We were lucky to catch up with Laura Roe recently and have shared our conversation below.
Laura, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
My purpose, whether via writing or teaching yoga & meditation, or when leading creativity retreats, is to uplift, to expand awareness, consciousness, compassion, and to create a safe space to facilitate self healing in this world.
How I found it? It found me.
As a sensitive young girl, I wanted to understand others. I died when 6 months old and nearly again when 11 via spinal meningitis, I was intuitive, curious about world religions, and shy – didn’t speak much to strangers until I was 11.
Because I didn’t speak much, (or was allowed to express my feelings within my family) I turned to dance and felt free, until I didn’t. (long story). I experienced violence from jealous and angry teenage boys and witnessed it elsewhere or against family members and women I knew. The PTSD from those experiences, made me turn away from dance that had initially made me feel free and I began to explore another modality: journalism, specifically, focussing on crime against women and the law, to better understand why so many women get raped, abused, or why it was, at the time, not easy to convict or often reported.
My freshman year in college, I turned to WUGA radio & writing for The Red and Black newspaper. As a small, blond girl, many older men, “Man-splained” or honey’d & dismissed me at the University of Georgia where I wrote about crime against women, crime in general, and female corporate ceilings for the NPR radio and student newspaper. I began to only interview experts for the newspaper over the phone. And when in radio interviews, no one saw me. I also learned to lower and deeppen my voice, and that gave me the freedom to be taken more seriously by former supreme court justices, and secretaries of state who visited the UGA School of Law. One of my articles was republished in an Atlanta magazine, about a violent rape and stabbing of a undergraduate woman, whose crime wasn’t even reported by UGA officials. This helped to get more exposure for a bill, created by the victim’s parents, to champion all university and college campuses to accurately report crime statistics on campuse and in the surrounding areas where many students live, and to install safe haven phone polls to alert campus police when a woman feels unsafe. (This was clearly before cell phones, lol!) In my junior year, I garnered an internship with the BBC in London and with a documentary magazine in Maine and before my graduation, I was already working full-time with a North Carolina newspaper. I also worked with a paper in Maryland and the burnout from reporting on crime and politics came as I covered violent murders and worked with undercover police. I could no longer stomach it. At night I wrote a novel and a friend sent it to the head of CCNY’s creative writing department and voila, I moved to New York where I earned my MFA at night, but worked FT on Wall Street during the day, editing analyst reports. Who knew that would be of value! However, upon graduation of my master’s degree, my life took many turns from editing a business magazine, to freelancing for many publications including The New York Times, Forbes, Inc., Parents, Parenting, Fit Pregnancy, magazines and more. I came to explore the intersection between stress, career inequities and balance for women. I shifted much in life when my mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. I was convinced that she garnered this horrible condition due to the extreme stress she endured in her life as a child protective services social worker and raising 4 children within her turmultuous marriage and divorce. I dedicated my life to balance as I helplessly watched her deteriote. My writing naturally shifted from parenting and pregnancy and my “Moms at Work” column (I was a parenting editor when living in London) to health and wellness.
After my move back to the States and having my second child, I was hit with another stressor: an unexpected separation due to infidelity. With a 6-year-old & infant and my mom dying from Alzheimer’s, (and an ex who moved back to London) I eventually found my way to yoga. I then took many yoga trainings and now teach yoga & meditation to cancer survivors and those recovering from surgery at LA-based hospitals, as well as write about health and wellness for magazines, newspapers, and hospitals. I also lead creativity retreats for Canyon Ranch resorts (who I also write for) and have led yoga for writers retreats around the world. I am passionate about helping writers, especially those of fiction (I have authored three novels), to connect to their authentic voices, let go of fear and anxiety via mediation and exercise, and to learn how not to sweat the small stuff. (I’m still learning myself!!) Many writers and reporters live with stress, deadlines, and fears (as well as bad habits like drinking too much coffee, eating fast food, not getting enough exercise). When we connect to a higher source via meditation, our little source of anxiety and ego-based worries about what others think, gets quiet and we can then feel free to tap into our infinite creative field. I authored a meditation book and journal called The Art of Flow: Mindful Mini Mediations to help people who have a hard time meditating, learn to better thwart fear and anxiety.
I am currently exploring other creative outlets, such as screenwriting (I wrote my first screenplay!) and being a “book doctor” for amazing clients. I still live in a small beach town in California and feel so fortunate to have the freedom to work from home (or on the road, or even from a boat recently!) and have more time to spend with my two sons who are my reason for being! I feel like the luckiest woman alive to have the flexibility to spend present time with my children, purse my own creative endeavors, help others pursue passion projects, while not disregarding my health and wellness needs. I hope to inspire more women to feel empowered to listen to their needs, and to realize that their happiness and health are gifts to everyone in their lives—so when they say no to business and people-pleasing, learn to ask for help, they are saying yes to themselves and are on the path to leading their best lives.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I write about health, wellness, mindfulness, nutrition, and innovations in cancer research for magazines, newspapers, and leading wellness organizations such as Canyon Ranch. I have authored a meditation book and journal, three novels, one screenplay, and am also a “book doctor.” As a book doctor, I edit and/or ghost write books for authors and publishers – previous topics include living with disease as a CEO, spirituality, gluten-free cooking, feminine leadership, parenting, pregnancy, and career/life balance.
I am also an LA-based yoga & meditation teacher.
What is exciting about my career – and where all these seemingly disparate things come together – is at the intersection of health, wellness, mindfulness, consciousness, awareness & compassion. How we learn to take care of ourselves, heal from dis-ease, survive, thrive, become aware, learn conscious communication tools, become better listeners, champion intention setting to uplift ourselves, set boundaries with kindness, and raise compassionate children, doesn’t just improve our lives, but is a way to improve our world. Each person can make a difference. Each heart inspired, opened, touched – whether through a motivating article about a cancer survivor, or through a yoga class, or via a book that a person can’t put down, or even a movie where the character’s journey lingers and inspires- is how I hope to touch others.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Intuition.
2. Leaning into what I love and not what others wanted for me.
3. Trusting & toning my authentic voice.
Intuition. Leaning into what I love and not what others wanted for me. Trusting & toning my authentic voice.
To develop these you must find your own path & trust that path.
That is hard to do if you live with a lot of stress. If you live in your head all the time, you must strike a balance by moving, breathing, turning off your monkey mind. Meditation is wonderful, but if you are an antsy person whose foot taps repeatedly during a dinner, you must move: run, walk, hike, do power yoga, then meditate. When the body isn’t taken care of, and if you do not get enough sleep, or get time off from work, or take breaks in nature, you can become at risk for depression, anxiety, and even become accident prone. So, take care of your body. Pranayama breathing (deep breathing) can help, too. Eating better, drinking more water, taking breaks from alcohol, can clear the mind.
Then, trust your voice. I say, journal after meditation. Set intentions, not goals, with kindness. And, stay off social media & try not to compare yourself with others too much. IF your agent wants you on socials, like many, just do it with a sense of humor and don’t engage for longer than 10 minutes a day.
And, if you’re worried you can’t write a novel unless you take a year off from work, … don’t max your credit cards! I worked as a part-time journalist for 20 years as a means to always have a small revenue stream coming in while I wrote my fiction and raised kiddos. Every journey is different, but I couldn’t live with huge debt, the stress would be too much.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
My wonderful agent just retired. She has referred me to a few people that I am considering. I have not signed with anyone yet as I am seeking: an agent or manager who can equally champion finding a home for my fiction (my three novels & screenplay), as well as my nonfiction – my Art of Flow meditation and yoga books. To read more about my novels and my meditation book, go to: www.LaurakRoe.com/books.
Many thanks!
Laura
Contact Info:
- Website: www.LauraKRoe.com
- Instagram: @laura.roe.stevens
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laura.roe.stevens/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraroestevens/
- Twitter: @lauraroestevens
