NAME

Laura Gowans

ROLE

Chief Operating Officer

BIO

Hi! I’m a KC native that graduated from Lee’s Summit North High school before moving to California and Paris for a few years for school. Now I'm back in Kansas City, living in West Plaza with my husband and two cats. I am the President of SocialHeart, a nonprofit that hosts events to raise money for emerging local charities, such as our monthly Kansas City Young Professionals meetups. In my free time I love hiking, reading, and traveling!

WHY I GRAVITATE TOWARDS THIS WORK…

I’m only interested in working at organizations that are actively trying to make the world a better place. During Covid, it became apparent that teachers and schools, already under-resourced, were going through unprecedented challenges. I love Leanlab’s mission of elevating community voices while directly giving back to teachers and schools, asking them what THEY need and the best way that we can help.

FUN FACT

For my husband’s 30th birthday, I threw him a surprise party and built a custom zombie-themed Escape Room from scratch.