Leah Hanes

Leah Hanes, MBA, is a Portland-based consultant and writer with over 20 years experience working with for- and non-profit organizations, using her communication, research, and strategic planning skills to improve performance and drive impact.

Leah joined Write It For Me in 2016, immediately contributing to its clients, including: two research projects that jumpstarted year-round grant-seeking efforts; development of client recruitment brochures for grant-supported programs; and contributing to the development of 3 winning federal grant proposals, securing over $2.3 million in federal funding streams to support HIV testing/services in at-risk communities, transitional housing for domestic violence survivors, and community-level prevention of youth drug and alcohol use.

Other consulting work includes: business research to help guide investor and corporate decision making, working with Sterling Associates; marketing strategy and communications to drive donations and increase awareness for City Harvest, a New York City-based food rescue organization; consumer research for a venture-backed, smartphone app for couples; and strategic plan development and marketing communications for the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, a NYC-based nonprofit working to transform the quality of caregiving, in hospitals, hospices, and at home, through compassionate mindfulness. Leah also oversaw development of the organization’s first Buddhist Contemplative Care Symposium on Palliative and End-of-Life Care, and served on the Board of Directors’ Executive Committee from 2010-2012.

Leah has brought her skills in facilitation, communication, and critical thinking to both undergraduate and graduate business students, serving as an Adjunct Professor/Instructor in higher education, including: Portland State University (2012-2013) and NYU Stern School of Business (2009-2012), where she focused on the role of business in society; and City University of New York/Baruch College (2010-2011), where she taught business communication, working with students, many international, to improve their written and oral presentation skills in a business context.

Prior to working independently, Leah was a Vice President at marketing communication agencies in New York City, where she and her team developed revenue-generating and brand loyalty programs for large clients, including American Express, Qwest, AT&T Wireless, and the U.S. Postal Service.

Outside her business career, Leah also works as a creative writer, publishing her first personal essay in The New York Times’ Modern Love column in October 2010, and performing in the Los Angeles-based storytelling show, Don’t Tell My Mother in 2012. She was accepted twice for a writing residency at PLAYA in the Oregon outback, where she spent nine weeks in 2015, working on a memoir of personal loss and rebirth, which she intends to complete in 2017.

Leah graduated summa cum laude from Wells College in upstate New York, with a BA in English Literature, and received her MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.