Hi, I’m Lauren.
I’m a creative strategist, visual artist, and marketer based in Portland, Oregon. I’ve built a career at the intersection of food, art, culture, and business, blending intuition, creativity, and data to bring ideas to life.
From building food media businesses that reached millions, to designing websites that brought brands and artists’ visions to life, to consulting on multi-million-dollar investments in the content marketing space, my journey has been a mix of creativity, strategy, and adaptability.
Along the way, I’ve collaborated with globally recognized brands, coached other creatives in achieving business success, co-authored a cookbook, and sold hundreds of recipes to publications worldwide. It’s been anything but conventional—and that’s exactly how I like it.
Learn more about me and how to work together below.
WAYS TO WORK WITH ME
From branding and SEO to web design and creative services, I'm here to bring your vision to life. I also offer pro bono support for entrepreneurs from marginalized communities—learn more below.
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Maximize your online presence with tailored SEO strategies that drive traffic and engagement. From audits to action plans, I’ll help you improve your search engine rankings and connect with your target audience.
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I build fun SEO-optimized Squarespace web designs, brand guidelines, logos, and marketing materials to ensure your brand stands out in a crowded marketplace.
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Take your business to the next level with insights and strategies tailored to your goals. Whether you’re a startup or scaling, I offer actionable guidance on everything from market positioning to operational efficiency.
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Creative photography that tells your story. I specialize in bold photography across plant-based food, brand, product, lifestyle, and landscape + nature channels.
Affiliations
My Mission
To follow my creativity wherever it leads—and to champion the artists, creators, and brands doing the same. Whether through art, food, or strategy, I’m here to support and amplify those who are reshaping their industries and communities.
My Career Values
Justice: My undergrad in Sociology as well as my ongoing graduate studies at UCLA in food justice, sustainability, and community development guide my work. I believe in creating a more equitable world through creativity and action.
Connection: At the heart of my work is the belief that food, art, and collaboration bring people together in meaningful ways.
Sustainability: From vegan recipe development to pro bono initiatives, I aim to make choices that benefit people and the planet.
Creativity: I thrive on doing cool things—exploring every whim, breaking norms, and finding inspiration in the unexpected.
Flavor: Vegan food isn’t just better for the environment and your health—it’s better, period. My mission is to show the world how exciting plant-based eating can be.
My background
My career began in college with Wicked Spatula, a paleo food blog that I grew in my free time while working at the Alzheimer's Association.
By 2015, I founded Healthful Creative, an agency specializing in recipe development and food photography for brands like KitchenAid and Bob’s Red Mill.
In 2017, my partner Alex and I launched Cast Iron Keto. Within just a few months, it reached an audience of millions, becoming a leading resource for keto recipes. This success led to the publication of The Cast Iron Keto Cookbook in 2020. Around the same time, we sold Wicked Spatula and later Cast Iron Keto, scaling both into thriving businesses that were acquired by investors.
In 2021, I went vegan, shifting my work to focus on plant-based recipes and sustainability. Healthful Creative became a go-to source for bloggers worldwide to purchase plant-based recipe content. Over the years, I sold hundreds of recipes—if you’ve been on Pinterest or a recipe website, there’s a good chance you’ve made one! As one of the first B2B platforms for bloggers to purchase ready-made content without the need to source and hire freelancers directly, Healthful Creative filled a unique niche in the industry. I closed the business in late 2024 as I brought my recipe development services to a close.
Today, I lead digital marketing at a B2B SaaS company in the bev-alc space while continuing to explore recipe development for myself through the flavors I love—modern plant-based recipes rooted in Appalachian flavors with a global flare as well as abstract art, and selective consulting, photography, and brand development for brands and causes I’m passionate about.