Lauren Screeden’s path to Bears forged by family, work ethic

Lauren’s constant drive stems from Patty and Jim, who both worked long careers at Motorola – where the two met. Prior to meeting Patty, Jim served in the Army and lived in Germany for four years. When he moved back to Minnesota, Jim joined Motorola and was eventually in charge of all the public safety radios in North America. He helped with emergency response work, including 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

While Lauren will always admire her dad’s work and service, Patty was the blueprint for her daughter.

“My mom worked at Motorola, and she was high up, and we’re talking about the ’80s,” Lauren said. “There weren’t women in the positions that she was in. She was used to working in a male-dominated industry, and so she would always tell me, ‘you’ll get in the door twice as fast, but you’ll have to know twice as much.'”

Patty’s influence set Lauren up for success in a space that isn’t always common for women. While Patty knew her daughter would excel as a broadcast journalist, she was never able to see Lauren reach the sports industry. After a seven-year battle with bladder cancer, Patty passed away while Lauren was still in college.

Even when Patty was sick, she worked as a patient advocate for the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network. Continuing her mother’s work is now Lauren’s most important passion. Every May, she does a walk for the network; since meeting Lauren, Adams has never missed one.

While Lauren’s current support system helps her continue striving toward her career goals, for her, there’s nothing like her mother’s motivation. Even though Patty didn’t see Lauren race between high schools to cover multiple football games or watch her host Bears games at Soldier Field, her influence on Lauren will never fade. Jim will always make sure of it.

“She was the one who grew up in Chicago and looking back now, she always talked about that, but I never really realized that it came full circle,” Lauren said.

“So she never actually got to see it, really. But my dad always tells me how proud she would have been.”