Lauren‘s experience in the fields of policy and advocacy has allotted her a career that spans across the areas of political strategy, policy implementation and civic engagement. Lauren Bealore graduated from Michigan State University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Relations and Policy from James Madison College, and decided to utilize her degree to further pursue a Masters of Arts in Public Policy from The New England College. Lauren continued her career in the Finance Department of political campaigns, beginning on the Congressional Campaign of the 14th District of Michigan for a Democratic nominee as Assistant Finance Director and then on to being the Finance Director for a Democratic nominee for the 39th District for the Michigan House of Representatives. In total, Lauren helped to raise $800,000 in campaign elections in 2014, being the only Millennial African American woman in Michigan working in the fundraising realm of politics. Lauren continued to catapult her career moving into the political strategy and policy side of the political landscape as the MI Political Director for America Votes. In this role, she implemented strategic planning with several state and national level organizations to impact progressive electoral and policy work. In this role she also worked with state legislators as well as the Governor’s Administration to support legislative strategy around different issue advocacy areas such as voting rights, reproductive rights, environmental policy, minimum wage increase, paid sick leave and criminal justice reform. Lauren was also the first African American in this role for the America Votes Michigan office. Her work with America Votes gave her the opportunity to support and uplift the work of several organizations on a state and national level including Planned Parenthood, NAACP, ACLU, Sierra Club, Human Rights Campaign, Color of Change, and many labor organizations to name a few.
Lauren also began her work on the national level of politics in DC as the Democracy Director for State Innovation Exchange (SiX) where she helps state legislators nationwide champion reforms for an equitable, inclusive, and participatory democracy, including identifying policy areas of interest to help legislators become experts on state democracy policies. In this role, Lauren has specific policy expertise that includes redistricting, voting rights, and criminal justice reform; and co-leads the No Democracy Without Black Women project in partnership with the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women that focuses on the underrepresentation of Black women across state legislatures nationally and its policy implications.
Currently, Lauren is the Associate Director of State and Local Policy for Prosperity Now, where she leads the national work of advancing Prosperity Now’s policy development at the state and local level to support championing economic opportunity, innovating outside of and beyond existing systems to build power for all communities. In this role, Lauren has specific policy expertise that includes financial security, business & entrepreneurship, housing, workers rights, and consumer protection. Additionally, Lauren is a nationally recognized political correspondent and has provided expertise for CNBC, Scipps News, and The Washington Report with Asharq News.
Lauren also has always strived to be a pillar of service as a lifelong comittment. Lauren served as a City Commissioner for two terms for the City of Southfield's Total Living Commission and was elected First Vice Chair of the Commission. Lauren also was elected as Precinct Delegate of Precinct 19 in the City of Southfield and was the youngest woman elected to this office for Precinct 19 in 2016. Lauren is currently a City Commissioner for the Sister Cities Committee for the City of Alexandria, helping to develop, encourage and promote educational and cultural exchanges between the Cities of Dundee, Scotland; Helsingborg, Sweden and the City of Alexandria. Lauren’s value of service to everyday communities also is a priority in her personal life as an active member of several prestigious organizations including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and Junior League of Washington. Lauren also was appointed to the Michigan Community Action Team of the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities in 2020 alongside the Lieutenant Governor and several state and local leaders, working weekly to address aiding COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on communities of color in the State of Michigan. Additionally, Lauren is the Co-Founder for a women-owned non-profit organization by the name of Y.A.B., which is a young entrepreneurial conglomerate for businesses owned by women of color. In this role, Lauren works with the Business Development entity of Y.A.B. and acts as a pipeline of resources to women of color nationally by partnering with co-working spaces city to city, funders and investment programming, and national millennial women networks. Through both Y.A.B. and Lauren's political career, Lauren has received over 100 publication features including Forbes, POLITICO, NBC News, Comcast Newsmakers, News One, CBS Detroit, Crain's Detroit Business, Blavity, and HOUR Detroit. Lauren has also been recognized for her work through awards including Crain’s Twenty in their 20’s, National Congress of Black Women of Distinction and Pioneers recipient, Who’s Who in Black Detroit, MSU Alumni Grand Awards-Young Alumni Award Recipient, and Alexandria Chamber of Commerce 40 under 40 to name a few. Lauren continues to use her extensive business network as well as political network to be both uplifting and resourceful as well as provide tools for others to use as stepping stones to their own personal success, all while breaking gender and racial barriers in many of her pursuits.