The “Side Hustle”: A Chat with Katie Lara, Children's Privacy Advocate and Blogger Extraordinaire

Entering the Bar, with Liz Lash

On this episode, I interview Katie Lara, travel and beauty writer and senior attorney at the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), a part of the Better Business Bureau.

As part of her day job, Katie helps to provide valuable guidance to companies by, for instance, keeping marketing newbies from committing grievous errors...like locking children in a freezer (“so not ok!”), and testing out mobile app games (sounds like something I’d like to try!). And then there’s Katie’s ever-evolving “side hustle,” which started with her first blog, Smarty Panties (now katielara.com). While continuing her blog, Katie also got into the freelance game: writing for Fodor’s, the Huffington Post, and Forbes Travel (among others)—all while working full-time.

Katie and I chat about the interrelatedness of advertising and privacy, as well as the challenge to remaining authentic and relevant in today’s world of Instagram influencers. And, as always, we have a few good “bar” stories—Katie tells how a lost ID almost resulted in her having to take the bar again (oh, horrors!) to convincing law firm partners to dance on stage at a dueling piano bar.

Finally, Katie has advice which applies equally to being a lawyer and a writer: be consistent, be professional, and don’t be afraid to network—especially when it involves free booze!

If you’d like to peruse (or better yet, subscribe to) Katie’s blog, check out katielara.com, or if you want to read her pieces published elsewhere on the web, you can find them here, at katielara.com/press/. For those interested specifically in travel writing, Katie references Travel Massive as a useful networking site (travelmassive.com).

The music featured on this week's episode is “Entering the Bar Theme Music,” composed by Sam Carden for Entering the Bar®.