She also starred as Michelle Bauer Santos on the CBS Daytime soap opera Guiding Light (1998–2000) and is recognized for her music as a solo artist and as a member of the band Everly.

Since 2021, Lenz has been a co-host on the Drama Queens podcast along with her former One Tree Hill co-stars, Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton Morgan.

While on a trip to Los Angeles, Lenz landed her first professional job in a commercial for dolls from the teen drama series Swans Crossing.

She continued to find work steadily as an actress, and by her second year in high school she landed the role of Linda Halleck in Stephen King's Thinner.

She appeared in various pilots, commercials, and films and performed regional theatre until she was eventually cast as a series regular on Guiding Light.

At age 17, Lenz played the teenage clone of Reva Shayne on the CBS Daytime soap opera Guiding Light for nine episodes.

Her stint earned her such favorable reviews from viewers, critics, and Guiding Light executives alike that Lenz was eventually recast as Michelle Bauer Santos upon Rebecca Budig's exit.

At the time Lenz juggled a heavy storyline, a television movie portraying Mary Tyler Moore's daughter, a one-year run of a New York cabaret called Foxy Ladies Love/Boogie 70's Explosion, and the lead role in an independent film.

After her two-year contract with The Guiding Light ended, she left her role as Michelle Bauer Santos and moved from New York City to Los Angeles.

[1] During her time on One Tree Hill, Lenz was also offered the role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast when it was still in production on Broadway, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts.

In 2012, Lenz decided to concentrate on projects that were "strategically designed to move her career in a direction that was not quite the same thing as she was doing on One Tree Hill".

The show centered around Lauren, a genius songwriter who employs a small staff, including her sister, to enable and manage her eccentric, yet wildly successful process.

Since 2021, Lenz has been a co-host on the Drama Queens podcast along with her former One Tree Hill co-stars, Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton Morgan.

She worked under the direction of director Garry Marshall and alongside musician Carole King on a new musical adapted from the series Happy Days.

In 2005, after recording "When the Stars Go Blue" with costar Tyler Hilton, the duo joined The Wreckers (Michelle Branch and Jessica Harp), and Gavin DeGraw for a 25-city North American One Tree Hill Tour that started in Vancouver.

[10] While on tour, Lenz debuted her second independent record entitled, Come On Home, and filmed her first music video for "Songs in My Pockets" at Coney Island Beach and Astroland in Brooklyn, New York.

In 2006, alongside ex-American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi, Lenz co-wrote and recorded "Halo" which was released on the second volume of the One Tree Hill Soundtrack.

Immediately after the duo was formed, they teamed up with musical act Angels & Airwaves and Kate Voegele for a live USO concert event for military personnel.

[14] During an interview with Shine On Media in May 2013, Lenz stated she was meeting with long-time friend and music producer Jeff Cohen to record an album.

[21][22] In 2005, after seeing Nick Cassavetes' film The Notebook and subsequently reading Nicholas Sparks' best selling novel of the same name, Lenz found herself singing songs around her house based on the story's characters.

The Notebook musical was workshopped in a small black box theater in October 2009 in front of Broadway producers and investors, and Nicholas Sparks who came for the occasion.

In July 2010, the duo revealed on their website the list of the songs : "The Colors Play", "Carolina Moon", "Troublesome Tongue", "Sunday Train", "The Nightclub Swing!

In November 2010, in response to Twitter followers successfully raising more than $2000 in one day for the charity Love146, Lenz released the song "Troublesome Tongue".

[26][27][28][29][30] Introduced to Love146 by former Everly bandmate, Amber Sweeney, Lenz has been actively supporting the international human rights organization largely through social media outlets.

[31] On June 12, 2011, she revealed details of her newest project – an online boutique called Lark, selling apparel with original designs by Lenz.

[36] In 2023, Lenz said she was starting a broadsheet newspaper for women called Modern Vintage,[37] the same name as her website, where she discusses art, culture, travel, and style.