About Laura Taylor, MAPP

After a successful career as a musical theatre performer and arts educator, Laura completed her Master of Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania in 2014. She now serves as the Managing Coordinator of Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center and as an Assistant Instructor under Dr. James Pawelski in two courses within the MAPP program, Foundations of Positive Interventions and The Humanities and Human Flourishing, as well as an undergraduate course, The Pursuit of Happiness.

Laura’s passion for well-being drives her to help others thrive. She enjoys lifting others up as a collaborator, instructor, facilitator, presenter, and fellow human. Formerly the part-time Director of Operations for the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA), Laura is the founder of Acting Strengths, a workshop series designed to help artists cultivate resilience and thrive in a rewarding and difficult business, based on her capstone research. She is also the co-creator of the Penn Program for Flourishing, an 8-week introductory workshop series on positive psychology for undergraduate students, alongside fellow MAPP alum Faisal Khan. Most recently, she enjoyed contributing to the Body Full of Joy and Strategies to Thrive series for the MAPP Alumni Association.

Laura lives in Philadelphia and is keenly interested in the effective application of positive interventions, the arts and humanities, positive education, and organizational development.

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