Prior to joining NIJC, Lauren spent nearly three years at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Human Rights Initiative, where she published research and analysis on timely foreign policy issues, including business and human rights, human trafficking, migrant rights, and responding to egregious human rights abuses. Before joining CSIS, she spent four years as the senior program coordinator for the German Marshall Fund (GMF) Cities program and one year as a program assistant on the Middle East and North Africa team at the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). Lauren holds a master of arts in democracy and governance from Georgetown University and a bachelor of arts in political science from Illinois Wesleyan University.