ET spoke with Conrad and her The Little Market business partner, Hannah Skvarla, at the Celebrating Changemakers event on Friday.
Lauren Conrad is making sure she's the best role model for her children.
Conrad and her The Little Market business partner, Hannah Skvarla, hosted the Celebrating Changemakers event on Friday, where she shared how the values of the non-profit are personal to her. The Little Market is a nonprofit that is empowering women and helping to break the cycle of poverty around the world.
"We just want to be the best kind of role models we can be for our children. Your kids are always watching you, what you do," Conrad tells ET's Katie Krause. "We're both working really hard to set a good example for them."
Conrad shares two sons -- Liam, 4, and Charlie, almost-2 -- with husband William Tell. When asked what her favorite part of motherhood is at the moment, she notes seeing the two boys "develop a friendship."
"What's really exciting right now is my younger son, who's about to turn 2, is really kind of becoming a little person," she shares. "And up until this point, he's just kind of been baby brother. But now I'm watching my sons develop a friendship and they're wild!"
"I live in a wild house right now and it's noisy and messy and whatever," she jokes. "But it's really cool to watch them create this bond, and that's been really exciting."
In just a couple of weeks, Conrad and her musician husband will be celebrating seven years of marriage on September 13.
"I'm lucky," she fawns over her hubby before sharing what she loves most about him. "I have an incredible partner. He's very supportive. Hannah and I are both lucky, we have amazing husbands and amazing partners, co-parents. I just feel lucky."
After lockdowns and virtual events, the duo, who founded The Little Market nearly a decade ago, couldn't be more grateful to reunite with so many wonderful women and their community in person for the event.
"We're really excited to be able to get together in person and celebrate everything we do here at the Little Market and also all of those people who have gathered around us and supported us," Conrad expresses, with Skvarla adding, "We really wanted to throw a celebration because of that, to bring together both the women who make the products, the community who supports us, and some of the incredible sponsors that support our work so we're really excited about this."
Striving to uplift and support others, the women don't take salaries, instead letting the funds get reinvested into the artisans and their communities.
"When we started The Little Market eight years ago, we really wanted to find a way to support women all over the world. That's just become increasingly important to us over the years, especially after both of us have become mothers because we understand that when you're supporting women you're also supporting their children," Conrad details. "We came up with the concept of The Little Market because we didn't want to do a charity. We didn't want to do donations. We wanted to create a business that helped people help themselves."
Skvarla adds, "When women have access to their own income, have sustainable income opportunities, the cycle of poverty breaks and then they are able to invest in themselves and their communities. It really has a ripple effect…and it's a really powerful thing."
With so much on Conrad's plate, from raising two boys, her Kohl's collection, The Little Market and more, the former reality star continues to stay humble in her hometown of Laguna Beach.
Last year, she and her former MTV co-stars reunited to promote voter registration ahead of the election. "It's great. I still get to see some of them. I mean, obviously, not as much over the past year and a half. But yeah, it's amazing. I still live in my hometown," she notes, adding she still keeps in touch with Stephen Colletti, Trey Phillips and Dieter Schmitz, among others. "Trey [recently] had a house party, felt like a kid."
When asked if she's seen some of her former co-stars on The Hills: New Beginnings, she reveals, "I honestly haven't seen it. I think it's great. I'm glad they were able to do it again. I actually don't watch any reality television. It's a little triggering for me!"
With reality TV in her past, Conrad is looking to the future and hoping to expand the empire that she's built since her Laguna Beach and The Hills days. As for what the next 10 years look like for the former reality star?
"I don't know. I couldn't have guessed 10 years ago where we'd be today," she relays. "I think after this year, I love my clothing line and everything I'm able to do there. I'm excited to see The Little Market grow. If you just look at the past eight years, how much we've seen, I'm just excited to see where we can take it next."
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