About Me - DawnLeaness

Background

I’m a generalist who thrives in startup environments. I have dedicated my career to social impact through building and growing entrepreneurial ventures aimed at advancing educational opportunity, economic access, and gender equality locally and globally.

I started my career in philanthropic grant-making, working to advance women’s equality and representation in American politics.

My passion for education and mentoring inspired me to take a role at an innovative charter school working at the intersection of public health and urban education, where I led development and served as the inaugural COO (and high school track coach), tripling the size of the first urban school within a community health center.

Along the way, I co-founded a gourmet crouton company that landed on the shelves of 40+ independent grocery stores nationwide and ran my own fitness business teaching Pilates throughout Boston.

Interests

I’m a qualitative quant - I get equally excited about the data as I do the stories of the people behind the numbers. I love leading teams, managing change, and inspiring my team members to challenge themselves and grow their skills.

I’m a big fan of no-code and generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Airtable, Notion, Zapier, Softr, Glide, Miro, and Canva to optimize my team’s work processes and bring my ideas to life.

Although I’ve hung up my professional apron and my fitness instructor mic, I still love to experiment in the kitchen and tackle fitness challenges. Today, this means teaching my three young daughters how to make [allergy-friendly] baked goods and cheering for them on the soccer field or tennis court. My other interests include traveling, learning to golf, sharing my love of reading with my daughters, supporting women entrepreneurs, developing expertise in emerging markets, EdTech, and anything food and fitness.

Current Role

As a founding team member and Managing Director for the African Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative (AWEC), I lead a team and oversee fundraising, program operations, curriculum design, stakeholder relationships, and community management for a thriving virtual accelerator that has helped 1,200+ entrepreneurs across 54 African countries grow their businesses and raise capital.

For the past six years I have been leading a remote, global team. I supervise and collaborate daily with team members in six different countries, support a team of 40 business leaders who volunteer as mentors from over 25 countries, and oversee a program with 200 fellows and 1,000 alumnae from over 30 countries each year.

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