Lesley is the Vice President of Strategy for Beloved Community where she brings her insight as a proven equity champion with expertise in talent management and human capital practices designed to drive culturally competent, inclusive and transformative outcomes for teams and communities. With a passion and commitment for supporting organizations in implementing sustainable practices for systemic equity, she delves into the policies, strategies, behaviors and mindsets essential for centering diversity, equity and inclusion for communities pushed to the margins. Previously she served as the Director of People & Practice Investments for the Memphis Education Fund. In this role she focused on developing and managing the city-wide human capital strategy to drive both local and national education reform funding efforts towards the highest leverage school quality initiatives, such as school environments that cultivate inclusion and belonging, rigorous, standards-aligned curriculum, effective and engaging instruction and culturally relevant Teacher and Leader preparation. She has also led the talent and HR strategy for the ASD-Achievement Schools, as their Chief Talent Officer, where she ensured the ability to recruit and retain the talent best equipped to serve the students at the state of Tennessee's directly-run turnaround schools.In addition, Lesley is a wife and mother who loves music, film, sci-fi/fantasy and travel. She has a degree in Management Information Systems with a minor in Technology and Management from the University of Illinois, as well as a MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. She currently serves as a board member for the Center for Transforming Communities, and she is the former campaign manager of the 2018 Tami Sawyer for TN Shelby County Commission District 7 campaign. Lesley is an alumni of the Broad Residency in Urban Education, as well as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and The Links, Inc.