Lauren Peterson

Lauren Peterson is a speechwriter, political strategist, and the co-author of New York Times bestseller Make Trouble: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead by Cecile Richards. She advises a wide range of clients including leaders in politics, business, advocacy, and the arts, and is a professor of speechwriting at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Lauren was a speechwriter and digital strategist on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, where she wrote about issues ranging from jobs and the economy to reproductive rights and immigration reform. Previously, she worked as a senior advisor and writer at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and as a senior writer on President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. A proud audio geek, she helped launch and produce the podcasts You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton and In Fact with Chelsea Clinton. Her writing has been published in The Washington Post, Romper, and The Bump.

Lauren lives in Brooklyn with her wife, Liz; their son, Remy; and their anxious rescue dog, Basil. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (go Badgers!). When she isn’t defending the dog’s food from an increasingly mobile toddler, she enjoys running marathons, playing the violin, and crunching the numbers to see whether she’s too old to live out her dream of representing Team USA on the Olympic figure skating team (she is).