Meet a Colleague: Laura Lemon ’16 Laura Lemon '16 serves as assistant university editor within the Office of Communications and Public Affairs

W&L News Office
March 27, 2024

Q. How long have you worked at W&L?
I started March 4, so I’m a newbie on this side of the tracks!

Q. What do you like most about working at W&L?
I like the people and the atmosphere which they inspire. Everyone is so authentic and kind. Each wants the other to succeed which creates such a supportive culture.

Q. Where is your favorite location on the W&L campus?
As a graduate coming back to campus, the sight of the Colonnade still brings a smile. It’s the place of so many happy memories and exciting ones to come.

Q. Where did you grow up?
Roanoke, Virginia

Q. What advice do you have for students?
Take advantage of the scope of the liberal arts education offered to you. If a class outside your major sounds interesting, take it. You never know what it may spark or how you can find ways to apply it to your chosen field. Even if you one day remember it as just a fascinating, random class with a passionate teacher, it will be worth the memories. This is the time to explore just for the sake of exploring; it is fun to take a scenic road on the way to your destination.

Q. What is the most adventurous thing that you have ever done?
I’m not sure how adventurous this qualifies as, but one of my more spontaneous moments was renting a car and driving by myself from Roanoke to Denver just for the fun of it. I planned it a week before; I made stops in Indiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico before taking this beautiful drive through the San Luis Valley. I stayed/met up with people I met through W&L and had a truly incredible time by myself listening to music and watching as America changed. Whenever I hear those opening chords of George Strait’s “She’ll Leave You With A Smile,” I’m immediately taken back to the Texas panhandle and those pin straight roads to the horizon.

Q. What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
I’m a lifetime horse girl, and so I’m always off riding and competing my horse, Nelson. It’s a habit I just can’t kick—not that I want to. I hope to ride until my last days!

Q. If you could live anywhere, where would you build your dream home?
Honestly right here; I love this area so much. Out West in Montana and Wyoming would be neat if I were different—but I can be a crabby person in the winter, so realistically that just wouldn’t work.

Q. Who most inspires you?
I have the most incredible family, by blood and by choice. My grandfather, Bill Lemon, embodies taking life and making it your own. Being around him, I always feel like anything is possible if I work hard and want it. I have known my trainers, Hunter and Anneliesa King, since I was 4, and they feel like family to me at this point. I hope to one day be a sliver of the horsemen they are. My parents, Stephen and Patty Lemon, and my big sister, Allison, capture what steadfast love and kindness look like. I don’t know how they do it—I’d be sick of me by now!

Q. What book are you reading now?
A big annoyance I have with myself is that I’m a very slow reader and get frustrated with my speed. But I’m taking my time through Hunter S. Thompson’s “Hell’s Angels.” Another casual long-term project has been thumbing my way through my old Art History textbooks.

Q. What music are you listening to these days?
A New Year’s resolution I started last year, and I’m practicing again this year, is listening to an album I’ve never heard before each week—all the way through, no shuffling. It’s been a fun way to devote time to random artists with a handful of songs I’ve heard, touch on classics I’ve missed, listen to new releases and then just try out genres completely outside of my normal taste. Last week’s album was Neil Young’s “Harvest” to celebrate his return to Spotify. I’m accepting all recommendations! Left to my own devices, I’m a rabid Hozier fan. He just released a new EP, so I’m obnoxiously making that my personality. Then I’m also like a lot of millennial women and blast Taylor Swift when the mood strikes. No shame.

Q. What is your favorite film (movie) of all time?
Depends on my mood, but “Casablanca,” “The Godfather” and “My Cousin Vinny.” If you ever spend time with my family, most of our dialogue is through “My Cousin Vinny” references—no doe-eyed deer goes unacknowledged.

Q. What is the website you visit most often and why?
New York Times to learn what’s going on in the world, and then E! News to drown myself in frivolous celebrity gossip to avoid thinking about the real-world stories I just read.

Q. If you could have coffee with one person, who would it be and why?
Jimmy Chin. His art as a photographer and filmmaker is astounding, but behind all that, he is also an out-of-this-world climber and skier. I’d love to hear about the moments when he reached a place where no human has gone before.

Q. What is your desert island food?
I started a cauliflower kick a few years ago and haven’t gotten sick of it yet.

Q. Tell us something most people don’t know about you.
I wouldn’t say it is my one goal in life, but a dream vision is to become an old lady with long silver hair, sitting in the back of a speakeasy-type establishment on a velvet couch, drinking a Scotch neat. I aspire for my future self to be that cool (though in actuality I probably won’t be).