Laurie received her bachelor’s degree from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and has worked as a copywriter in advertising ever since. She later received a master’s degree in Community Mental Health Counseling, which has helped in her volunteer counseling work as well as her role as a wife and mother of three wonderful kids.

In 1994, using the pen name Erin Eldridge, Laurie wrote a book about her experiences with same-sex attraction entitled Born That Way?. She and her husband have been happily married for 20 years. Laurie believes in the importance of agency—of being able to choose our responses to our circumstances, which can dramatically affect the direction and quality of our life.