Welcome to Behind the Facade. I’m Lauren Bartleson, the girl behind the mic.

I’m a communications manager, indie author and mental health advocate who lives near Portland, Oregon, with my husband, Matt, and our dog, Georgia.

A little about me: I’m a born-and-raised California girl who moved to Oregon on a whim and hasn’t looked back. Outside of my day job, I have about a million passion projects (“hobbies” as my family loving calls them) going at any given time, ranging from making coffee-shop worthy drinks at home to collecting cookbooks and a bunch of other random activities. In a nutshell, I have a thing for early mornings, intense workouts and cringe-worthy rom-coms. I also have an overwhelming love for board and card games, writing, and growing herbs.

On the writing front, I self-published my first book, Insomnia: A Middle-of-the-Night Haibun Collection, in July 2021, and have completed the manuscript for my second book, a memoir tentatively scheduled to publish in fall 2022.

At the heart of everything I do is storytelling. I love getting finding ways to channel my overflowing creativity while connecting with others, which is how Behind the Facade came to life.

Behind the Facade is my hobby project that’s comprised of this podcast, an email, and a LinkedIn newsletter, each of which is published on a weekly basis.

My goal with each of these channels is to add a personal touch to my sliver of the internet, if you will, so you and anyone listening can feel a sense of personal connection if that's what you need.

If you’re interested in following along, I invite you to subscribe so you’ll be notified when there’s a new episode, typically published each weekend.

Thanks so much for listening - I appreciate it more than you know.