Leslie Coles, Founding Advisor

Leslie is the Manager of Accelerators and Partnerships, and she is passionate about the power of creative entrepreneurial education to change the world. 

She brings her experience co-founding and leading the non-profit Moms as Mentors, an organization focused on equipping moms with the tools and opportunities to raise girls to be confident leaders, including in the entrepreneurial and social impact sectors. 

As Director of Programs at the non-profit VentureLab, she led the development of programs and curriculum to teach entrepreneurial mindsets and creative thinking to support VentureLab's mission to create the next generation of changemakers and innovators. While there, she directed the complete overhaul of their K-12 entrepreneurship curriculum into one that now reaches 506K youth from over 150 countries and all 50 U.S. States.

As Director of Strategic Initiatives and Programs at the National Coalition of Girls' Schools (NCGS), she designed and executed national conferences,expanding NCGS’ reach by engaging top universities in the U.S. and across the globe, non-profits, corporations and thought-leaders. She nurtured these connections to create lasting partnerships.

Most recently, Leslie served as Project Manager for the Playful Journey Lab at MIT, where she managed a global cross-disciplinary research team, including graduate and undergraduate students, and was recognized for how deeply she connected with people remotely and helped them thrive during the pandemic.