Fired With Her Team Over Zoom: How Laura Brown Survived 20 Years of Career Loss

Posted by The News Pulse October 27, 2025 Post a Comment

Understanding the Impact of Being Fired

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You feel secure in your job. You’ve earned promotions, led teams, and made yourself indispensable, or so you thought. Suddenly, it’s gone, title, salary, and stability, all in a single call. That’s what happened to Laura Brown and Kristina O’Neill, longtime friends and former editors-in-chief at InStyle and WSJ Magazine. Brown told CNBC, “I was fired with my whole team over Zoom.” O’Neill was let go the following year. Instead of retreating, they turned their shared experience into a book, “All the Cool Girls Get Fired,” exploring what it means to lose everything you’ve built and still come back stronger.

Their story is both personal and universal. It’s about how two women at the top of their game rebuilt confidence, community, and purpose after losing the careers that once defined them.

1. Take the Hit, Then Reclaim Your Confidence

Both women describe the shock of being let go after decades of hard work. Brown called it “an anvil that’s smacked you on the head.” They agree that the first step is acceptance. Feel what you need to feel, then focus on what remains. Your experience, creativity, and work ethic don’t vanish with your job title.

Brown put it bluntly: “Everything you achieved is yours. It’s not the company’s. They didn’t take it from you.” That simple truth became the foundation for rebuilding.

2. Don’t Retreat, Show ‘Proof of Life’

After a firing, isolation feels safe, but it can make things worse. “If you spend too much time alone, you just always feel worse,” Brown said. Her solution was what she calls “proof of life” — getting out of the house, meeting friends, and doing small things that remind you there’s a world beyond your bank balance.

O’Neill calls the emotional aftermath “The Scarlet F,” the sense that everyone knows you’ve been fired. Talking about it helps dissolve that shame. “It’s all in your head,” she said. They both discovered that most people are far more understanding than you expect — and that being visible again helps restore confidence faster than isolation ever could.

3. Face the Financial Facts Early

Once the shock subsides, reality sets in. Severance, insurance, and bills don’t wait. Brown and O’Neill say financial clarity was the key to regaining control. They advise getting organized quickly: confirm final pay, review benefits, and know how long your savings will last.

They also warn against rash financial decisions made in panic. “Your financial priority is your greatest priority always,” they write. Stability provides the breathing room to make smart career choices instead of desperate ones.

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4. Tap Into Your Career Safety Net (Work)

If there’s one advantage to long careers, it’s connections. Brown and O’Neill call networking a lifelong process, not something you start when you need a job. Brown uses the metaphor of “Johnny Appleseed-ing” — planting seeds throughout your career that may grow into opportunities later.

After their firings, both women found those relationships invaluable. Former colleagues, mentors, and friends reached out with support, ideas, and introductions. They say that maintaining visibility — lunch meetings, industry events, even casual check-ins — helped them rediscover a sense of belonging and possibility.

5. Redefine Success on Your Own Terms

For Brown and O’Neill, losing their dream jobs was also an opportunity to ask whether those roles still defined success. O’Neill said many people realize after being fired that the job they once considered their dream no longer feels like it.

That kind of reevaluation became central to their recovery. Both women found new energy in carving their own paths forward. Brown launched LB Media, her own company, while O’Neill became head of media at Sotheby’s.

Neither tried to rebuild the same career they’d lost. Each chose a path that offered more flexibility, creativity, and control — and both say that’s what made the next chapter better.

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6. Control Your Story Before It Controls You

Both women refuse to hide behind euphemisms. “Same s—canning, different day,” Brown joked, rejecting terms like made redundant, laid off or part of a restructure. They learned that calling it what it is — fired — strips away shame.

When people ask what happened, they suggest being brief and confident: acknowledge it, then pivot to what you’re doing now. Owning your story turns it from a weakness into proof of resilience.

7. Find Closure So You Can Move On

O’Neill was able to say goodbye to her team with a farewell party, something she describes as essential for moving forward. Brown didn’t have that chance but made closure on her own terms. She reached out to colleagues privately, celebrated what they’d achieved together, and then deliberately moved on.

They both say closure — whether it’s a conversation, a lunch, or simply cleaning out old files — helps you mentally close one chapter before beginning the next.

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When One Chapter Ends, Another Begins

Brown and O’Neill’s experiences show that losing a career doesn’t erase your worth. As Brown put it, “Everything you achieved is yours.” Their story is about resilience, not loss.

Being fired might feel like the end, but it can also clear the way for reinvention. You’ve already proven you can rise once. Doing it again, this time on your own terms, might just be your strongest comeback yet.