Laura Brown Editor, Media Entrepreneur, Author, Reinvention Champion

About the Author

Laura Brown is the founder of LB Media and the chair of (RED)’s Creative Council. She sits on the boards of (RED), The Fashion Trust US, the me too. Movement, and Foot Soldiers Park in Selma. A longtime leader in fashion and media, she previously served as editor-in-chief of InStyle, executive editor of Harper’s Bazaar, and senior editor at W.

Her forthcoming book, coauthored with Kristina O’Neill, All the Cool Girls Get Fired (out October 14, 2025), is an unfiltered, humorous, and empowering guide to rebuilding your career on your own terms. Drawing on their decades of experience in high-stakes leadership roles, Brown and O’Neill share personal insights, practical advice, and “I’ve been there” interviews with inspiring women to help readers navigate the emotional and professional aftermath of losing a job. Part roadmap, part mindset shift, the book offers strategies for self-care, networking, reinvention, and bouncing back with more confidence—and career mojo—than ever before.

As a speaker, Brown brings warmth, wit, and wisdom to conversations about reinvention, resilience, and redefining success. Drawing from her trailblazing career and the themes of her book, she encourages audiences to embrace change, trust their instincts, and take bold steps forward—whether they’ve been fired or are simply ready for something new. Brown and O’Neill are available to speak together or separately, on these topics.

Brown earned her BA in arts and communication from Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia. She lives in Manhattan with her husband.

Raves and Reviews

All the Cool Girls Get Fired is a revolutionary book: an indispensable tool for bouncing back and sticking it to them!”
—Naomi Watts

All the Cool Girls Get Fired is sharp, irreverent, and refreshingly honest. An inspiring story for anyone who wants to challenge convention and write their own rules.”
—Tory Burch

Screw shame—and eff failure while you’re at it. From the practical to the emotional, ‘Cool Girls’ will reboot you when you need it the most. To all the fired ladies out there: Congratulations, you just got cooler.”
—Rose Byrne

All the Cool Girls Get Fired is a celebration of resilience and authenticity in the midst of life’s unexpected twists. Brown and O’Neill deliver a raw, honest, and fiercely funny take on finding strength through vulnerability. A rallying cry for anyone ready to turn a setback into the coolest comeback.”
—Amy Griffin, Founder of G9 Ventures

Part memoir, part unemployment handbook and part self-help manual, the book covers subjects that have only become more relevant as firings, layoffs and economic uncertainty have become topics of daily conversation.”
—The New York Times

The book is a salve and a solve for anyone who has gotten kicked off the ladder, only to find the ladder no longer exists. Part manual, part career-oriented memoir, All the Cool Girls Get Fired reframes the narrative around losing your job and provides a road map for what to do next.”
—Harper’s BAZAAR

All the Cool Girls Get Fired normalizes firing, takes the shame away from the experience… Brown and O’Neill are actively creating a community that can serve as a support system in case it happens close to home, to help guide people—particularly women—through the reinvention process as they work toward their next steps.”
—Forbes

In the Media

“Getting Fired Gets You Into This Cool Girls’ Club”

“How Not to Be a Character in a ‘Bad Fashion Movie’”

“In ‘All The Cool Girls Get Fired,’ Former Magazine Editors Laura Brown And Kristina O’Neill Wrote The Book They Wish They Had When They Were Let Go From Their Jobs”