Member Spotlight: Lauren Reese – A New City, A New Chapter
Lauren grew up in East Los Angeles in a large, blended military family. The kind of upbringing that teaches you early on how to adapt, how to read a room, and how to find your footing in places that don't yet feel like home. She will be the first to tell you that meeting new people is both exhilarating and anxiety-inducing for her. Moving to a new city and putting herself out there anyway is, by her own account, one of the things she is most proud of.
Lauren Reese
Academic Advisor, University of Texas at DallasMember since
December 2025On the work she does
Lauren majored in Communication Studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, minored in Mandarin Chinese, and studied abroad in China twice. A job at UTD eventually brought her to DFW, along with the quiet hope of being closer to family. Now she works as an Academic Advisor, and her path there was anything but accidental.
"When I was a student, I wished I had someone to reassure me that I wasn't falling behind and that it was okay to take my time and really enjoy the college experience. Now I get to do that for my students."
The most rewarding part of her job and the most challenging part share the same answer, and she will tell you both with a straight face: getting students to stop speedrunning their degree.
A life full of collecting things
Lauren keeps herself busy in the best possible way. She is brushing up on Mandarin, picking up Korean, and assembles book nooks when the mood strikes. She collects books and manga, anime figurines, trinkets, artwork, and what she calls "lots of cute things." Shanghai is her favorite place she has traveled so far. Her dream destination is Scotland, specifically, to see Highland cows in person.
And of course, then there is the tarantula.
"The only pet I've ever had was a tarantula. It wasn't on purpose either."
She did not elaborate, and honestly, that might be better.
Finding the community
Lauren found DFW Young & Social through Meetup. Her favorite memory so far is a small but meaningful one: Alexi asked her to help demonstrate something in Waltz class.
"It felt like I was being acknowledged as a dancer."
We are so glad that moment clearly landed. We understand being seen, and included in that way helps build comfort and safety.
"I hope this community becomes a tether for me. Dallas is a big place, and I don't have the same found family I once had, so I hope to find one here."
Words she carries
Lauren's mom raised her with a Belizean saying that has stayed with her:
"Don't take insult for invitation."
The meaning: if someone disrespects or rejects you, do not take it as a challenge to earn their approval. See it for what it is and move on. Lauren says it helps her set boundaries and manage the people-pleasing she is still working through.
The advice she would give her younger self cuts even closer:
"You are enough. You're not too much. You deserve to be loved, seen, heard, and cared for. You deserve to live life out loud."
Lauren is exactly the kind of person this community exists for, curious, warm, self-aware, and quietly brave. We are glad she found us, and even more glad she stayed.
