Lauren Kotmel

Pronouns: she/her

As Marketing Manager, Lauren supports the marketing and communications efforts of the CSA Education and BetterLesson Learning brand families, bringing campaigns, products, and customer engagement initiatives to life. She focuses on content marketing, public relations, sales enablement, and other brand efforts, partnering across teams to strengthen audience engagement and support organizational growth. Lauren brings both strategic thinking and operational excellence to her work, helping teams work more effectively while advancing audience trust and managing reputation.

Lauren is an award-winning marketing and communications professional with more than 12 years of experience in marketing, public relations, and education. Throughout her career, she has helped mission-driven organizations strengthen engagement, build trust, and communicate complex ideas with clarity.

Milestone highlights in Lauren’s career include:

• Managing integrated marketing and communications efforts for educational literacy products within Penguin Random House Education (Playaway), helping schools and libraries expand access to reading through award-winning learning technologies and literacy solutions.
• Directing community and marketing efforts for Yelp, educating thousands of business owners annually on digital reputation, customer engagement, and online visibility while cultivating one of the region’s most engaged local communities.
• Serving as a journalist for Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer, one of the Midwest’s largest and most respected news organizations.
• Contributing to audience development for the Cleveland Museum of Art’s visionary ArtLens Gallery, an innovative digital learning experience that transformed how visitors engage with art. 
• Former K-12 TEFL instructor in Germany, teaching both Kindergarten and 9th grade in Dresden and throughout Saxony (yes, she still says “Tschüss.”).

Lauren earned a Masters of Nonprofit Administration from John Carroll University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Women’s Studies from Kent State University. She also holds a Teaching English as a Foreign Language certification from Technische Universität Dresden in Germany.

Outside of work, Lauren is passionate about community service and animal welfare. She serves in volunteer leadership roles with several charitable organizations, including as President of The Cleveland Ballet’s junior board, The Turnout, and as a leadership Chair at Junior League of Cleveland. An avid boater, she often explores and photographs shorelines with her senior rescue dog.

Contact Lauren at lkotmel@csaedu.com