LAUREN LESTER
——entrepreneur, consultant, creative
I’VE BUILT BUSINESSES, BRANDS, AND DINNER. SOMETIMES all at once.
I’ve worn a lot of hats over the years — food media founder, digital strategist, investment & business consultant, marketing manager, photographer, cookbook author. What ties it all together is a deep understanding of how people connect with ideas — and how brands can show up with clarity, purpose, and a point of view.
These days, I’m focused on building Template Town, a product-based business for brands that want to stand out online without overthinking it. I also collaborate on pro-bono projects that align with my values, and carve out space for slower, more personal work — like my Food on the Street photo series and a growing collection of abstract paintings. It’s a quieter chapter, but an intentional one.
currently working on
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currently working on ↓
TEMPLATE town
Template Town was born out of frustration — and a decade of experience building websites, brands, and content systems that actually work. After years in the industry, I saw how often small businesses got stuck between two bad options: a generic site that looks like everyone else’s, or an expensive custom build with fragile code they can’t maintain.
Web design agencies love to overcomplicate things. And I get it — I’ve worked on $10K+ custom Squarespace builds, and $70K+ WordPress projects. But most small brands don’t need that. What they need is structure, style, and strategy — at a price that doesn’t drain their entire marketing budget.
That’s where Template Town comes in: $225, all-native Squarespace, no custom code, no agency markup. Just well-built, niche-focused templates that give businesses, creators, and artists a site they are proud to share — and the confidence to run it without a developer on speed dial.
THE backstory
My career started in college with Wicked Spatula, a digital food publication I built while working at the Alzheimer’s Association.
What began as a creative outlet quickly grew into a thriving platform, leading me to launch my own agency, Healthful Creative, in 2015 — specializing in content development, branding, and photography for global brands and independent publishers.
In 2017, my partner Alex and I founded Cast Iron Keto, scaling it to an audience of millions within months. That success led to a cookbook deal in 2020 and the eventual sale of both Wicked Spatula and Cast Iron Keto. After those exits, I shifted my focus to helping other brands grow, working with clients across digital media, branding, and content strategy.
Over the years, I’ve built and scaled businesses, consulted on multi-million-dollar acquisitions, and developed digital platforms that have shaped how brands connect with their audiences. My expertise spans SEO, brand strategy, UX-focused web design, and creative production — all with an emphasis on helping small businesses and creative entrepreneurs build sustainable, standout brands.
PERSONAL projects
Art, food, and cultural storytelling are part of the ecosystem that fuels my work. Explore my personal projects below.
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FOOD ON THE STREET
A photo series about food people left behind. Forgotten meals, broken takeout boxes, tiny urban moments. It’s part documentation, part “wtf?”
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ABSTRACT PAINTING
Painting is my meditation. It’s the place where logic drops and emotion takes over — bold, messy, unfiltered.
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SOMEDAY SUBSTACK
[coming soon!] …Appalachian roots meet global vibe…a recipe project in progress (IYKYK)
Have a project in mind?
I’m available for limited freelance and pro-bono work on projects that are thoughtful, creative, or values-driven. Use the contact form if you want to share a bit more.
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