21 things to know about this gal with the great alliterative name
Lauren Loftus lives in San Diego but works in the Bay Area. The commute to her computer each day is rough.
Lauren Loftus has spent most of her 30-plus years in Phoenix, Arizona. But ask her where she’s from and she’ll swear she’s a San Diegan.
Lauren Loftus wrote about her feelings on being from both Phoenix and San Diego here and here.
Yes, Lauren Loftus has surfed and hopes that impresses you. She also has her motorcycle license but really just wants a Vespa.
Lauren Loftus is a journalist and writer. She’s currently the associate editor of Santa Clara Magazine. Before that, she was an editor at PHOENIX magazine.
Lauren Loftus’s work has also appeared in The Washington Post, NBC, The Arizona Republic, OZY.com, KJZZ Phoenix/NPR, The Center for Public Integrity and the Phoenix New Times.
Lauren Loftus earned her Master of Mass Communication from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University where she was named the Outstanding Graduate Student in 2015.
No, Lauren Loftus does not know why that degree/school name is so damn long.
Lauren Loftus was a 2014 Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Fellow with the News21 national investigative multimedia initiative on gun rights and regulations.
Lauren Loftus shot a lot of guns that summer. It wasn’t her favorite.
Lauren Loftus didn't always want to be a journalist.
Lauren Loftus thought about getting her MFA in poetry after writing two decent poems in college.
Lauren Loftus calmed right down after realizing she's no poet, so she did the thing many millennials graduating college in 2008 did and considered applying to get a Ph.D. in literature.
Lauren Loftus obviously did not get that Ph.D.
Lauren Loftus graduated from the University of San Diego with a B.A. in English and a minor in political science just before the economy tanked and moved back in with her parents in Arizona.
Lauren Loftus spent the next three years in a windowless airport hangar in Phoenix summarizing daily news for radio stations in exotic places like Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Lauren Loftus quit to backpack around Central America. She sled down a volcano in Nicaragua, explored a cave via candlelight in Guatemala, surfed in El Salvador, and swam with sharks in Belize. It was awesome.
Lauren Loftus realized she didn't have to write fiction to tell stories about really interesting people and places. When CNN didn't respond, she applied to graduate school for journalism.
Lauren Loftus is INTJ. Duh.
Lauren Loftus likes: beach days with her husband and dog, playing tennis and learning to play pickleball, reading fiction, rewatching romcoms, collecting sunglasses, collecting cats, baking pies, binging true crime podcasts, and hair-flipping to angsty '90s pop. Lauren Loftus dislikes: the term "mixology" and when people call facts they don't agree with "fake news". Lauren Loftus hates: cucumbers.
Lauren Loftus thinks if you made it this far, you deserve a prize. And pie.