Watch: A Retail Exec and Entrepreneur Mentors the Next Generation
Voices of Mays: Lauren Hill ’07
Lauren Hill ’07 discovered the exciting world of retail at Mays Business School and the Center for Retailing Innovation. Her experiences at Texas A&M University helped shape a career built on relationships, service, and a commitment to giving back. After 20 years in corporate retail with Neiman Marcus, The Container Store, and Target, Hill co-founded The Order Project, a professional organizing company specializing in functional organization. Throughout the pivots of her career, she’s remained involved with Mays and the Center for Retailing Innovation, returning to mentor students, share her journey, and answer “the crazy questions.”
Watch to learn more about how Lauren:
- Built a career in corporate retail and then co-founded an organizing company
- Views professional organizing as more than a transaction, as an opportunity to improve clients’ lives through trust and transparency
- Became inspired to give back through mentorship of students
- Has helped students start their career and been an example of success in executive, leadership, and entrepreneurial roles
- Uses networking and genuine relationships to open doors and create meaningful opportunities for the next generation of Mays students
Voices of Mays is a video storytelling series produced by Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School featuring the stories of the Mays community.
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Watch previous Voices of Mays videos here.
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LAUREN HILL
During my time at Mays Business School, I was fortunate enough to be able to sit down and speak with retail executives from all over the world. I wanted to make sure that, as I was building my career, I came back to Mays to be accessible — to ask the crazy questions, to really just be there for them throughout their journey.
Howdy. I’m Lauryn Hill, and I’m a graduate of Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, class of 2007. I spent 20 years in corporate retail, and I co-founded The Order Project, which is a professional organizing company that specializes in functional organization.
The Center for Retailing Innovation really impacted me by putting an emphasis on relationships. Everybody that I work with, I develop some type of relationship with them because this is not just a transaction. This is me improving your life, and hopefully you’ll ask us to come back. It builds trust, transparency, and honesty, and that’s exactly what we look for at The Order Project.
The goals that really motivated me were to make my family proud, to create a legacy for my kids, and to ensure that I’m always giving back. Which is why it is such a big deal for me to come back to Mays Business School — to be that ambassador for students, showcasing what I’ve been able to accomplish over my career and really mentoring some of these students that may not have seen themselves in boardrooms, executive roles, or even entrepreneurship that most women don’t get to see.
NICOLE ANDERSON
I was a junior at A&M in one of my retail marketing classes. At the end of her presentation, she put her email and phone number up on the screen. I don’t know if anybody else took her up on her offer, but I did.
She was kind of the first person that made a big-girl job less scary. She showed me how fun it can be and how passionate she was.
My sister Abby and I are two years apart. We were at Mays together at the same time. We were both getting degrees in the retail track, and now we both are in Dallas, working careers in different retail companies.
ABBY MUSCHALEK
Lauren is someone that is confident. She’s excellent. It was clear that she wanted to serve the students at Mays. She wanted to create real connections and build relationships.
I think I was just taken aback by the way that she always made time in her schedule to pour into me and mentor me. She connected me with people she knew at a company called The Citizenry, and Lauren kind of opened the door for me at Lucchese as well.
LAUREN HILL
If I can be that shining light and let my career path be the guide for someone else, I’m happy to be back and share my journey and my story with the students here at Mays. It can start with entrepreneurship and lead to corporate. It can start with corporate and lead to entrepreneurship, or it can start in corporate and end in corporate. Sometimes it’s all about networking and just having a connection. And if I can make that connection for someone and change their life, then I’ve done my part.
