Lauren Sleat was born in York, Pennsylvania. She received her BFA from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, working for several years in advertising, before leaving to go into teaching art full time and to concentrate on her studio practice, first in Pennsylvania and then to Ashland, Oregon. Lauren received her MFA in Painting at the Hoffberger School of painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2006, where she was Abstract Expressionist painter Grace Hartigan's assistant.

Lauren currently lives in Milledgeville,GA and works at Georgia College and State University where she is Adjunct faculty in the Art dept as well as the Interdisciplinary Departments. She also works as an Advanced Placement Studio Art Exam Leader, Table Leader and Exam Reader for the College Board and Educational testing services.