Hej—I’m Lauren Razavi, or LRAZ ✌️
I work as Executive Director of Plumia, an innovation studio and network of radical optimists exploring the future of migration, citizenship, and borders. We’re an independent nonprofit company spun out of SafetyWing (Y Combinator 2018).
The essay below led me to my current role. Balaji Srinivasan also awarded it a crypto-bounty.
Lauren Razavi
In past lives, I was managing editor for the future of work at Google and a tech policy fellow at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. I also worked on early content design at Google Maps and am a former journalist published in Wired, VICE, Guardian, BBC, etc.
These days, I publish at Global Natives and occasionally share short-form thoughts on Substack Notes. You'll also find me on Spotify and Google Maps.
I’ve been writing stories since before I started school and I've explored music, publishing, activism, and entrepreneurship over the years. I have degrees in political science and creative writing, both from the University of East Anglia.
I’m half-British and half-Iranian, the child of a refugee, and I spent a decade living and working as a digital nomad. Now I'm based in Amsterdam, where I host salons for troubled artists and dinner parties for third culture kids. Drop by next time you’re passing through.
I'm an investor in new media (Substack, The Elysian), old trains (European Sleeper), and mushroom coffins (Loop Biotech). I value creativity, authenticity, and strangeness in founders and companies—the more audacious and unexpected, the better.
I’m always open to interesting conversations about my work, writing, or potential collaborations. I occasionally offer advisory sessions or take on special projects as a sort of "thinker-in-residence." I like experiments. Email me.
