OVER ‘THE HILLS’
Star ditches soapy TV for female empowerment
Lauren Conrad, “The Hills” star-turned-successful fashion designer, isn’t your typical ex-reality star.
The MTV spinoff to “Laguna Beach,” in which Conrad also starred, will always be known for its dramatic blowouts, mascara tears and the ironic but ever-catchy usage of “Unwritten” as its theme song.
But Conrad wanted to use her fame for something meaningful once the cameras stopped rolling.
“I felt like I had a following and I wanted to do some sort of good with it,” the mom of two, 35, told the Daily News.
And good is exactly what Conrad — known as “the girl who didn’t go to Paris” after an Anna Wintour pronouncement — has done since saying au revoir to her TV alter ego.
Take the Little Market, a nonprofit fair-trade shop Conrad founded with design-school pal Hannah Skvarla, who has a history of working with other nonprofits like Human Rights Watch.
The Little Market allows the travel buddies to “create an opportunity for artisans to support themselves” through a model that connects them with consumers, explained Conrad. It currently works with 65 artisan groups from vulnerable populations — like refugees, young mothers, survivors of sex trafficking and those with disabilities — across more than 25 countries.
Now the friends are gearing up for their first-ever virtual series, presented in partnership with ATTN: and T-Mobile, in celebration of International Women’s Day.
“As part of our nonprofit mission, education is a really big component,” Skvarla told The News. “Women’s rights was really at the roots of why we started The Little Market.”
The series, she noted, will see experts in fields like human rights and women’s rights paired with celebrities “talking about an issue that really matters,” some of which include Period Poverty + Human Rights, Black Mamas Matter, Asian American representation, Women’s Economic Independence and Surviving Human Trafficking.
“Hannah and I were able to start Little Market because we shared a passion and we really cared about a certain cause,” noted Conrad. “When you have those, that’s just so motivating to do more.”
The most rewarding part is “when we hear about the impact,” said Skvarla, pointing to the “ripple effect from women having access to their own income.”
“Time and time again, women share that domestic violence has decreased in their households. They’re able to use the money that they earn from making the products to send their daughters to school ... who otherwise would be doing household chores,” she said. “And then women get more rights in their communities.”
Conrad added: “This was the year that what we do was most important because these communities were so affected by this pandemic.”
There’s no doubt that celebrity, for all its privilege, can come with a stigma. But the LC Lauren Conrad designer said she prefers to leverage her platform.
“Honestly, I was trying to take advantage of it,” she said with a laugh.
“I felt like if I was given this random gift, like, I should be responsible with it . ... Initially, when Hannah and I [were] talking, I was like, ‘People are listening, I should say something important.’ ”
If she could go back in time, knowing what she knows now about the reality TV experience, would she ride that merry-goround again?
“What if I said no?” Conrad laughed before pausing. “No. Yeah, absolutely.”