Who Is UU?

Lauren grew up in Southbury, and went to Salve Regina University, a Catholic University in Rhode Island. Lauren wasn’t really religious – she’d been a “Christmas/Easter Catholic” – but while there, she took some religion courses. She found that she really enjoyed learning about religion. That’s something she really loves about UU – it’s a chance to come together with a community for spiritual growth, without having to accept any particular religious dogma.

Lauren studied biology, and now she works testing medical devices. “We design tests, fix problems, collect data. We break them. We do a lot of breaking stuff.” Through her job, Lauren has found “something a little more purpose driven than my work.” She is on the leadership team at her job for an employee resource group “Awareness Benefiting Employees and Leadership About Disability”, ABLED. Through this group, Lauren has recruited volunteers for the Special Olympics. Perhaps more centrally, Lauren’s company is providing medical services to many patients with disabilities! She strongly believes it’s important to consider their needs in the services they receive.

Lauren is getting a graduate degree in medical ethics in an online program from Ohio State. She’s learning how “ethics and the law are in dialogue with each other”. She’s applied some of this at work. Lauren loves being in the position to “put the patient first, way before the product even gets to them.” 

When Lauren watches television, it’s frequently a home improvement show. These DIY shows appeal to her “craft-y” nature. Lauren enjoys a wide variety of crafting and DIY. She’s done glass cutting, a deep dive into the chemistry of nail extensions, and a variety of painting. She likes to buy large paintings from Goodwill and use the canvas for her own work. She likes making large, abstract pieces. She’s not intimidated by a big painting because, she says, “I go for the bold.. I wear a lot of color.” 

As well as painting artwork, Lauren keeps painting her apartment. “It’s bright pink and turquoise and yellow.” She only keeps her apartment the same color for a couple of months at a time. She’s currently planning on painting her fuschia walls back to the original color, and then add some of her own painted shapes.

Lauren thinks there’s a strong life lesson in learning a new craft. She says that at first, “everything comes out garbage,” and you “have to be comfortable making mistakes.” Putting a hole in the wall feels like it would be a disaster, but actually it’s “still very fixable”, and is not a “moral issue.” She struggled with career decisions from fear of making a mistake, but crafting is a place where she’s learned to be free from that concern. As a non-engineer working at an engineering company, she says that she uses her lack of knowledge as an asset, asking questions that make the engineers she works with think more clearly about their problems.

When Lauren isn’t crafting, she has a variety of other interests. She enjoys reading; she really likes Agatha Christie and has enjoyed both her mystery writing and a biography of her. Additionally, Lauren frequently enjoys traveling on day trips. She likes comedy shows in Boston and museums like the Peabody in New Haven or The Saratoga Springs History Museum. Finally, Lauren attends two weekly trivia nights – one in Portland and one in New Haven. She’s a “jack-of-all-trades” on her team, but her gen-Z friends count on her for pop culture knowledge from before she was born. “I hung out with my dad a lot, and he gave me a lot of trivia when we listened to his playlist in the car.”

Lauren has a cat, Pumpkin, named after his shape and color. He was feral before he was rescued, and then Lauren got him from Petfinder. He’s so friendly and unafraid of people, that Lauren says she thinks he might be part golden retriever.

Lauren loves coming to church and the community she’s found here. There are members of our church who live right next door to Lauren. Before getting to know each other through our church, they were strangers, but now, “we hang out all the time.” Our welcoming congregation has helped Lauren form deep friendships, and with Lauren as a member, we’ll keep strengthening the bonds that connect us all.