Letting go and levelling up: Lauren Meisner on the realities of scaling a media company

When Centennial World founder Lauren Meisner saw traditional media dismissing internet culture and the creator economy, she didn’t just tweet about it – she quit her job, put in $5K of her own money, and launched a world-first Gen Z–focused internet culture brand… three months later.In this Yeah, But How mini-series episode of High Agency Women, host Natasha Gillezeau sits down with Lauren to unpack the very un-glam and real side of building a new media company from scratch: bootstrapping vs taking on a bank loan, surviving the chaos of COVID, ad budgets, navigating a co-founder exit, and evolving from a classic “.com” publisher into a personality-led podcast network.Lauren is brutally honest about what it actually takes to grow as a founder – especially when your strengths (for her, editorial instincts) can become a hiding place from the parts of the business you’re less confident in. She shares how she’s learning to confront those weak spots head on, why 2026 will be her “year of no scaling”, and the mindset shift that came with deciding Centennial World needed to be bigger than just her face and voice.You’ll hear Lauren and Tash dive into:How Lauren spotted (and moved fast on) a global gap in the market for serious coverage of internet cultureWhat really happened behind the scenes of bootstrapping Centennial World, from the first MAC Cosmetics deal to taking a bank loan in 2024Navigating a co-founder breakup while staying friends – and keeping the business aliveWhy she killed off Meta and deprioritised the website, and went all-in on podcastingBuilding a personality-led media brand that sits across both media and influencer budgetsLearning to trust your instincts in business when you don’t feel like a “numbers” personThe power of shamelessly asking for help (including the story of emailing Anna Wintour – and getting a reply)If you’re a creatively-driven founder, aspiring media entrepreneur, or just ~chronically online~ and curious about what it takes to turn that obsession into a business, we can guarantee that conversation will hit home (and follow Centennial World while you're at it!!).Sponsored by Blackbird.