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.
More About Robin:
- Winning Strategies website
- Robin Leeds biography
- President Biden Announces Key Appointments to the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts, September 16, 2022
- Public affairs and political consultant Robin Leeds conducted an online workshop for 20 Wagner College students on voting engagement. September 10, 2020.
- Democracy Partners website