Originally from New Jersey, Lauren Ruffin then spent about 17 years living between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
She began her career as a lobbyist after graduating from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in political science and a juris doctorate from Howard University School of Law. Early in her career, Ruffin also worked in the fundraising sector where, she said, she secured millions of dollars for D.C.-based organizations like Martha’s Table and the National Center for Children and Families. Ruffin co-founded CRUX in 2017, which focuses on “bringing XR artistic content from Black creators to mainstream users and audiences.”
Prior to founding CRUX (which she still operates), as the co-CEO of Fractured Atlas, an association of independent artists across the U.S., Ruffin worked remotely. She traveled frequently, which meant she was able to explore various parts of the U.S. Albuquerque was one of those places.
“Albuquerque just really stood out to me,” Ruffin said. “I really just fell in love with it immediately and decided to move [to Albuquerque] in 2018.”
More recently, she worked at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She was also named the 2022 National Field Leader in residence at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University.
Another new addition, she is now an associate professor of Worldbuilding and Visualizing Futures at ASU. With an apartment in Arizona and a house in New Mexico, Ruffin splits her time between the two states, though, you won’t find her in any one spot for too long as travel is one of her primary passions.
Albuquerque Business First recently caught up with Ruffin to talk to her more about her personal and professional life.
The interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Albuquerque Business First: What is it about New Mexico that you really love?
Lauren Ruffin: I grew up in a really, really small town. … It has the oldest rodeo in the country. My first job was working at the rodeo. I like to be outside. I like space. I really value it. But for me, the things that really stood out were just like [the] folks are so friendly. The first week I spent in New Mexico I got to sort of travel around in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, everyone was just really kind. I love the cost of living. You can't beat the weather. And it's just so easy to get outside, which is really important to me.
What's your go-to food spot in Albuquerque? The Feel Good
Obviously, you're teaching now. Are you still running your company? Where do things stand with that? I am teaching. I'm actually co-designing a new program, a new master's program, as well. I'm only teaching one course right now. It's a prototyping futures course. And the new program is a master’s in design and futures. But I'm also still doing a lot of work with the tech companies and with foundations and arts organizations. I'm really trying to chart the path of ethics in the metaverse, ethics in Web3. … So, still doing a lot of that adjacent work to VR/AR.
What are your next big career goals or things you have on the horizon that you're hoping to be able to check that box and get accomplished? Career-wise, I'm in transition. … I'm really so very curious about how we can get creativity funded. How do we capitalize a lot of folks that, in particular during the pandemic, became full-time creatives? But there's still a gap in the financial system there. I'm still working on that. Currently thinking through some work with some foundations just to help them get up to speed and maybe do some pilots with some big institutions, arts institutions nationally, around Web3. What can blockchain technologies do? NFTs are important … and I'm a huge proponent of artists, in particular Black and Brown artists, who should own their intellectual property. How do we use Web3 to make that more of a standard? … Really just digging deep into what are the different ways that we can organize the digital world to capitalize artists. … A short answer: I hope to build an NFT marketplace for performing arts.
What's your favorite part about the work that you do? The freedom to dream. I spent the weekend up here in Oregon with a group of Black women who are leading in a variety of industries, executives, artists, and someone said their goal was really to get to a point where they get to do what they want every day. And I was like, I just turned 41 and for the most part, I do exactly what I want most days. I have some autonomy, and some say, and so the flexibility that I had that I didn't have earlier in my career when I was a lobbyist, when I was sort of fundraising, which was all meaningful work, but right now I have a lot of freedom and I feel really grateful and really blessed about it.
