Hello! I am Emily Lesh, founder of Collaborative Solutions, a custom consulting firm.
I am a social entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience working with non-profits, government agencies, and businesses.
I solve complex social, environmental, and economic challenges by bringing people and organizations together.
Meet Emily
I am a facilitator, strategist, community engagement expert, and public policy guru.
I am a community organizer, coalition builder, and advocate.
I lead people and groups through processes to achieve big visions, with concrete wins along the way.
I built coalitions, lead intergovernmental alignment, and organizational change efforts as a state government leader.
I advised over a half-dozen state and local governments and non-profits on building strategic partnerships on building thriving regional economies that support jobseekers and students.
I organized the public and advocated for strategic public policies as an environmental community organizer.
My blend of experiences in the public and private sector, combined with my passion for justice, have positioned me to impact social, environmental, and economic issues throughout my career.
I founded Lesh Advisors, LLC in 2016 to advise government and non-profits around building community-based and industry-led partnerships. In this capacity, I helped found and staff the Next Generation Sector Partnership movement. Prior to launching Lesh Advisors, I spent seven years as a government leader for the state of Colorado; starting as the first cross-agency position coordinating green job efforts between the CO Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) and the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO) and then as the Assistant Director of the Colorado Workforce Development Council. In 2021 I launched Collaborative Solutions to build and expand on my work with sector partnerships into other domains. Learn more about my various experiences below.
Sector Partnerships & Career Pathways
Over the last dozen-plus years, I have become a national expert on the intersection of workforce development, education, and economic development. I have developed and implemented state policy around sector partnerships that bring together regional business leaders with community partners from workforce development, education, and economic development.
I have supported dozens of regional sector partnerships in Colorado and in seven states across the nation. As a state leader and consultant, I helped create and spur the articulation of career pathways with clear on and off-ramps for students and workers between education and meaningful career opportunities. My work has helped communities realize measurable results for students, jobseekers, and regional economies.
In 2016 I joined a team of independent consultants to launch the Next Generation Sector Partnership community of practice. I helped develop and scale this model that builds business-led, and community-supported partnerships for collective impact in communities across the country. Our team attracted philanthropic funding to bring together community and business leaders from across the country for 50-400 people in-person and virtual learning and best practice sharing events. I shaped the national dialogue around workforce, education, and economic development strategies.
Government Leadership
As a leader in the Colorado state government for seven years, I built relationships and coalitions that resulted in greater change than any one agency or organization could have achieved alone. As the Colorado Workforce Development Council’s Assistant Director I lead a team of staff, community, and state partners who launched a nationally recognized model for sector partnership and career pathway development. I managed major organizational change processes and built powerful coalitions in order to help ensure that every person has access to education and training, and a path to a good job, great career, and successful life. I worked with the state legislature and stakeholders on policy solutions to align education, training, workforce, and economic development efforts with the needs of the industry.
I started my career with the state as Colorado’s first Green Jobs Coordinator, a cross-agency employee between the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) and the Governor’s Energy Office. In this role, I convened and facilitated a coalition of 2009 green job American Recovery and Reinvestment grant recipients in order to find efficiencies, reduce redundancy, and maximize the impact of the grants in Colorado.
Environmental Advocacy
I launched my career as a community organizer with Green Corps where I not only gained hands-on training and experience as a community organizer, but I also ran several high-profile environmental campaigns. This led to working as a community organizer on several national and local campaigns with organizations across the country, including Friends of the River in California, the Sierra Club, and the Alaska Coalition. I also worked for the National Conference of State Legislators as a member of their Environmental policy team. In these various roles, I organized volunteers in a variety of capacities— from lobbying trips to Washington D.C., letter-writing campaigns, and events. I was even able to organize educational whitewater rafting trips with local elected officials. I also analyzed policy and worked closely with elected officials, businesses, government, and community leaders in communities across the country. All have my jobs have been fun, but these allowed me to bring people together in creative ways in many special places.
More About Emily
I grew up in Kentucky, the great-great-granddaughter, great-granddaughter, and granddaughter of country store owners—the hub for community provisions and connections. That Kentucky country store evolved into a small grocery store chain that served communities across the south and midwest that my mother and father ran. Grit and dedication to the community-run strong in my veins. I bring a strong family ethos of running small and medium-sized businesses to my work every day on behalf of the public good.
My experience as a dyslexic learner strongly shapes who I am and my perspective. I learned early on to advocate for myself within systems that were not always set up with my learning style top of mind.
I have tremendous privilege and am motivated daily by the opportunity to expand opportunities for all, especially those who have not benefited from the privilege and access I have throughout my life.
I live in Vermont’s Green Mountains with my life partner, two active kids, eight (give or take on any day) chickens, and pandemic puppy. We are active members of our community and often exploring the wonders of the natural world on foot, ski, and bike. I am constantly learning and evolving as an individual, partner, mother, community member, and human being.
I hold a Bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College in Environmental Studies, a Master's of Public Administration from the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, and have completed several professional development courses on facilitation, grant writing, and project management. A highlight of 2020 was participating in The Giving Project’s leadership training program focused on collective giving and providing entry points to philanthropy for all people.