and Future Shock. Culture Shock LA has programs for kids as young as 6, all through adulthood. It’s a robust organization that I’m super happy and proud to be a part of.
What are some of your favorite experiences through Culture Shock LA?
We did a really awesome show in 2019 that we intended to do again in 2020, but then the pandemic happened. The show was called Morai, and was an immersive experience inspired by the show Sleep No More in New York. The audience would enter Elements Dance Space, which was decorated and completely transformed (kind of like a fun house). We used silent disco headphones – everyone had headphones on and could listen to different tracks based what part of the show they were experiencing. You are interacting with the audience directly – it was so different. I’ve danced all my life and have never had a performance experience like that. It was an experimental dance show that I was so honored to be a part of! I hope we’ll be able to do it again in the future, given the pandemic.
Do you have any upcoming projects you’d like to share?
I recently launched the podcast for The Reset – it’s been super fun to work on so far and has really reinvigorated me. It’s an idea I’ve had for a while, and I have all my amazing friends to than for giving the kick in the ass to actually sit down and do it. Truthfully, I caught COVID over the holidays, and was gifted a microphone for Christmas, so I had a lot of time on my hands while isolating and was out of excuses to put it off any longer. To give you an idea of what the show’s all about: I’m planning having guests on the show and talking to people in three different categories: 1) People with full time jobs, aren’t feeling exactly fulfilled with that, and are hustling on the side to make their dreams happen; 2) People who are pivoting or are in the process of; and 3) People in business for themselves. It’s the business owners, freelancers, etc. I made The Reset to share tips for people who want to take control of their careers. We’re going to keep that same energy, but for the podcast, I want to talk to people who are at different points in their journey; I really have a feeling people will love it and will resonate with it. The trailer and first episode (about me) are up on Spotify – if it sounds interesting, please check it out! I’ll be dropping episodes bi-weekly.
Photos courtesy of Lara DeLuna