Lauren Schuker Blum was a national real estate reporter for The Wall Street Journal. She wrote features about the wave of Chinese buyers in the American real estate market, the rise of federal contracting in Washington D.C. and its impact the city's real estate boom, and the conversion of churches into homes. She also covered breaking news on real estate deals, and her work online won second prize in 2013 from the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Since joining the Journal in 2007, Lauren covered a number of industries in addition to real estate, including art, Hollywood, and media. She wrote about how the business of entertainment has evolved in the wake of the digital revolution, as well as the globalization of media. Lauren made numerous television and radio appearances. She is a graduate of Harvard College, where she was president of the daily student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. She also holds a master's degree in the history of art from the Courtauld Institute, where she studied as a Marshall Scholar.