About Lara

Writing

As a writer, I’ve been trained in a broad range of styles and forms including journalism, academic writing, creative writing, playwriting, screenwriting and sketch comedy.

I’ve performed stand-up, improv and sketch comedy at storied institutions such as The Second City, UCB, and the Comedy Store.

My soap opera parody short People Pleasers -- an Official Selection at the Austin Micro Film Festival and winner of its “Most Original Concept” award -- and my music video parody Main Course Energy (now a cult Thanksgiving Wiggle Room fave) have both been featured on WhoHaha.

I’ve also written for the digital sketch series Cory and the Wongnotes, which was promoted by Stephen Colbert and others.

My writing has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul, and you’ve probably read some of the ghostwriting I’ve done for clients.

Sometimes I also write on Substack: LED Musings and Bluesky (@LEDMusings) about whatever’s caught my interest recently.

Career Highlights

For almost 20 years now, I’ve had a front-row seat to major media moments and providing support to public figures and household names. Examples include:

• Overseeing features in outlets ranging from Good Morning America to Vanity Fair to Forbes

• Helping to start and architect the communications, entertainment and education strategies of nonprofit organization Define American (twice-named to Fast Company’s “most innovative companies” list)

• Working with brands like MTV and the Sundance Institute to adopt and integrate VR into their storytelling

• Leading external communications on a multi-billion IT implementation for a major Southern California utility

Education

I earned a B.A. in Journalism and Sociology from NYU, and an M.A. in Social Science from UCLA, where I studied and wrote about how values are embedded in the words we use (spoiler alert: they’re everywhere!)

While at UCLA, I served as the founding editor of LA Social Science, a blog started by the now-dean of UCLA to share how UCLA social science research was being applied to benefit the wider community. In doing that, I gained exceptional experience working closely with UCLA professors and researchers to distill and translate their work into 500-word blog posts so that they would be accessible to a wider audience.

Sometimes I also write on Substack: LED Musings and Bluesky (@LEDMusings) about whatever’s caught my interest recently.

In Other Words

I am fluent in Customer, Storyteller, Reporter, Professor, Philosopher, Clown and other languages, and love helping people who speak these different social languages communicate with one another.