Hi! I’m Lara.

the most impressive people pleaser you’ve ever seen.

Or at least, I used to be.

Growing up smack-dab in the middle of my siblings, squeaking by in a middle class, normally-dysfunctional family, smiles were my currency.

My teen brain had talked itself into one core belief: If I pretended everything was fine, then it must be.

Standing awkwardly at 5’11 & feeling like a bean pole with a head plopped on top, I drowned myself in baggy clothes and tried to sink slowly & unnoticed into any nearby hedge.

Don’t get me wrong — my parents loved the hell out of me, but we all know parenting is hard, and love alone doesn’t always cut through the loneliness.

School was a nightmare, simply because I had to sweat, cry, and stress over every single accomplishment I accumulated.

Nothing ever seemed to come easy, and I constantly felt like I was falling short. (Being so tall, I’m sure you see the humor in this.)

Just by the nature of being human, we’re all wildly underqualified to raise another person.

And yet, we’re thrown into it anyways. Luckily, there are tools & techniques that simplify the circus.

My work delivers the sound guidance and tangible strategies you can use right now to lay the foundation for you & your family.

Let me show you how much ease can exist when you address the hard stuff head-on. (Don’t worry, I’m here to be your helmet.)

until my twenties, I was simply who everyone else wanted me to be.

My personal identity, personality, and beliefs were built by my parents, friends, and boyfriends who were pleasantly passing by. And the second I landed at college — and had agency to explore my life — was the instant I started to unravel.

I’d always felt outrageously alone, but suddenly the isolation meant that I quickly gained 40 pounds, starting drinking and kicking up drama with my paramours, fell into a deep depression hole, and had no effing idea what I wanted to do after graduation.

As an adult (or so they say), I realize now that this is the normal, standardized pain of growing up as a whole human in the world.

Recognizing the universal struggle made me passionate about teaching teens to find their own unique flavor of independence, resilience, and values.

Beyond that, I realized how much of our teen selves seep into our attempts to be good parents. (Or even passably decent parents, depending on the day.)