Lauren Stewart

I've always been somebody, from the time of being a very small child, who really cares deeply about the inequities that we live in in this world. My career started at Virginia Commonwealth University working in higher ed, and my passion there was really helping the first-generation college student, the underserved groups, the folks who were really here to chart a new path for themselves and their families - that's what really inspired me the most in that work. I worked there for almost 8 years doing PR, alumni relations, and major gift fundraising. I left there and started my own communications consulting firm, trying to stay supportive of women-owned and minority-owned businesses for a couple of years. Then COVID hit and really changed the game on everything, and it went from being a labor of love to a labor that I did not love. That's when I decided I was ready to leave the entrepreneurial world, and I found the job opening at Turn 2. It just seemed like such a natural fit and a natural next step for me in terms of being able to work in this space of using communications to elevate the greater good. I'm a firm believer that communications is very powerful work, and it has the power to help or to hurt. I wanted to make sure I was on the side that was always using communications to help - to help people get the information they need, to help people understand the issues that are affecting their day-to-day lives. That's how I ended up at the agency I am at now, and it's just so rewarding and such great work, so I'm very grateful and blessed to be where I am.