Lauren Bush Lauren (born Lauren Pierce Bush; June 25, 1984) is the CEO and co-founder of
FEED Projects. She is also known for her previous career as a
fashion model
A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Thoug ...
and
designer
A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans.
In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
.
She is the daughter of
Neil Bush
Neil Mallon Bush (born January 22, 1955) is an American businessman and investor. He is the fourth of six children of former President George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush (née Pierce). His five siblings are George W. Bush, the 43rd President o ...
and
Sharon Bush (née Smith), granddaughter of former
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
George H. W. Bush and niece of former
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and former
Florida Governor
The governor of Florida is the head of government of the state of Florida and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Florida ...
Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush ...
.
Early life and education
Bush was born in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
, on June 25, 1984, and raised in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
. She attended high school at
The Kinkaid School in Houston, as did her sister Ashley and brother Pierce. In her senior year at Kinkaid, she interned for the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
television show ''
Friends''. She was a
debutante, making her formal debut in a
Dior haute couture gown at
le Bal des débutantes in Paris, France in 2000.
Bush studied
fashion design
Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates ...
at BEBE and
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of sho ...
and graduated from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
in 2006 with a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
and a
certificate in
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...
. She was a member of
The Ivy Club
The Ivy Club, often simply Ivy, is the oldest eating club at Princeton University, and it is "still considered the most prestigious" by its members. It was founded in 1879 with Arthur Hawley Scribner as its first head. Ivy is one of the "Big Four ...
, one of Princeton's eleven
eating clubs.
Career
Bush was signed with
Elite Model Management
Elite Model Management (MM) refers to two independent chain modeling agencies that originated as one in Paris, France in 1972 with subsequent locations in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London and Toronto. In 2004, the agencies in New York, Miami, ...
before launching FEED. She has been featured on the covers of ''
Vogue
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
'' and ''
Vanity Fair'' and has frequently modelled for
Tommy Hilfiger
Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( /hɪlˈfɪgər/; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation.
After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's Place in upst ...
, as well as for
Abercrombie & Fitch and designers
Gai Mattiolo
Gaetano "Gai" Mattiolo (born 23 December 1968) is an Italian fashion designer.
Biography
Born in Rome, an autodidact, after graduating from the liceo scientifico Mattiolo opened his fashion house in 1987 and the same year he had his breakout ...
and
Isaac Mizrahi
Isaac Mizrahi (born October 14, 1961) is an American fashion designer, television presenter and chief designer of the Isaac Mizrahi brand for Xcel Brands. Based in New York City, he is best known for his eponymous fashion lines. Mizrahi was prev ...
. Bush was an intern on the television
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
''
Friends'', making a
cameo in one episode, and interned alongside
Ashley Olsen
Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986) is an American businesswoman and former actress. She began her acting career at the age of nine months, sharing the role of Michelle Tanner with her twin sister Mary-Kate Olsen in the television sitco ...
with designer
Zac Posen. In 2005, Bush traveled to
Chad as a Student Ambassador for the
World Food Program
The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен ...
.
In 2007, Lauren launched
FEED Projects, a social business to fight world hunger on behalf of the
UN World Food Programme.
Bush relaunched her fashion label on September 11, 2008, under the name "Lauren Pierce". About her decision to use her middle name, Pierce, as opposed to her last name for the title of her line, Bush stated in November 2008 that it "wasn't a conscious decision." Further pressed, Bush said, "Obviously my last name is associated with politics. But Pierce is my grandmother's maiden name and my younger brother's name. It's not about downplaying my last name as much as it is about loving Pierce. And my brother is very flattered." Former President George H. W. Bush and
Barbara Bush
Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously w ...
were in the front row at the Lauren Pierce Spring 2011 show during the inaugural Houston Fashion Week, in October 2010.
Activism
FEED Projects has donated over 100 million meals as of October 2017 through the sale of products and fundraising activations. In 2014, Lauren led FEED in launching FEED Supper, a 30-day fundraising activation, which asks people to host dinner parties where guests donate to hunger alleviation. In 2015, she signed an open letter for which the
ONE Campaign had been collecting signatures; the letter was addressed to
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...
and
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the heads of the G7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa, respectively, which would start to set the priorities in development funding before a main UN summit in September 2015 to establish new development goals for the generation.
Honors
In 2012, Lauren was announced as the first National Lady Godiva Honoree of the
Lady Godiva
Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. Today, she is mainly re ...
Program. In 2013, she became the 2013 Advocacy Award recipient from the World of Children Awards, in celebration of the significant work she and her organization, FEED Projects, have done for hungry children worldwide.
For her work with FEED, she was named one of ''
Fortune''
's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs in 2009 and one of ''
Inc.''’s 30 Under 30 in 2010. She has also received the 2010 Accessories Council Humanitarian Award, the 2011 Stevie Award for Best Non-Profit Executive, the 2011 Fashion Group International Humanitarian Award and the 2013 Women in Communications Award (WiCi). In 2014, Lauren was named as one of ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
''’ 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneurs and one of Crain's 40 Under 40.
Personal life
Bush has been a
vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter.
Vegetariani ...
since she was four years old.
In 2004, Bush began dating
David Lauren, son of fashion designer
Ralph Lauren. On September 4, 2011, the pair married in Colorado. Their first son, James Richard Lauren, was born on November 21, 2015. Their second son, Max Walker Lauren, was born on April 19, 2018, two days after Barbara Bush died. Their third son, Robert Rocky Lauren, was born on April 10, 2021.
References
External links
Lauren BushVideo produced by ''
Makers: Women Who Make America''
FEED Projects, raising awareness and funds to help feed hungry children around the world*
21st century debson 2005 Bal des Débutantes
from ''
Style magazine''
Lauren Bush participating in Georgetown University's World Hunger fair from The People SpeakLauren Bush participating in the Stand Up Against Global Poverty Event at Georgetown University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, Lauren
1984 births
Living people
20th-century American women
21st-century American businesspeople
21st-century American businesswomen
Alumni of Central Saint Martins
American debutantes
American fashion designers
American female models
American women chief executives
American women company founders
American women fashion designers
Artists from Houston
Bush family
Businesspeople from Houston
Debutantes of le Bal des débutantes
Female models from Texas
Lauren family
Livingston family
Princeton University alumni
Schuyler family
The Kinkaid School alumni
Vanity Fair (magazine) people
Vogue (magazine) people