Lauren Davie
As those who make an effort to get more involved in the New Albany community can attest, there’s an extraordinarily long list of opportunities to do so, and Lauren Creasap Davie may know that list better than anyone.
Davie, 41, has been involved with the New Albany Women’s Network, New Albany Moms Association, New Albany Community Foundation and Miracle League. She’s part of a book club. She even recently joined a mahjong group. And almost every time she exercises – whether it’s a trip to the tennis court or just a walk around the neighborhood – she’s reaching out to a friend to come with her.
“Giving back and making someone else’s day have always been part of my DNA,” Davie says.
So why the commitment to community? Some of it is just her natural inclination, Davie says, but much of her drive to contribute traces back to her experience growing up in New Albany, after her family moved from Gahanna prior to her sixth-grade year.
Lauren Davie
Athletic inspiration
As her multiple inductions into the New Albany Athletic Hall of Fame would suggest, Davie was a standout athlete during her time at New Albany High School, from which she graduated in 2004. Over her four years at NAHS, she competed in cross country, soccer and track, but as an athlete, she might be best known locally for her time on the basketball court.
In 2003, the Eagles – with Davie as a starting forward – made it all the way to the state final four. They were the only public-school team to make it that far in 2003 and, to this day, are the only girls’ basketball team from New Albany to reach the state semifinals.
“There were a lot of firsts in my time,” Davie says.
The 2003 basketball Eagles were inducted into the New Albany Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023, following Davie’s individual induction in 2013. She lettered all four years in basketball, cross country and track, and would receive a full athletic scholarship to play for Mercyhurst University, though she would transfer to Ohio University to finish her education.
Lauren Davie
Outside of her NAHS athletic career, Davie was already looking for ways to get involved in the community. She sang in the choir, served on student council and participated in the school’s leadership program.
“I’m still that person today,” Davie says. “I think it goes back to how much I enjoy and love people. When that’s reciprocated, you’re my friend for life.”
Throughout her time in high school, Davie was continually amazed by New Albany’s dedication to her, her teammates and her friends. The community was deeply invested in their success, she says, and the team parents worked tirelessly to support them every way they could.
It might be an understatement to say that inspired her. Today, anytime someone asks her to get involved in an organization or cause in her community, Davie’s default answer is yes.
“I have to push myself to go to these things because it’s what brings me happiness,” she says. “I try not to say no too much. Or at all, really.”
The road back to New Albany
Davie and her husband, Adam, an architect, live in New Albany with their two elementary school-aged sons.
Lauren Davie
Davie and family
Davie had moved to Washington, D.C. for work after graduating from OU in 2008, but the family moved back to New Albany in 2018. Adam is from Ohio as well, having grown up in Sandusky, and the two decided it made sense to move here to be closer to family.
They weren’t planning to land in New Albany, Davie says, but that’s how things worked out – and that suited her just fine.
“I have such a deep appreciation for the community and the people that have been pioneers in building the community,” she says.
Since 2024, Davie has worked as a real estate agent for Engel & Völkers, selling all throughout central Ohio but primarily here in New Albany. Prior to that, much of her career had been spent in the financial sector, but at every employer, she tended to work cross-functionally, supporting different departments and connecting team members.
She’s found working in real estate to be very fulfilling, not least because it gives her so many more opportunities to interact with people. It’s also given her a new avenue to get involved, including with the Special Olympics, for which Engel & Völkers regularly raises money.
“I’ve always wanted to give back… but now I have a bigger platform to be able to do more,” Davie says.
Involvement in the community
Lauren Davie
Davie isn’t satisfied just being part of community groups herself. She also makes it her mission to connect as many people as possible from her different circles: work, charity, professional development, wellness, even longtime friends from her high school basketball days, with whom she makes sure to get together at least once a year.
One of Davie’s favorite ways to give back is through the Byron Saunders Foundation, the New Albany-based nonprofit that provides Thanksgiving meals – 15,000 of them this past year – to families in need throughout greater Columbus. She spent much of the summer helping to organize the foundation’s annual Dancing with Our Columbus Stars event, a ballroom dancing-centric fundraiser that, this year, took place in August.
Davie has also coordinated fundraisers through the women’s empowerment foundation she started, She Rises. It holds an annual fundraiser in support of a designated cause, which, this year, will be The Byron Saunders Foundation.
Last year, the fundraiser supported New Albany-based Buddy Up for Life, which offers adaptive athletic programming for people with Down Syndrome. In 2027, Davie hopes to find a beneficiary that works with children battling cancer, possibly in conjunction with Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
It’s a cause particularly close to Davie’s heart, as her older son’s best friend, Mateo Garcia, died in 2025 of acute myeloid leukemia at just 7 years old. Now, she is a member of one of the hospital’s TWIGs (Together With Important Goals), groups of women who organize fundraisers in support.
Lauren Davie
Staying healthy
Of late, tennis has been Davie’s favorite means of wellness, though she still walks and lifts weights as well. Learning the sport has been an ongoing challenge, she says, because much of the movement runs counter to her long-held basketball instincts. But she’s a naturally competitive person, so she’s dedicated to the learning process, she says.
In a continuing theme for Davie, one of her instructors suggested she join a team. She wasn’t sure she was ready to do that, but she was asked, so she went ahead with it anyway and has quickly gotten used to it, she says.
And her children are already discovering their own athletic interests. They play baseball, basketball and soccer, and the family frequently attends NAHS basketball and baseball games. In addition, both children have gotten into swimming, which was another of Davie’s standout sports until, as a very individual-oriented sport, it ceased to hold her interest.
“They have athletic parents, so they’re trying all the things out,” she says.
Garth Bishop is a contributing editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
