About
Hello! I'm Lauren, a program director and practitioner focused on the intersection of care, collaborative knowledge production, and research. Through my work, I aim to build more equitable and sustainable systems while strengthening social infrastructures. I am based in Brooklyn, New York, on the ancestral homelands of the Lenape people. Originally, I am from Galicia, located on the northwest coast of Spain. I am currently the Director of Research and Programs of The Maintainers, an interdisciplinary research and practices focused on the concepts of maintenance, repair, and care.
I hold a degree in Psychology and a Master’s in Psychotherapy from the Complutense University of Madrid. After moving to New York, I worked as a preschool teacher while conducting research with various psychology labs. This experience led to a long career in research coordination across behavioral, public, and community health, working with institutions such as Columbia University’s School of Public Health, CUNY School of Public Health, NYU Medical Center, and The New School for Social Research.
My research framework is grounded in feminist epistemology, which I have explored extensively through various gender justice initiatives. One such initiative is Las Marías, a bilingual English-Spanish critical pedagogy project that I co-founded. Through this initiative, I led workshops to educate youth and others on applied feminist theory, collaborating with cultural institutions and community organizations such Brooklyn Public Library, The Door, El Puente, Loisaida Center, and more.My work has also extended to archives, and engaging in public translational work and storytelling. My contributions have been recognized through residencies and fellowships at Clocktower Radio at Pioneer Works, MIT Feminist Futures, and Woodward Residency. I have also published in Places Journal, Blood Orange Review, presented in conferences including AUP’s Caring Futures, and am part of the steering committees of international sustainability network VR(Ex)Change and the ecological regeneration community of practice Artech NatureCulture.
I am particularly interested in democratizing knowledge, knowledge preservation, advancing climate justice, advocating for care, repair, and well-being economies, and developing circular system designs and resilient infrastructures—both physical and systemic—that prioritize repairability and sustainability.