Santa Monica Travel & Tourism’s Lauren Salisbury shares how her experiences across continents have informed her approach to communications.
A storyteller at heart, Lauren Salisbury brings more than 15 years of dynamic communications experience shaped by her roots as a journalist and her passion for connecting people through powerful narratives. As vice president of communications for Santa Monica Travel & Tourism, Salisbury leads strategic initiatives that elevate brand visibility, engage global audiences and deliver measurable impact.
Guided by her curiosity and love for exploration, she has traveled to more than 100 countries. Her travel experiences inspire her storytelling and global perspective.
Starting at Disney and later working in Spain, Costa Rica and now Santa Monica — how have those different cultures influenced your leadership and communication style?
I will be forever grateful to have started my career in communications at Walt Disney World Resort. I have immense respect for this company, and my leaders there taught me how to do communications at the highest level, focusing on storytelling, attention to detail and an others-first mindset.
Moving to Spain and Costa Rica was full of a lot of joy but also required a lot of flexibility as I adapted to two vastly different cultures and dialects of the Spanish language. Living and working overseas taught me the importance of having a growth mindset, to approach curiosity and that encountering problems doesn’t need to lead to panic — there is always a solution to be found.
What I love most about my current role in Santa Monica is that it blends the skill sets I acquired along my varied career path. Our destination is home to some of the most acclaimed hotels and restaurants in the world, not to mention the world-renowned Santa Monica Pier. We are also a welcoming destination that receives a high percentage of international visitors, so I get to hear different languages and work with different cultures every day.
You’ve led campaigns and teams across six countries. What have been some of the most rewarding and challenging aspects of managing communications across cultures?
One of the most rewarding parts of working across cultures has been seeing how universal great storytelling really is — no matter the language or market, people connect with authenticity and emotion. Each culture brings its own lens to communication, which has challenged me to listen more deeply, adapt my style and find common ground in shared values rather than assumed approaches.
The challenge has been finding the right balance between consistency and cultural nuance. I’ve learned to adapt strategies without losing the core message to ensure our communications feel both globally aligned and locally authentic.
You mentioned travel has been your main motivator. How has that passion shaped the way you approach your career in tourism and communications?
One thing both my closest friends and colleagues know about me is that travel is my biggest passion. I want to visit as many countries as I can in my lifetime. My parents took my siblings and me on many road trips across the United States when we were young children. Camping and visiting national parks and historic sites really gave me a travel bug that I haven’t been able to beat all these years later.
After graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in journalism, the travel industry enticed me — at first because many jobs in the industry involve travel itself, and later. After all, I realized I hold a deep belief that travel is the best way to build empathy and harmony.
The tourism industry is always evolving. What trends or shifts are you most excited about right now?
As our society grows increasingly dependent on technology and AI becomes a larger part of daily life, staying connected to the real world — to one another and to our natural environments — will become even more essential.
Humanity is sacred. The best medicine is love. Traveling usually involves both. Two top motivators for travel are to connect with other people through cultural experiences, food and music, or spending time in the planet’s diverse landscapes — all of which reconnect us with the soul.
What travel experience has changed you the most, and why?
I love the world so much that it’s really hard for me to pick my favorite country or trip. As far as transformation goes, the most profound experience I’ve had was the 18 months I spent living in the remote Costa Rican rainforest while working for Outward Bound.
Costa Rica is one of the most sustainable places on the planet, and living and working alongside people whose lives revolve around protecting nature was truly inspiring. The pace there is much slower than what I was used to in the U.S. and Europe — and it really did rain every day. At first, I struggled to adjust, but by the end of my contract, I had become a more grounded person and was able to find peace in stillness and routine.
What’s one thing travel has taught you about people or about yourself?
I truly believe most people are good. Whether I’ve been trekking through the jungle in Ghana, swimming with a local family in Kiribati or visiting temples in India, the vast majority of people I’ve met have been friendly and curious. Traveling helps to break down stereotypes we form from the news and movies. Every time I go on a trip, it restores my faith in humanity a little bit more. I guess you can say travel is the ultimate form of “touching grass.”
Isis Simpson-Mersha is a conference producer/ reporter for Ragan. Follow her on LinkedIn.
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