When she was in college, Leslie Stevens studied Politics at Princeton and wanted to be an attorney. Instead, she became one of the most prominent names in public relations. “It was a fluke that I got a job with Estée Lauder,” said Leslie. After four years with Lauder, Leslie moved to a larger public relations firm and then another, gathering experience as she went, working with some of the biggest brands in the world.
“WHAT SCARES ME IS THAT TIME IS PASSING ME BY. THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS I WANT TO DO.”
“At one point, I had a boyfriend who said, ‘You should be on your own.’ I didn’t know if I could do it, but he said, ‘Of course you can!’ That was nearly 20 years ago.”
Today Leslie and her partner, James LaForce, and their team, provide innovative strategies for top brands like Target, LinkedIn, Veuve Clicquot, Banana Republic, 3M, Omega, Perry Ellis, Swarovski and AT&T, among others. “I get to work with fantastic clients. It’s exciting and dynamic, and I have an amazing team. I am so lucky!” said Leslie.
“I love to go out and get business and come up with ideas. I enjoy working with, and pitching, the media. I’m now involved with social media strategies, which is a whole brave new world. We do Target’s fashion and beauty business. It’s a lot of the fashion collaborations, the popup stores, a lot of the beauty brands they have. We spearhead the strategy for all of the fashion and beauty initiatives. Target’s such a smart marketer.”
Leslie and her team at LaForce + Stevens launched Kerry Washington’s collaboration with The Limited. “We talked to Kerry and ABC every week, and we spearheaded the PR, all the social strategies around the launch. Kerry helped design the collection, à la Olivia Pope.
When she can, Leslie carves out time in her relentless schedule to travel. “I’m determined to visit every single destination in 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. I went fly fishing in Russia; visited Syria right before they closed it to tourists; hiked Bhutan and Patagonia and skied off a cliff in Chili. Still trying to figure out what the next trip’s going to be. I went to Myanmar last year. I was in Angkor Wat 30 years ago when Pol Pot was still alive. There was one hotel where literally 20 people could stay, and we had two bodyguards. There were no tourists then. No one was there. Everyone says if you go back you’ll be shocked at how much it’s changed. It’s spectacular.”
Leslie Stevens is daring, enthusiastic and successful, but more importantly, she knows how lucky she is.
