Lauren Rich-Lama

Founder & Advisor, Under the Palm Travel

Originally hailing from the glorious ‘burbs of Maryland, Lauren spent 15 years having a love affair with New York City before swapping the concrete jungle for the real jungle. Now, you can find her embracing all things luxuriant living – the good, the glamorous to the ungodly flying bugs – in any number of tropical locales, but mainly: Mexico, Miami and the subtropics of the Carolinas.

Let’s rewind. A serial entrepreneur, Lauren has been self-employed (read: proudly unemployable) since graduating from New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising & Marketing Communications. Past lives have seen her at the helm of her own fashion PR agency for nearly a decade in New York, followed by running a successful multi-artist photography studio alongside her lensman husband, Alberto.

A self-described boss babe, hotel junkie and sun-avoidant SPF addict who doesn’t particularly like sand, heat or humidity, Lauren often wonders how it is that she ended up in the tropics. Yet here she is, in a state of perpetual sweat radiance and uncontrollably voluminous hair. Embracing her best beach life, she founded Under the Palm in 2023 as a luxury travel agency specializing in upgraded hotel stays for fellow escapists.

Most recently, she’s launched Poolside Confidential™: an insider editorial destination exclusively dedicated to the glorious, restorative and unapologetic art of resort travel. Because vacation is therapy.

On any given day Lauren can be found slathering on the sunscreen, mastering the underrated art of Spanglish and plotting poolside adventures with Alberto and their Dachshund/Black Lab mix rescue pup, Frijolita (“little bean”).