Lauren's Summer Book Club

Reading for the fitness freak, the entrepreneur, and the crime-lover

Some of my reading recos to keep your brain busy this summer.

I’ve always been a big reader. And I have varied tastes. So I’m going to share a little something for everyone, no matter what you’re into. 

I’ve heard many times that the best CEOs read a book a week. So during the pandemic, I decided to do just that. 52 weeks… 52 books. Unfortunately I only made it to 48. But it was a great personal challenge, and I’d love to highlight a few gems for you. 

Murder in Mykonos

BEACH READING

1. First for some fun beach reading. If you’re toying with the idea of coming to Greece, these books will put you in the mood immediately. Author Jeffrey Siger’s Detective Kaldis books are too much fun. I started with Murder in Mykonos, and went on to do Assassins of Athens, Prey on Patmos, Target Tinos, and Mykonos After Midnight. I believe there are 2 or 3 more in his series. If you are already familiar with any of these places, then it’s fun because you feel like a real insider. It turns out, like me, Jeffrey also lives between the US in Mykonos. He’s Connecticut based and I reached out on Facebook to tell him how much I enjoyed his books. I hope he comes to the island this year so we can have a drink in Little Venice and talk about what’s next for Detective Kaldis.  
 

Riding High

FITNESS MEMOIR

2. Next up, a memoir written by one of my original mentors when I first started Sweat Vacay – Ruth Zuckerman. She created both SoulCycle and FlyWheel, and her journey from divorcée

 to cycling instructor, to fitness mogul is all captured in the pages of Riding High. A lot of the book is deeply personal, which I liked because after taking many of her classes and having a lot of coffee dates to discuss my burgeoning business, I felt like I got to know a different side of her. Whether you are in the fitness world or just like a good story about a founder with grit, this was a great read. 

Venture Deals

BUSINESS, BABY

3. And finally a busines book. As an entrepreneur, I’m always looking for ways to scale. From Sweat Vacay, I went on to found booking platform Sweat Booker. As with any start-up, I was guided toward accelerators for advice. The accelerator I chose ended up recommending the book Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson as part of the curriculum. A lot of what’s in here I’d already worked through on my own by starting Sweat Vacay. Company structure. Debt vs Equity. My terms sheet. My cap table. But a lot of it I didn’t know. I’m a creative by trade. I got my MFA from SCAD. It’s my business partner that got her MBA from INSEAD. I was the one who needed to learn to speak the language of doing venture deals. It’s an important read for anyone with their own busines who is looking to rapidly grow and needs help doing it. 

 

 

 

Lauren Demarestlocal flavor, local, mykonos, greece, greek, sweat vacay, yoga, yoga retreat, yoga class, yoga Mykonos, pilates, pilates mykonos, vacation workout, vacation yoga, vacation cycliing, vacation mykonos, kea, paros, greek island, greek isles, Paros, The Garden of Mykonos, Kivotos, Adorno, Casa Cook, Villa Carpe Diem, Keanaissance, HIIT, personal treaining, wellness, wellness retreat, greek retreat, retreat in greece, fitness retreat, private coach, fitness coach, fitness coaching, Lauren Demarest, Panos Pantios, Soho House, Soho Roc, Cine Manto, Clemence Dumas, Jovanas Jelic, Coss Marte, Trevor Franklin, Ashley Kyle Miller, Christina Ortega, Sweat Vacay, Sweat bbooker, entrepreneur, startup, start up, greek startuup, investment, investing, FTE Mykonos