Laura Schroff

Laura Schroff is a former advertising executive who has worked with several major media companies, including Time Inc. and Conde Nast. Born and raised on Long Island, Laura was part of the advertising team that made USA Today a successful national newspaper. Before helping launch three of the most successful start-ups in Time Inc. history, InStyle, Teen People, and People StyleWatch, she was also the New York Division Manager at People magazine. Laura has also been the New York Ad Manager at Ms. magazine and Associate Publisher at Brides.

Schroff first started thinking about writing a book after an article about her and a boy named Maurice appeared in Good Housekeeping in 1997. That story grew into the bestselling book, "An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny."

When Schroff first met Maurice on a New York City street corner, she had no idea that she was standing on the brink of an incredible and unlikely friendship that would inevitably change both their lives. As one lunch at McDonald’s with Maurice turns into two, then into a weekly occurrence that is fast growing into an inexplicable connection, she learns heart-wrenching details about Maurice’s horrific childhood.

Sprinkled throughout is also Schroff’s own story of her turbulent childhood. Every now and then, something about Maurice's struggles reminds her of her past, how her father’s alcohol-induced rages shaped the person she became and, in a way, led her to Maurice.

As their friendship grows, Schroff offers Maurice simple experiences he comes to treasure: learning how to set a table, trimming a Christmas tree, visiting her nieces and nephew on Long Island, and even having homemade lunches to bring to school.

She now shares this heartwarming story of a friendship that has spanned 25 years, that brought life to an over-scheduled professional who had lost sight of family and happiness and hope to a hungry and desperate boy whose family background in drugs and crime and squalor seemed an inescapable fate.

Schroff loves spending time at her condo on Long Island and visiting with her family in New York and Florida. She lives in New York City with her feisty poodles Coco and her newest addition Emma.