Lavanya Ramanathan is an American journalist based in Washington, D.C. She is a reporter at The Washington Post, covering youth, culture and trends since 2014. ^[1]

Lavanya Ramanathan graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1999 with a Bachelor's degree in journalism. At UT Austin, she worked simultaneously at the university's independently run broadsheet newspaper, The Daily Texan, interviewing musicians and writing record and concert reviews and features.

She went on to attend Medill School of Journalism, where she studied newspaper reporting with a specialization in management.

From August 2004 to May 2006, she served as a copy editor in the Post's Local section, from 2006 to 2009 as an entertainment columnist in the Style section. From 2009 to 2014 as a reporter in its Weekend section.

Prior to joining The Washington Post in 2004, she was a copy editor at the Orlando Sentinel and Newsday Media Group.