Kriti Mehrotra
Directed by Jehane Noujaim and Vikram Gandhi, HBO’s ‘The Man Will Burn’ is a docu-series we can only describe as intense, owing to the way it chronicles the Burning Man Festival. It delves deep into every aspect of the week-long desert event, whether it be its countercultural roots, its growth over the years, its current significance for attendees, or its potential future. Among those to thus feature in this original production to underscore the same is Lindsay Handren, an academic professional, equestrian athlete, virtual reality enthusiast, and Burner.
Lindsay Handren First Experienced Burning Man Through Virtual Reality
While Lindsay is undeniably a practical thinker, she is also an admirer of all things artistic, creative, and technological, which has given her a particular soft spot for Virtual Reality (VR). It was actually during the COVID-19 pandemic that she discovered this world through someone she’d started dating – he had a VR headset, and she got one too, so they could hang out. According to her own accounts, one of the many places he showed her was Black Rock City since he’d long been attending Burning Man there and wanted her to experience the real joy of it.
Lindsay had heard of the festival, but she’d admittedly assumed it was a place where people went to do drugs and have sex, only for her entire perception to change in that one VR visit. “When I discovered the burner culture and lifestyle, that whole community got me through the pandemic,” she said on the show. “One of the things I learned is that there is a temple. A place to grieve.” That’s when she became determined to one day attend the event in person because she wanted to take something to that temple and pay tribute to her ever-affectionate, loving mother.
Lindsay sadly lost her mother in 2015 to cancer, but she indicated that the loss really hit her during the pandemic lockdowns due to the endless quiet moments and lack of human contact. Since the duo was so close, they used to speak every day, not having her mother’s words during such a tumultuous socio-political time made the entire situation “pretty depressing” for her. So, even though her bond with the man she was dating didn’t last, her love for Burning Man did. In fact, from what we can tell, she has attended the festival in Nevada every year since it reopened.
Lindsay Handren is a Proud Social Scientist, Researcher, and VR Producer
Although a native of Michigan, Lindsay has called California home since at least the late 2000s, when she relocated to pursue further studies. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from California State University, Bakersfield and subsequently enrolled at Claremont Graduate University in Los Angeles County. It was from there that she obtained a Master’s degree in Applied Social Psychology in 2014 and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology in 2023, earning her the title of Doctor today. During this period, the young woman had also kick-started her career.
Lindsay’s first professional job was as a Social & Health Science Researcher at Claremont Graduate University, which she started in September 2012 and continues to hold to this day. She then served as an Assistant Project Manager at the Health Psychology & Prevention Sciences Institute in the same university from 2014 to 2017 before moving forward to evolve into an educator. She was an Adjunct Professor/Lecturer of Psychology at the California State Polytechnic University-Pomona from March 2016 to May 2022, all the while also learning to embrace her various passions.
We specify Lindsay’s journey of adopting and indulging in her interests because she took a big leap of faith in early 2020, right around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and all its lockdowns. She spread her wings to become a self-employed Research Design & Statistics Consultant in March 2020, a month after which she joined Black Rock Creative (BRCvr) as an Immersive Experience Production. She maintains both these positions to this day and has also proudly been working as a Social Scientist at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since September 2024.
Lindsay Handren Juggles Her Career With Her Love For Equestrianism
While many who are interested in both academia and sports often end up choosing one over the other by their late teenage years, Lindsay outrightly refused to do so. She decided to strike a balance between them because she knew she’d regret it if she ever continuously prioritized one over the other. Therefore, even today, she is not only a researcher, scientist, VR producer, and Burning Man attendee (aka Burner), but also a competitive equestrian athlete. The name of her particular sport is reigning, which involves riders guiding their horses through precise patterns of fast-paced spins and complex sliding stops – it’s essentially the Dressage of the West.
According to Lindsay’s account, it was her mother who introduced her to horse riding when she was just a little girl, so she now continues on the equestrian path for both of them. She is an incredible athlete, evidenced by her 2018 NRHA Reserve World Championship win, her 2019 East Central Regional Affiliate Non-Pro Event, Intermediate Non-Pro Event, and Novice Horse Non-Pro 2 wins, and other competitive trophies/medals. Her former horse, Roxys Custom Crome (aka Goose), and her current horse, Nifty Walla Whiz (aka Freckles), are both reportedly in training at Katona Reining Horses in Michigan.
Therefore, Lindsay currently splits her time between Belleville, Michigan, and Pasadena, California, all the while also doing her best to spend as much time with her loved ones as possible. Since losing her mother, it appears as if she shares an even closer connection with her father, Mike Handren, whom she cheekily credits for all her dancing skills and her eccentricities. We should also mention that she is a proud dog mom. Her first fur baby was named Abigail, who sadly passed away in 2018 or 2019, and she now has an adorable Shih Tzu named Binx.
Read More: John Law: Where is the Co-Founder of Burning Man Festival Now?
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