Personal and career details
- Name
- Lauren Chen; identified as Lauren Tam in Tennessee business records
- Born
- Canada (1994, reported in secondary biographies)
- Raised
- Hong Kong
- Education
- B.A. in political science; minor in Middle Eastern studies and Arabic (Turning Point USA press kit)
- Spouse
- Liam Donovan
- Children
- Two (reported in 2026)
- Occupations
- Political commentator, online video host, media entrepreneur
- Known for
- Roaming Millennial; Pseudo-Intellectual; Tenet Media; Anathema
- Former affiliations
- CRTV; BlazeTV; Turning Point USA; published commentary at RT
- Tenet Media
- Co-founder with Liam Donovan, January 2022
- Legal status
- Not a defendant in the September 2024 federal indictment against two RT employees
Lauren Chen is a Canadian political commentator, online video host and media entrepreneur. She co-founded Tenet Media with her husband, Liam Donovan. She previously published content as Roaming Millennial and worked with BlazeTV and Turning Point USA.[1][2][3]
Early life and education
Chen was born in Canada and raised in Hong Kong. An archived 2023 Turning Point USA press kit says that she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science, with a minor in Middle Eastern studies and Arabic. Public business records for Tenet Media identified her as Lauren Tam.[1][2]
Chen is married to Liam Donovan, her business partner in Tenet Media. A June 2026 profile in Columbia Journalism Review described the couple as parents of two children.[3]
Commentary and media career
Chen began publishing conservative political commentary online in 2016 under the name Roaming Millennial. She hosted Roaming Millennial: Uncensored for CRTV and Pseudo-Intellectual for BlazeTV. Her work and appearances also included Fox News, The Daily Wire, Rebel Media and PragerU. The 2023 Turning Point USA press kit listed her among its contributors; that historical listing is not evidence of a present affiliation.[1][3]
Chen contributed commentary to RT, the Russian state-controlled broadcaster, before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In 2024 she appeared at a forum associated with Hungary’s Mathias Corvinus Collegium, according to Columbia Journalism Review. These are separate editorial and event relationships, not proof of participation in the later funding allegations.[3]
Tenet Media
Chen and Donovan founded Tenet Media in Tennessee in January 2022. It began publicly distributing political commentary videos in late 2023 and featured Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern, Matt Christiansen and Tayler Hansen. The commentators supplied material to the outlet under individual production arrangements; the existence of such an arrangement does not establish that any commentator knew the ultimate source of the funding.[2][3][6]
On September 4, 2024, the Justice Department announced charges against RT employees Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva. The indictment alleged that RT personnel used false identities and intermediary companies to covertly fund and direct a Tennessee media company identified by independent reporting as Tenet Media. Prosecutors alleged transfers totaling approximately $9.7 million from October 2023 through August 2024, representing almost 90% of the company’s bank deposits during that period. These figures and allegations come from the indictment, not a judgment of guilt.[4][5][6]
The Justice Department alleged that RT personnel influenced editorial decisions and, on an occasion following the March 2024 Moscow concert-hall attack, requested content assigning blame to Ukraine and the United States. The indictment also described communications involving the company's founders about the purported source of funds. Chen and Donovan have challenged the government's account and maintained that Tenet's commentators retained editorial independence.[4][3]
After the indictment
The 2024 federal indictment charged Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva, not Chen or Donovan. The allegations against the charged defendants remain allegations unless established in court. Neither founder had been criminally charged in the reviewed reporting through November 14, 2026; the full present docket status has not been independently determined.[4][3][6]
Following the announcement, YouTube terminated the Tenet Media channel and four channels operated by Chen. Blaze Media and Turning Point USA ended their relationships with her. Chen and Donovan left the United States after the 2024 investigation became public.[5][3]
Return to the United States and activity in 2026
Chen announced that she and Donovan had returned to Nashville by Christmas 2025. She publicly thanked U.S. officials for assistance. State Department adviser Joe Rittenhouse described participation by officials at the White House, FBI, Customs and Border Protection, and State Department in facilitating the family's return; the precise legal mechanism for the return was not established by the reviewed reporting.[3][7]
In April 2026, Chen and Donovan attended the White House Easter Egg Roll. Chen also launched the commentary show Anathema. Columbia Journalism Review described a series of interviews in which Chen disputed the Justice Department's portrayal of Tenet and criticized the original investigation.[3]
On November 13, 2026, The New Republic reported that Chen had posted images from the November 12 Citizen Journalist Gala at Mar-a-Lago, hosted by James O’Keefe. Attendance at the venue establishes participation in the event, not a meeting with Donald Trump or an official position in his administration.[8]
Documented connections
Links distinguish a dated professional relationship or public event from allegations about funding or criminal liability.
- Turning Point USA — contributor, listed in the organization's March 2023 press kit. Source.
- James O’Keefe — interviewed by O’Keefe in early 2026 and attended a gala he hosted on November 12, 2026. Source · Event report.
- Liam Donovan — spouse and Tenet Media co-founder (2022). [2][3]
- Tenet Media — co-founded in 2022; subject of the 2024 media-financing allegations. [2][4]
- RT — Chen's earlier published commentary; two RT employees were charged in 2024 concerning Tenet. These are distinct connections. [3][4]
- Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern, Matt Christiansen and Tayler Hansen — Tenet Media content creators. [3][6]
- Joe Rittenhouse — publicly credited by Chen and reported as participating in assistance with the family's late-2025 return to the United States. [3][7]
References
- Turning Point USA, March 2023 press kit (p. 14)
- Forbes, September 6, 2024, Tenet Media founder profile
- Columbia Journalism Review, Maddy Crowell, June 1, 2026
- U.S. Department of Justice, SDNY announcement, September 4, 2024
- Reuters, September 5, 2024, YouTube termination
- PolitiFact, September 16, 2024, Tenet contributors and alleged funding
- Immigration Policy Tracking Project, December 29, 2025, return to US
- The New Republic, November 13, 2026, Mar-a-Lago gala report
Reporting and court allegations are identified by source. This biography does not treat an indictment as a conviction or infer a personal relationship from attendance at a public event.
Follow documented connections into The Story
See historical subjects through supported institutional relationships.