Laura studied at Eastern Michigan University and received a B.S. in Communication and Theatre Arts, an M.S. in Educational Theatre, and an M.A. in TESOL. She trained in the K-12 schools and taught Adult Basic Education (ABE) English in Ann Arbor. As a graduate teaching assistant for two years, she taught speech communication and then worked and traveled abroad before completing her degrees. In London, she was an assistant at an international preschool, and back in the U.S., she worked in New York at CIEE with European and South American international university students. These experiences have inspired her work in English pronunciation published in the TESOL New Ways series and presentations at TESOL and MITESOL conferences.