Our quest to take The What’s Underneath Project global continues with our new series of global style warriors. Shot in Paris and Berlin. First, we have Lauren Bastide. Blonde and stereotypically pretty, Lauren was constantly told she should be a model growing up: “society’s ultimate power position for a woman.”

Instead, she became a journalist and landed her dream job at Elle magazine. Over the decade she spent there, Lauren witnessed the industry she once idolized morph beyond recognition: advertising’s perverse influence over journalism was staggering. The final straw was when a furry Fendi keychain advertorial took editorial precedence over her feature on a case of police brutality.

“At some point you have to listen to your guts, I guess, and my guts told me to get out of there,” said Lauren. The vintage-layered mother of two walked out and never looked back. This, and lots more radical realness, like dispelling the myth that pregnancy and motherhood is always a bohemian dream, in Lauren’s episode.

Follow Lauren Bastide on Instagram and listen to her podcast, La Poudre here.