Rex & Co. (fka Laura Bo Creative)

Category: Here’s What I Know

  • Dear Parents – part deux

    Dear Parents – part deux

    The following was an email sent to the parent community at my kids school.

    Hi Parents & Friends!

    Laura Rex, back again with some updates, ideas and general thoughts.

    It’s a new year and for me personally it has been an absolute dumpster fire so far. If we haven’t gotten to know each other yet, that’s cool. There is always time. For those of you I have gotten to know, I appreciate you. We might not be cut from the same cloth, but everyone loves a good quilt. 
    Now let’s get some of the admin and reminders out of the way👍

    It’s Tuesday, and the 2nd Tuesday of every month is FAMILY NIGHT at The Seneca. After lots of chats with different folks, I am stoked to share that Family Night is becoming a weekly, we are adding a VCR for that nostalgic 📼 VHS goodness, and revamping some of the deals. Hope to see you there 🎉 


    The 2nd Annual *school* Auction will take place April 7-13 2025, and we need help with sourcing and collecting donations — There is a quick survey HERE for preferences and auction ideas, do me a favor please and check it out. If you have an idea, we want it! Want to promote your business, let’s do it! Know someone who might be interested, let us know!

    In Other News:  THANK YOU to everyone who donated to the parent fund. Back in November I used one of my awkward tokens to ask the community for a monthly contribution ($5/month was the suggestion), and I was blown away at the response. We raised $1100 collectively! ROUND OF APPLAUSE. 

    The $ will be covering the following: All teacher appreciation initiatives, Special events & Supplies (Holiday party, Spring Picnic, Moving Up Ceremony, etc), Ideas have been floated about Leaving a cushion for the crew next year to get started, or donating the leftovers to fundraising, Insert your COOL idea here (but really in the form I will share soon). 

    Let’s Be Real. Hi I’m Laura. 


    I believe that transparency is the best policy – so for me you get what you get at all times, in all places. I have ADHD, I’m on the spectrum somewhere, I am awkward, often loud, brutally honest, filled with love, ideas, and questions. I ASK A LOT OF QUESTIONS. I use “curse” words regularly, and I do my best to not offend people, but I’m generally an unfiltered person. If you have met me, you’ve probably seen me cry (no shame here). 

    In 2024, the Surgeon General issued an advisory related to parenting, so if you are feeling alone in how stressful this shit is, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! 

    We were all people before we were parents. Parenting is fucking hard, and it has recently come to my attention that many of us have been looking for a village, a friend, or literally any type of connection — So let’s connect! 

    Please don’t mistake this for me expecting everyone to be my “friend”, but some of y’all peaked in high school and it shows. If I am not your cup of tea, no harm, no foul. You just keep doing you. However if you’d like to have tea or coffee, vent, rant, walk, etc. I’m looking at hosting it on Friday mornings after drop-off after break. 

    THE FUTURE IN 2025:

    In an effort to not exhaust myself yet again, or “over promise and under deliver” by attempting to do ALL of the things, I have put together a brief list of ideas, events, initiatives, etc. If something resonates, let’s find a way. Throw your expectations and assumptions out the window. I’m here for it. 

    Clothing Swap – As Springtime quickly approaches and everyone starts thinking about “spring cleaning”, a number of folks have communicated an interest in participating in a clothing swap. 

    School Retreat/Vaca takeover – Aiming for Spring break dates. More info coming soon. 

    Community Cookbook – I attempted this last year, made it WAY too complicated, and it got lost in the shuffle when the timing lined up with the auction, spring picnic, and the chaos of life. The goal was to create a communal resource of recipes and meals that our kids and families love, that are easy. We had a decent amount of responses, and I would love to share them with current, past and future families. 

    Parents Night Out Rotation – With coordination and communication, I’d love to explore giving parents a break for personal time, date night, or whatever TF you want to do with your time, while simultaneously fostering connections of the kids.

    Next week, you can expect another update/reminder about all of the things. Feel free to text me at any time, or shoot me an email  with your thoughts, questions, feelings, no matter how weird or silly they may seem. 

    Thanks for coming to my REX TALK – hope to see you out and about. 

  • Perspective on Industry Experience

    Perspective on Industry Experience

    Industry Experience Perspective

    Recently I was thinking about resumes, the rules for job applications, the interview process, and the absurdity of what minimum qualifications are theses days. How your experience and experience for a specific industry to Industry.

    And it made me think about how I’ve been in so many different Industries and that’s a large part of the reason I’ve been successful in past roles. Not to mention if I am interested in something, I will absolutely believe I am capable of doing it and learning how to do it on the fly.

    Why do you want someone that’s only been in one industry, or doing the same thing at the same place for like 10 years? That seems unbearably narrow-minded and honestly counterintuitive when you really think about it.

    New hires, consultants, contractors, vendors, etc. are generally brought on when a company is experiencing growth or is stuck.
    You’re bringing them on to either fill a gap, expansion or because of what you think you know about their expertise and experience in a role/industry.

    Too many brands are ignoring the aspect of curiosity.

    A new hire, a new contractor, or any new relationship should bring new things to the table.

    A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE. A NEW SOLUTION.

    Both of those things often come from experience working in different Industries, roles, companies, teams. Someone who can look at a problem differently, flip it upside down and shake it the fuck up.

    That’s the point. The basis of it at least. I will come back to this…

    To be continued – with examples…

  • How to overcome stupidity.

    How to overcome stupidity.

    This morning I asked myself if it was possible to overcome stupidity, and perhaps the word close-minded would be better suited for the true question. Is it possible to explain something in a way that will make the person understand, care, or empathize?

    Less then an hour later, upon opening my Instagram for a brief moment of doomscroll, a quote by Mark Twain was front and center.

    No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot.
    – Mark Twain

    The quote itself was set to a chill instrumental version of gangsta’s paradise, with a black and white video of water crashing behind it.

    It was in that moment that I was reminded yet again on how much energy is wasted when I attempt to explain my perspective to someone who gives no fucks about it. For now the goal is to focus on recognizing and bringing awareness to myself when I begin to spiral into explanation. To stop. Take a moment. Say nevermind and walk away.

  • A name is a name – but what’s up with the personal branding BS? What happened to self-identity?

    I have changed my name a lot. Some were nicknames, some were legit, legally on paper (read part 1 here). I have also built my own brand at least a dozen times — Each time I would tear down the previous version, and start from scratch, rebuild it to something completely new… Only to feel “over it” by the time I got to the end. LOL for me.

    Only a handful of those have ever seen the light of day. Most only briefly. A moment where I was so proud and so excited of my “new creation”. And ya know I would go and share it with some people (like a special sneak preview). I would share it with my besties who would say “WOOT that’s awesome! I don’t get it, but it’s awesome!” And I would share it with a person in my industry/field, usually someone that I respected or admired. Sometimes I would show my mom – that ended pretty early –

    Anyway, those brand versions were really just my identity all packaged up. Which would change every few years based on whatever current special interest I had, or visual I had locked into.

    Now, I would imagine You’ll have the people coming for me saying, “Well, you shouldn’t care.” No shit. I’m working through that. I’m 36. I’m a mom now. Or the people saying “oh, well it just wasn’t the right timing” Sure, no problem.

    You can tell me whatever you think I want to hear or perhaps whatever you think you want to hear.

    As far as why past brand iterations didn’t work? I don’t really care. Trying to understand why is not helping me today or tomorrow. All I know is that my biggest mistake, my biggest failure and regret is not just doing it. Waiting for external validation and approval…

    Here’s the thing when it comes to “just doing it”. Once upon a time, I had this extreme sense of “Fuck the world”. And my mother would tell me “you’re so angry and you hate the world” and blah, blah, blah and like, yeah, maybe I did. Because it was hard as a teenager and try to wrap your head around the fact that your own mother who adopted you HATES you.

    I absolutely am angry. I have every right to be.

    THE BO YEARS – no W
    I used to try and make my whole brand, my identity. Uh maybe you knew me at the Laura bo phase. Uh, for those of you don’t know,
    My middle name is not BO. I have five bow tattoos, I have five ribbon tattoos, right? And I got three of them the summer just before I went to college my freshman year and two of them within the first year of college.

    It doesn’t matter. The point is, is Why was it Bo not b-o-w? Because the first time I had it as “bow”, people said oh it’s “Laura bow” like the pronunciation was BAO. They assumed it was my last name. So I dropped the W. Back then my last name was still my fathers, MARFILIUS.

    THE FIONA YEARS
    I was just barely 18. Took me three more years to take my mom’s last name. Maybe you met me in high school during my Fiona years, right? Uh, it technically. Started, when I went to Camp, Sleepway camp, the same year I got kicked out of camp.

    But I decided that, hey, I don’t know these fucking people. I see them for a few weeks out of the year and I don’t want to be Laura right now, right? Because I thought Laura sucked. And so I said, fine, I’m going to be Fiona and I was Fiona. Up until my freshman year of high school, where there was already a Fiona.

    Her real name was Fiona. And obviously F comes before L in the in the alphabet. Um, and so I decided to go by Laura that year. That blip. The following year when I was shipped off to boarding school in Vermont, I went back to Fiona. I didn’t grow up with the name, Fiona, I didn’t have nicknames. I always wanted a nickname. I didn’t know the, uh, the the ugly side of nicknames.

    To be continued…

  • Memory Exercise

    Memory Exercise

    For now I am calling this a memory exercise, and perhaps it should come with some sort of warning, because it may or may not unpack baggage.

    Close your eyes and think back to when you were a kid, perhaps sometime in elementary school. Try to find a memory of an event, a holiday party, a school assembly, county fair, but it would be a place where you would be with your family, your parents or caregivers.

    Pick one. They are deep in conversation with their friends, chit chatting away. You catch a glimpse of your name as you pass by, and it peaks your curiosity. What is being said? How is your parent describing you? What words or tone can you hear, feel, or remember?

    This happened to me recently, trying to think back on how my mother used to speak about me, how she spoke to me publicly, privately, how she spoke about me with one friend, vs. how she spoke about me when she thought no one was listening, when she thought I wasn’t listening or when she thought I was… A series of words came up.

    To be continued…

  • A Name Is A Name Is A Name.

    What’s in a name? That famous quote by Shakespeare. I googled ‘famous quotes about names’ and a few stuck out — not sure if I qualify them as famous persay.

    “Names are powerful things. They act as an identity marker and a kind of map, locating you in time and geography. More than that, they can be a compass”  – Bookroo

    “There’s power in naming yourself, in proclaiming to the world that this is who you are” – Brainyquote [i question this source, but will save that for another time.

    “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom” –Aristotle.

    A cliche one for good measure “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken” – Oscar Wilde.

    There is a common saying that feels ingrained in my head from my younger years “Make a name for yourself” it always felt so intimidating and permanent — until it didn’t. Sure it is still intimidating, but it did not take long for me to realize that a name is not permanent, neither is a reputation. I have changed my name legally 3 times. I just straight up made up a new name when I was 12 and told people at camp that my name was Fiona — I carried that name with me through my high school years at boarding school. I went back to Laura in college, but again, we were in a new place, so I made up my own nickname “Bo” and Laura Bo has stuck with me ever since.

    To be continued…

  • Thriving on the thrill – WIP

    Finding a new way to streamline a process or coming up with an innovative product idea, I thrive on the thrill of discovery and the satisfaction of making things better.

    My approach may be unconventional, but thinking outside the box is essential for growth and progress.

    It’s about looking at challenges from different angles/perspectives and not being afraid to try something new. After all, every expert was once a beginner, and every groundbreaking idea started as a simple thought.

  • Everyone loves a good quilt.

    Perseverance and a positive mindset can turn any obstacle into a stepping stone.
    So, keep pushing boundaries, embracing the unknown, and strive to follow your dreams.
    It will make an impact.

    In the end, it’s not just about achieving success or getting rich — it’s about learning and growing along the way. Each challenge faced and each solution found adds to the patchwork of experience that has shaped who I am and what I can accomplish.

    We might not be cut from the same cloth, but everyone loves a good quilt.

  • A Message from My Inner Critic

    Find your style, find your niche, be unique, standout, do this, do that, if it’s not working then you’re not doing it right, don;t be too loud, don’t be too quiet. Blah blah fucking blah. I just want to turn it off. Turn off the noise. Shut it all out. Shut it all down. And say see you later. I want to run to the woods and blast music and throw paint, and get sticky from gluesticks. I want to play in the dirt with my kid. I want to not feel like I am a burden. And I don’t know if I feel like a burden to myself or to my inner critic. 

    Im messy. My story is messy. Currently it feels like a tangle of fairy lights or yarn or something. Trying to piece it together and roll it back so it makes more sense to me, which unlocks things I may or may not be ready to deal with, accept, move past. 

  • Rewrite – What’s With All The Internet Rules?

    When I first started getting tattoos at the ripe age of 15, my mother was pissed. She always used to say “ Well who’s going to hire you, like that?” My response was always the same “ If they won’t hire me because of my tattoos then it’s clearly not someplace I want to work…” I responded the same way every time, and it applies to more than just my body art. Nowadays, there are all these rules and best practices about how to conduct yourself on the internet. 

    Back when I was in high school/college and Facebook was relatively new, there were loads of rules on what to NOT post on your profile so you could project a “young professional” so that job recruiters and potential employers won’t essentially judge you on what you did on your off time. So no party photos, no photos with alcohol, show off your community work, blah blah blah. Out of the 243 profile photos I uploaded to Facebook starting in 2006, 53 of them have alcohol, cigarettes, or display some type of partying. These were some of my favorite profile photos ever (on Facebook).

    So clearly I didn’t follow those rules, and I still don’t. I am the same person IRL as I am on the URL (the internet). My LinkedIn profile is a selfie, and I’m throwing up the peace sign. Should I have some professional headshot? Maybe. But is that me? Nope, not one bit. Am I being judged or passed on by recruiters or potential job opportunities? Maybe. But am I still successful? Yes, I am. 

    So why do people continue to sacrifice their true selves to “fit in”. People started creating multiple accounts so they could post about whatever they want and not be judged or penalized for their posts. IMO things have changed since the time when our parents got jobs. 

    Now what about content posted? What about twitter? How many people lose their jobs over twitter? Too many to count at this point. It’s 2018. The internet knows everything. You can’t hide. Once it’s there, it’s there forever. Especially if you’re popular, or in the public eye. People are watching and essentially waiting for someone to say something fucked up or offensive. [Which brings up an additional point, slightly off topic, but still relevant. Why the FUCK is everyone offended by everything these days?] 

    So why do people continue to sacrifice their true selves to “fit in”. People started creating multiple accounts so they could post about whatever they want and not be judged or penalized for their posts.