180: Working Towards a Bigger Idea with Laura Spero

Jun 15, 2022

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Laura Spero told me that she was an intense kid who gave her all to everything she did.She played soccer, competed in Tae Kwon Do, swam competitively, and rowed crew in college. As a kid still living at home, she would spend hours, hyperfocused in her basement doing art projects in a space she set up for herself. Most of the art she created was items she made for other people.Laura is a mission-driven person who values making the day-to-day moments of life meaningful.Growing up in Bethesda, Maryland, Laura was surrounded by a family of entrepreneurs, and advocates. Dinner table conversations were lively with people trying to solve problems by debating them around the table. Laura was so accustomed to the lively dynamic of throwing ideas around that it took her a long time to learn that not everyone needed to be that energized to hold a conversation at the end of the day. Mom was a consumer advocate attorney and Dad ran his own tech company. Coincidentally, he had been an Olympic rower in his younger years.

After graduating from college, Laura went to Nepal to do volunteer work. She was motivated by her adventurous spirit, and fascination with Eastern cultures and had a yearning to break away from her advantaged life. What began as a brief stint in Nepal has become a lifelong connection to the people and culture of Nepal. Over the past 22 years, Laura established and grew a dental health program, the Jevaia Foundation for people in rural areas of Nepal. She encountered many people suffering from toothaches who assumed they would eventually lose their teeth and she set out to do something about it. While Laura is not a dentist, she has tirelessly raised funds and provided administrative oversight to grow and sustain the organization. Not unlike many people who begin their career in one arena during their twenties, she has explored other pathways while remaining dedicated to running the Jevaia Foundation on a part-time basis. Laura has been able to travel and live in the US and Nepal over the years.

Today, Laura is a clinical social worker based in the Boston area working as a medical social worker in a hospital setting and as a clinical social worker and therapist in a women's prison reentry program.

In this week’s Work From The Inside Out podcast, learn more about Laura’s journey:

Laura has worked as an oral history facilitator for the NPR program StoryCorps, as an arts consultant in the New York City public schools, and in a holistic physical therapy practice.
She also earned her MFA in writing during the time she was working with StoryCorps.

Learn more and connect with Laura here:

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