Seeds of Peace Director Leslie Lewin profiled in "How Great Women Lead"

NEW YORK | Seeds of Peace Executive Director Leslie Lewin joins US diplomats Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and Susan Rice and 17 other leaders profiled in “How Great Women Lead,” a new book by Olympic medalist and Rhodes Scholar Bonnie St. John and her daughter, Darcy Deane.

Published this month by Center Street, the book examines the qualities that motivate these women. Leslie is one of the youngest leaders profiled in the book, which features women from various professional backgrounds, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Academy Award winning actress Geena Davis, Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Bonnie and Darcy traveled to the Seeds of Peace International Camp in Maine to interview Leslie about her leadership style and watch her navigate the challenges of bringing together 170 teenagers from conflict regions while supervising dozens of staff and volunteers.

“With her dark brown hair pulled back into a bouncy ponytail, the ever present Dunkin Donuts coffee cup, baggy sweat pants, and freckles dancing across a make-up-free face, she looks almost as young and optimistic as the counselors and campers she leads. Part camp director, part mother hen, part world-class diplomat, Leslie’s dynamic spirit is the spark that keeps this amazing place going year after year.”

The authors spent four days at Camp, writing that it was “absolutely extraordinary to witness.”

“We didn’t just ask her questions about her leadership style,” says Darcy.” We lived it with her.”

“Leslie is such an effective leader because she teaches with her actions … she exudes the attitude that she wants the other staffers and campers to share.”

Bonnie St. John is the author of “Live Your Joy” and is the first African-American to win Olympic ski medals. She attended Harvard and Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and worked in the Clinton White House. NBC News calls her one of the “most inspiring women in America.”

Bonnie’s 17-year-old daughter, Darcy, co-authored “How Great Women Lead.” Darcy is a junior in high school and plans to pursue a career in linguistic anthropology.

Learn more at www.howgreatwomenlead.com »