Born in the United States to a U.S. diplomat father and nurse and teacher mother, I grew up in the Washington, DC, area as well as in Nairobi, Kenya and Bangkok, Thailand. As a young person figuring out my way, I visited my father at his various other posts around the world — Stuttgart, Germany; Accra, Ghana; Kampala, Uganda — while studying historic preservation in college.
After graduating, I landed in Denver, Colorado, where I proudly entered the museum and cultural field, exploring creative ways to make history come alive through digital communications, social media, and video.
As I honed my love of media and education, I traveled back east to get my Masters in Media Studies while also working at the New-York Historical Society and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to put my ideas into practice. I was honored to be interviewed and recognized for my work in a variety of press pieces, including:
- ArtNet News: “Meet the Woman Who Beat Out Hundreds of Applicants to Manage the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Commanding Social Media Presence”
- The Art Newspaper: “The Metropolitan Museum of Art has gained almost 200,000 social media followers since lockdown began—here’s how”
These days you’ll find me just outside of Paris in the quaint town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye looking after my precocious toddler and working with kids as an English tutor. Get in touch.
A snapshot of my background
- BA in Historic Preservation, University of Mary Washington, Virginia USA
- MA in Media Studies, The New School for Public Engagement, New York City USA
- Fifteen years in the museum and cultural field, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New-York Historical Society, Rocky Mountain PBS, History Colorado, and Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum
- Served three times as a National History Day judge in New York City and Denver, Colorado, reviewing history projects and guiding young writers in their research papers
- Worked with middle and high schoolers in the week-long intensive program Preserve America Youth Summit to study and explore historic sites in Colorado
- Wrote, produced, and hosted Claire’s Clues, a 16-episode web series designed to engage young people in historic preservation issues in Colorado
Claire L. Lanier 