Lauren Ito is an American Gosei (fifth generation person of Japanese ancestry) UX research leader, poet, and community organizer committed to advancing equity through art and design.
As an artist and organizer Lauren delves into the tensions inherited within diasporic experiences, spanning explorations of American concentration camps, political agency, and the genealogy of home. Lauren’s work has been featured by The San Francisco Public Library, The Seattle Times, Japanese American National Museum, and Nomadic Press. She is currently the Artist in Residence for the National Japanese American Historical Society. As a 2022-2023 San Francisco Arts Commission Artist Grantee, Lauren is working on a collective “love letter to ancestors: past, present and future,” convening Nikkei poets and visual artists to collaboratively create artistic works.
Lauren founded Political Inheritance, an arts exhibition and poetry performance series exploring experiences—passed down in cultures and families—that shape Asian and Pacific Islander communities’ relationships with United States political systems. Her latest intergenerational poetry show, ILLUMINATE, drew more than 2,000 attendees nation-wide.
Speak Poetry in San Mateo County 