I'm Lauren.
I'm a writer, painter, and musician. I'm also an executive strategist. My work lives at the intersection of these two worlds, and so does my life.
The story behind this work...
For a long time, I thought I had to choose between these two identities: the free-range creative or the responsible earner.
In my twenties, I was working as a musician in London. I loved the intensity and adventure, but I craved more stability. A life that felt grounded. A savings account that went up instead of down.
So I went back to grad school, stepped into the corporate world, and built something solid.
For nearly seven years, I barely created art or music at all.
From the outside, everything looked great: stable home, good income, a wonderful family. But I was running on empty.
Somewhere in the middle of building the responsible life, I'd quietly shelved the creative one. And I could feel it. I wasn't just unfulfilled. I was starting to resent the lifestyle I'd worked so hard to build.
Coming back to the arts wasn't a big dramatic leap. I didn't quit my job and fly to Bali. Instead, it was a deliberate integration. Letting both sides of me, the creative and the practical, have a seat at the table.
They weren't enemies. They never had been.
That shift made everything possible. I finished a collection of 50+ paintings. I composed more music than I had in a decade. I wrote and published The Real Life Artist. And I became more present at home, not less.
That is the ground this work is built on. Not theory. Lived experience.
This is what becomes possible when the creative and the practical stop fighting each other.
Real Life
I live in New Mexico with my husband, Copeland, and our two exceptionally energetic sons.
Our days are full: school mornings, creative work, client sessions, dinner prep, library runs, long walks, and a house that's usually scattered with train tracks, dinosaurs, and a perpetually unfolded pile of laundry.
It's a full life. A real one. And I don't create outside this life. I create inside it. That's not just the model I teach; it's the one I'm living every day.
If you're ready to create something that matters—and you want a partner who takes both your art and your real life seriously—I'd like to hear from you.
Reach me directly at lauren@laurenspangler.com.