Who We Are
Leslie Kerns
Principal + Chief Strategist
From Leslie: I’m a senior communications executive, campaign strategist, and social change advisor with more than 20 years of experience creating impact for purpose-driven ventures.
My work has influenced public opinion, shifted narratives, moved policy and politics, and built brands. Along the way, I've created two successful social impact businesses, created and led winning teams, practiced law, advised foundations, and learned a thing or two about how change happens.
Leslie’s Bio:
Leslie has more than 20 years of experience using communications, advocacy, narrative, and creative campaigns to create impact.
Since launching 1235 Strategies in 2019, Leslie has helped the Vera Institute of Justice lift the 26-year-old ban on Pell grants for incarcerated students and the Tax Equity Funders Network make sure young workers get paid at tax time. She has also partnered with the FrameWorks Institute to create a new safety and justice narrative playbook using persuasion testing and digital-first strategies. Other clients include Public Welfare Foundation, Bail Project, CUNY Institute of State and Local Governance, FSG Consulting, STRIPED Initiative at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston Athenaeum, and Tax Law Center at NYU Law.
Leslie is a board member of One Degree, a technology nonprofit working to transform America’s social safety net. She’s also a former advisory council member to the MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge, a big bet to reimagine and rebuild America’s local justice systems.
Previously, Leslie was an Executive Vice President at M+R, a national digital marketing and PR firm for good causes. During her tenure, Leslie advanced transportation reform with Smart Growth America, changed how young people in the justice system are treated and talked about with the MacArthur Foundation, and elevated international family planning in the 2016 election with Population Connection. She also advised the Rockefeller Foundation, Humanity United, GlobalGiving, Pew Charitable Trusts, American Lung Association, 350.org, and other leading nonprofit and charitable organizations. Along the way, she turned a press team of four into a cross-functional division of 25 earned media, digital, and campaign strategists. Leslie started her career as an attorney in Ohio.
When she is not working with organizations and causes she cares about, you can find Leslie performing with Improv for the People, watching basketball, and reveling in her luck to live in downtown Los Angeles.
Our Trusted Partners
We promise to provide senior-only teams that serve as your day-to-day partners while optimizing your budgets. That means when achieving your goals requires additional skills or brainpower, we assemble an experienced team, turning to one or more partners whom we trust and admire. Our partners are former colleagues and collaborators we’ve maintained relationships with over the last 20 years by showing up and being good people.
Here is a sampling:
