Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophia Laurenzi.
Hi Sophia, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I never planned on being a writer. After I graduated from college, I moved to Louisiana to intern as a capital defense investigator, which meant working with lawyers to help people on death row with their appeals. I’d wanted to do death penalty advocacy for a long time, ever since I was eleven years old and saw a trailer for the FOX drama Prison Break while my family sat together for our weekly American Idol watch party. Soon after that, my close-knit family changed–when I was fifteen, my father came out as gay, and my parents divorced. Growing up Catholic in suburban New Jersey, my father suddenly became the only out person I knew. My environment changed, too–a few years later, I moved to California for college at Stanford University. Despite a few attempts, I couldn’t get into the tech culture of the Bay Area. But the creativity of making something new and challenging assumptions about the world stayed with me, and I was raring to make change when I moved to Louisiana. But then my life changed again–at twenty-three, my father died by suicide. I wanted to build a life somewhere that wasn’t haunted by memories of him and his death. Four days after his funeral, I sent in my application to the Office of the Post-Conviction Defender in Nashville. Within a few months, I moved to Tennessee to work as a capital defense investigator.
I started my job on August 1, 2018. Within ten days, Tennessee conducted its first execution in almost a decade. That was the start of the bloodiest execution spree in years, with seven executions in less than two years. Most of my clients were earlier in their appeals process, and their execution dates hadn’t been set yet. I traveled all over the state to interview family members, law enforcement, teachers, social workers, friends–anyone I could find to share information about my clients’ lives. Information that might show they had not received a fair, thorough trial, or deserved a sentence less than death. I spent hours on the road, often trying the same witnesses dozens of time. But when I did get into hours-long conversations with folks, I loved my job more than anything. It felt meaningful and essential to witness these stories, and bring them back to my attorneys with the hope of crafting a compelling appeal.
But once the COVID-19 pandemic started and I couldn’t travel, I began to realize how much I’d been racing–and perhaps, running. My father’s death hovered over everything, especially when I worked so close to death and trauma every day in my job. I decided I needed a pause, and I quit my investigator role in 2020. At first I thought I would go to law school, which had always been my plan; to come back as an attorney and continue death penalty defense work. But instead, I hiked. I road tripped. I let go of my plan, and in that space the desire to write bloomed. I threw myself into it, learning how to pitch editors, write essays, and starting the earliest versions of what would become a book.
Since then, I’ve become a full-time essayist and journalist. I’m working on selling my book, a memoir about my time working on death row as I was grappling with my father’s death. I left Nashville in 2024 to move to New York, closer to family, but many of my stories continue to focus on people in Tennessee, especially those impacted by the criminal justice system. Today, I write, report, and speak about issues related to mental health, criminal justice, and grief. I spent almost all of my twenties in Tennessee, and I will always feel connected to the rocky soil and seeping music and wafting smells of barbecue smokers in the yard. Tennessee will always be a part of not just what I write about, but who I am.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Building a writing career has been a very scrappy process full of trial and error. The industry was already changing rapidly for years, and is changing even more with the advent of generative AI. I thought I needed more credentials to make the career transition, so I almost went to get a master’s degree in journalism. But I found that the best way to get good at writing was to…write. I’ve tried so many things: different styles, different platforms to share my work, countless editors and media outlets, countless drafts and versions of my book. Since there’s no clear path to writing success, I would say the biggest challenge is figuring out what the next right move is, from both a creative and career growth perspective. There’s constant rejection and constant adjustment, so I’ve gotten really practiced in maintaining my own momentum (I wasn’t always good at this!). I have to be extremely self-motivated, but I’m lucky that I love what I do so much. Another struggle is simply prioritizing what to work on–I have far too many ideas than there is time in a day, so focus and clarity are key. I would say the road has been, and is, full of surprises. It’s not a road you can see very far in the distance, but the process of navigating the swerves is absolutely worth it.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m an essayist and journalist. In short, I write human stories about inhuman systems. My work is recognized for its depth of research, clarity of insight, and ability to connect policy and systems to lived experience. I’m probably most known for an op-ed published in TIME magazine, about the problems with how we talk about suicide prevention, as well as my human-centered essays and reporting about the death penalty. Though I write about heavy topics, I’m most proud of creating a body of work that blends warmth, creativity, and softness with serious social, human issues.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
To let go of expectation. Be dedicated and focused, but also willing to change course, adjust, and stay open to the unexpected doors of where a writing career, a creative mind, and life’s surprises take me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sophialaurenzi.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sophia_laurenzi/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophialaurenzi/
