THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Robin Leeds

“I’m here to make good trouble. Just like John Lewis.”

Senior political strategist, communications expert and public policy advocate with more than 30 years of work in the government, labor, business, and non-profit sectors. Served as a political appointee to President Clinton from 1994 to 2000 and was the Issues Director at the White House Office on Women’s Initiatives and Outreach. Credited with building presidential and congressional support for pay equity, Title X family planning, Title IX affirmative action, paid family and medical leave, reproductive rights and health, and domestic violence and sexual harassment protections. Member of the Harvard Women’s Leadership Board delegation to Egypt, Senior Consultant to the Inter-American Commission on Women at the Organization of American States, and Senior Fellow on Women and Iraq Reconstruction at GlobalSecurity.org. Founder and managing director of Winning Strategies LLC, a public affairs and political consulting firm based in Washington, DC. Partner with Democracy Partners. 

Interviewed by Judy Waxman, Oral Historian, February 2023

Photo 1. With John Lewis. Photo 2. Kamala Harris, U.S. Vice President, Robin Leeds and Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.