Laura Silverman has been at the forefront of the NA movement since its inception, creating true community and connection around sobriety for herself and others while documenting the rise of what has become a worldwide social phenomenon. AFTER sat down with Laura to learn more about her story, her platform Zero Proof Nation, and what’s next in her alcohol-free world.
Nicole Pietrandrea Hough for AFTER Magazine: Welcome Laura! I’m excited to hear about your long journey in the nonalcoholic space, including almost 20 years of sobriety (next year) and creating a lot of resources over this time.
Laura Silverman: I’m excited to talk to you too! You’re right, next year is my 20-year sober anniversary. I’ve been a consumer of every NA beverage I can get my hands on for a long time and I’ve been creating in the nonalcoholic space for over a decade. There was a long lull between when I first got sober and when I started noticing early NA drink options so a lot has changed in the last seven years or so. Before that there was just a lot of Diet Coke and club soda in my life.
NPH: This really is a testament to you and everyone else who got sober before there were all these choices. I’d love to talk about your whole journey and the groups you’ve started along the way, including The Sobriety Collective, Booze Free in D.C. and Zero Proof Nation.
Laura Silverman: Great, I’ll start with my story because that’s what led to all these other things. My sobriety story started when I was pretty young. By the time I was 24 years old I had been hospitalized twice for alcohol poisoning. Drinking started out as fun in college. Then it became fun with problems. Then, by the end of my drinking, which was only two years after college graduation, it was just problems.
