Executive Producer / Director / Digital Strategist

Bio

Lauren directing Olivia Rodrigo for Amazon Music, October 2023; photo by Josh Goleman

Lauren Lumsden is an award-winning executive producer, director, and digital media strategist based in New York City. Her production company is Sonny Jean Creative.

She consults for some of the biggest brands in the world -- Amazon, Nike/Converse, Spotify, Weight Watchers, Pharmavite, Huckberry, PBS, and others -- developing high-impact video franchises/one-offs, directing/producing, devising social video strategy (especially YouTube), and building budgets and/or teams for years-long initiatives or single projects. With Sonny Jean Creative — where she has an elite team of DPs, editors, designers, etc., on speed-dial — she executes productions from start to finish, whether it's social media series, documentary shorts, honoree tributes, or internal-facing special projects.

Most recently, Lauren was brought on to Amazon Music to launch and lead the creative vision for a new global in-app product, the first of its kind at the company. During the 18-month project, she oversaw more than 100+ productions with A-list artists - many of which she personally directed - and developed workflows to enable the product's worldwide implementation.

Previously, she was Vice President of Video at Conde Nast, where she assembled and oversaw teams at marquee brands Glamour, Allure, Brides, and Self, and led the titles to triple-digit growth across platforms. She developed dozens of hit series, garnering billions of views, and shot with hundreds of celebrities (her favorite? Paul McCartney). She also started her own small brand, called Iris, aimed at connecting with millennial women, which grew to 900K+ subscribers on Youtube and 2M+ on Facebook, set a company record for views on Twitter, was featured on YouTube Rewind, and became a Webby multi-nominee and winner.

Before joining Conde Nast, Lauren led Cosmopolitan.com’s video efforts, where she increased brand-wide video views from 9M to more than 110M per month, built its premier full-scale video team, and directed/produced the publication’s first issue-driven short documentaries. She was given the company's prestigious Spotlight Award, recognized by the Hearst CEO for her "innovative work and problem-solving ingenuity."

Lauren started her editorial career at DailyCandy.com (sold to Comcast/NBCU) where she launched and ran the brand's first video initiative, frequently appeared as on-air talent, wrote more than a thousand articles, and co-authored a book. 

Lauren grew up in Roanoke, Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains. Fun facts: She used to have a show on New York Public Access TV, loves improv comedy (was coached by The Daily Show's Jordan Klepper), and one summer worked on a dude ranch in middle of nowhere, Wyoming. These days, Lauren enjoys traveling and writing about it. Her latest piece, about vintage shopping in Milan, is here.  

Got a project in mind? Want to discuss an idea? Simply want to talk about the 1996 US Women’s gymnastics team? Reach out.