Former CNN anchor shares how she rebuilt her life after the LA fires (exclusively)

Author and former CNN and CNBC anchor Nicole Lapin gave birth to their daughter in December 2024. Three weeks later, the 41-year-old was forced to evacuate their home with their newborn because of Devastating fires raging Los Angeles. Now, eight months later, Lapin opens up to people about how she has rebuilt her life and the things she wished she knew before “unthinkable happened.”

“I had everything really set up for Postpartum, tried to think through as much as I could to protect from depression after birth and have a studio within walking distance of our home,” she shares.

But some things you can’t plan for, as Lapin points out, the fires were “not part of my birth plan at all.”

“I was worried about a zillion different things. Losing the whole city was not one of them,” sharing the author.

Lapin and her family were among the more than 150,000 people throughout Los Angeles, who were forced to evacuate their homes because of the Brases, which burned more than 40,000 acres and destroyed over 16,000 structures.

“It cut so deeply from our entire home and everything we had, we left with our clothes on our backs, not an ID or our wallet or anything, not much less valuables or sentimental objects.”

Lapin lost her Pacific Palisades as well as the office and she built for her Financial News Network, Money News Network, in the fire. Her pediatrician’s office was also burned.

The financial journalist has spent in recent months to build his life and take steps to ensure that if another emergency occurs, she is prepared for it.

“We did the best we could. It was of survival and necessity that we had to find a temporary place, but in the end we were homeless,” she says. “We finally found a place a few months ago and only rebuilt our studio.”

At the top of the devastation of losing their home and belongings, Lapin admits that the situation also raised previous trauma.

“I had this irrational fear of being homeless. I saw that my house was shielded when I was little. I always had housing safety, but I never thought it could happen to me again,” she shares. “There are these financial irrational fear that you have, no matter what is in your bank account, which is really deeply rooted.”

“I have realized that as far as I have come, there is always more to learn and there is always more work to do. I have definitely learned even more to have to go through it myself,” she continues. “It’s one thing to take financial tests, as I have and study for it. It’s another thing to actually go to School of Hard Knocks, which I had to do this year.”

The former financial correspondent could rebuild what she could and now offer advice to others on her podcast, Money rehabilitation.

“The unthinkable, unfortunately happens regardless. Emergency situations will happen,” she says. “It’s not about, but when. It is not even to this extreme, but to be as financially prepared as possible, it is something you can control.”

When I look back, there are some things that Lapin wishes she had done before the disaster hit. She recommends that people create a “digital go bag”, which contains digital files with important documents, passports, ID, insurance cards and insurance, marriage and birth certificate and even e -post with your address on it.

She also recommends that you take a video of the interior of your home as a documentation of all your belongings, as it is easy to forget some possessions when you submit claims. For Lapin, it is just as important to document all the big things as it is to document the small things, which range from clothes to makeup shades.

“It is so intestinal to make an inventory of your entire life, but the insurance will ask for it,” says Lapin. “It is always difficult to learn from these life lessons. It is a combination of forgiving my former self for what she did not know, but also have tough love and take the right step forward.”

Outside disaster recovery, New York Times The best -selling author is now focusing on ensuring that her daughter is financially safe for the future despite the difficulties they have faced in the past year. For Lapin, which grew up with trauma and internalized fear of money, or the lack of it, this means understanding financial jargon and modeling healthy ways of thinking for his daughter.

“I think about how I talk now, and when my daughter talks I want to change the language we use, and I will not say:” Money does not grow on trees “, but maybe,” money grows where we save it and invest it. “

“Conscious to change how we think and talk about money is important,” she adds. “Instead of,” we can’t afford it, “I say”, we choose to spend our money on something else right now. “

Lapin’s media presence is based on openness, which is shown by the honesty she showed during some of the most challenging times of her life. She hopes to inspire others through her stories and an example for her daughter.

“I try my best to lead with examples. The last eight months have been a challenge, but even at this time in my life there is so much to learn,” she says. “I know a lot. I don’t know everything and I have never said to know everything. The more you realize there is, the more to know. One of our last taboo in this world is economics.”

“I hope parents realize that money is the tool and not a limitation. When someone asks me how to make rich children, it ultimately sees it in the mirror first because I see that the children reflect exactly what you do, ”shares the former anchor.

“If you have bad habits that you show for your child, they will look at you. They will look at if you are afraid to open your credit card bill. It is important to lead by example, and it is an honest, hard conversation that we all need to have with ourselves. I try to have it first.”