Who is this Diva?
Before we get too far down the line and too deep in the weeds, I think I should tell you a little about my background. My life has been a winding road of experiences that have led me to this point today. I didn’t just fall out of a coconut tree, after all!
First of all, my name is Liz, but I also answer to Lola, and only two people on Earth are allowed to call me Beth- and they’re not my parents. I grew up solidly middle class in a small town in Missouri, and I’m just as at home in a shitty dive bar as I am in a bougie nightclub. I’m a Libra, so I like it both ways.
I grew up riding horses and getting straight A’s from the age of 5 years old. I still ride every week, and I own an Arabian horse named Tahoe. (I also compulsively have to mention my 3 cats, Crookshanks, Moira and Mila, because they’re my children too.) I went to Missouri State University and graduated with honors and a degree in Fashion Merchandising, which I’ve never really used… until now, kind of? After I graduated, I moved to Chicago and almost immediately got sucked into a cult for a few years- that’s a whole thing. During that time, I moved to Philadelphia for a while and then back to Chicago before ultimately settling down in St. Louis, Missouri.
I don’t really want to dive deeper into the cult thing, mostly because the EMDR therapy WERKED, honey, and I really don’t think about it much anymore, but these were highly formative years for me. Although I was emotionally and financially abused for years by predatory people, I loved working for myself and helping other people grow in their careers through mentoring and leadership. It took me a long time to realize that I wasn’t the failure, the cult was abusive and systematically structured to keep me in my place, believing I was the problem, not the fucked up organization and the people manipulating me to their whims.
After I escaped at the age of 27, I moved back into my mom’s house outside of St. Louis to recover and restart my life. It was wild. That’s really when I had to confront a lot of uncomfortable things about myself; a process that has not stopped. I had to reckon with what was done to me, what I had unknowingly done to others, and ultimately try to put my completely fried nervous system back together. I had no sense of identity and was an empty shell of a person. I was broken, rudderless and had not even a whisper of a wind in my sails. At this point, I entered the corporate workforce because the entrepreneurial spirit had been drained from me, and I never thought I stood a chance of doing anything successfully after the abusive and soul-crushing experience I had just endured.
During my time in Corporate America, I was able to lick my wounds and slowly get my creativity back. I began yoga and meditation practices, reconnected with friends (drinking excessively), started riding horses again and eventually moved out of my mom’s house. In 2019, I started a small resin art business sort of by accident. I’d been doing arts and crafts just to feel something for a few months, and one day I posted my work, and the rest was history. I founded Lola + Rose Emporium, which featured my works as well as other small business products like candles, mugs, sleep masks and bath salts- you know, all the things a late 20s millennial-in-crisis needs!
It took off a little bit! By that, I mean I got really busy but wasn’t able to scale effectively because the business depended on my production, and there wasn’t a realistic profitability structure. However, I really enjoyed the side cash and fun it brought until I ultimately got burned out a few years later. I still LOVE every single piece I made, and I’d love to eventually reincorporate Lola + Rose back into this business.
In 2020 though, I knew it was time to buy my first house. I needed more space to grow Lola + Rose, and things were getting crowded in my tiny apartment with my business and my two cats at the time, Moira and Crookshanks. Long story short, I got super lucky in July of 2020 and snatched my house before it went to market. They always say that houses just work out, and I’m inclined to agree. My home is a literal magical portal- more on that to come.
As Lola + Rose dwindled down, my recruiting career wound up, and I wanted to make a meaningful investment out of my passion for creativity. I really wanted to buy an investment property and rent it as an Air B&B. In August of 2022, I shared my goal with one of my best friends, and he quickly convinced me that two investments and two sets of hard-working hands were better than one. Fast-forward to January of 2023: Wayne Rose Properties, LLC was born. I was able to leverage the equity in my home as my investment into a small property, and we decked it out into a rental for traveling professionals. Long term, our goal is to do this with more properties. I absolutely loved creating a home away from home for these travelers (are you sensing a theme here?), and this model has worked out well for us so far. I’ll definitely be sharing that project and process here. We have a teeny tiny and not very active Instagram account called wayneroseproperties if you’re dying to see more, although, I’m currently boycotting Meta, so don’t expect updates any time soon.
Since we locked in our first tenant in July of 2023, I’ve really been coasting. I started my most recent job in August of the same year, and I spent 2024 genuinely enjoying the hard work that had paid off after what felt like a grueling 8 years recovering from the experiences of my mid twenties. I visited multiple countries, road tripped to music festivals, continued to make my home into my personal sanctuary, and celebrated my 35th birthday with a solo trip to Scotland, where I just drove around for a week and frolicked in the highlands. My brother got married, and I got the best sister-in-law I could ever hope for, and then on a whim, a good friend and I bought tickets to Eras Vancouver Night 3 with three days notice. I literally got to see the last Eras show ever, and to say that was the highlight of a lifetime would be an understatement. I had a wonderful year, but I could never shake the feeling that it wouldn’t last forever. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying my life is worse now- not at all. It’s just going to be different.
I’m looking forward to spending a lot of my time letting my unbridled creativity flow. I’m excited to cancel all my subscriptions and unnecessary spending, thrift more, eat out less and toss back shitty wine in camp sight dive bars instead of on international flights this year. It’s ALL meaningful to me. Nothing that happens to me or changes in my life can take away my soul again. I have my friends, my family, my now THREE cats and my horse, my creativity and my resilience. Nothing can take away my character and integrity. In fact, a truly rich life is never given freely. A meaningful life is usually one cultivated over years of experiences- good, bad, painful, ugly and beautiful. I may lose my way and my wits at times. Relationships may end or fall away. Death is inevitable for all of us. Woah- dark turn. But seriously. Memento Mori- “remember you must die.” The only guarantee in this life IS change. Entropy is inevitable. But I’ll strive to rise, born again from the ashes and decay until my time here is up.
I haven’t written the next chapter yet, but I’m excited to turn the page. I hope to see you back soon.
Byeeee
