S3:E7 | From Corporate Counsel to Culinary Capital: Lauren Fernandez's Leap into Purposeful Investing

Connect with Lauren Fernandez: Website: https://fullcourse.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenefernandez/  Jeremy's Book: Finding Your EDGE 📘 Order here: https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Your-EDGE/dp/B0C5WQSBG5 Discover how to unlock your unique talents and purpose with Jeremy's personal development book, filled with real stories, reflection prompts, and purpose-driven insights. Clarity Cards™ 🃏 Order here: https://bit.ly/JHS-S3  A self-discovery and coaching deck of cards with 53 questions that spark meaningful reflection, connection, and clarity for individuals and teams. JeremyHaselwood.com 💻 Visit: https://bit.ly/jhs-s3   Find tools, templates, and transformational content to help you grow in both purpose and impact. Episode Summary: In this episode of The Jeremy Haselwood Show, we shine a light on a woman who's rewriting the rules of the restaurant industry, Lauren Fernandez. As CEO and founder of Full Course, Lauren brings a unique blend of legal savvy, franchise experience, and heart-centered leadership to a space that traditionally overlooks early-stage, underrepresented restaurant founders. Lauren opens up about how her upbringing as the eldest of four shaped her into a natural leader and peacekeeper. From there, she walks us through her journey out of corporate America into entrepreneurship, where she now leads with empathy, strategy, and a bold vision for inclusive growth. Whether you're an entrepreneur, investor, or someone trying to build with purpose, this episode is rich with wisdom and insight. What You'll Learn: The origin story behind Full Course and why she created it to address systemic gaps Why the restaurant industry is often overlooked by traditional investors The invisible barriers facing women and minority founders and how Lauren is removing them The role of emotional intelligence and intuition in building brands with soul Why Lauren believes the future of food is diverse, culture-forward, and founder-led Quotable Moments from Lauren Fernandez: "I realized that the absence of early-stage capital wasn't just a market failure, it was a barrier that kept too many brilliant founders on the sidelines." "You can have the best food in the world, but if you don't have a growth strategy or support system, your brand will hit a wall by unit three." "Restaurants contribute a trillion dollars to the U.S. GDP every year. Yet there's almost no venture capital that works for early-stage restaurant brands. That's a broken system." "We're here to level the playing field, especially for underrepresented founders. Not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it's a massive business opportunity." Subscribe, Share & Review: Loved this episode? Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a drop of inspiration. Leave a Call to Action: If you liked this episode, Subscribe the this channel to be informed when each episode drops. Also, comment and like this video so others can discover it! 📲 Follow Jeremy on Instagram for daily motivation and purpose-driven content: @jeremy.haselwood 📘 Grab your copy of Finding Your EDGE 🃏 Spark clarity and conversation with your Clarity Cards™ deck.