Lauren Emerson was the managing editor of Fikra Forum, a bilingual Arabic-English online project of The Washington Institute dedicated to generating dialogue between U.S. policymakers and Arab democrats on issues of democracy, reform, and countering extremism, from 2012-2014. Previously, Emerson served as a research assistant at The Washington Institute, and interned at Vital Voices Global Partnership, working on the MENA Businesswomen's Network. She has conducted independent field research on women's economic cooperatives in rural Morocco, and worked for Youth Action International in Liberia on establishing women's vocational training centers in Monrovia. She earned her B.A. at Bucknell University cum laude with honors in anthropology in 2010.
