Hi, I’m Justin Lai

I’m an SF native, writer, and professional tarot card reader. Follow me @torwards on Instagram or email me at justincameronlai@gmail.com if you’d like to chat!

What I’m up to:

• I currently spend the majority of my time working on Mission Tarot. I do online and in-person readings, as well as parties, events, and consultations. You can sometimes catch me doing free readings in Dolores Park!
• I write and edit for the KneeDeep Times, a local climate resilience journal — check out my recent pieces here.
• Last year, my essay about Lowell High School and racial diversity was published in the SF Chronicle.
• I facilitate a monthly book club with my friends, generally focusing on autofiction and and POC literature. We’re not looking for new members, but please check out our planning documents.
• I’m maybe working on a brand + literary zine. Hit me up if you can help me with design or screen printing.

My old lives:

• I worked as a writer in the tech industry from 2017 to 2020. I was at Tribe Dynamics (a small influencer marketing startup), then at Turo (the AirBnB for cars). I wrote marketing copy — ads, billboards, emails, landing pages — as well as UX copy.
• I graduated from UC Berkeley with a double major in Psychology and English in 2016. While there, I wrote 50 pages of a psychedelic sci-fi novel, completed a thesis comparing the sex scenes in Double Indemnity (1944) and Body Heat (1981), and volunteered as a peer counselor for the greater Berkeley community.
• I’m feeling wistful about entering my late 20’s. If you were once a part of my life, please reach out — I am a book that opens.