Leah Shafer graduated with dual MBA/MPP degrees from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University concentrating in Children, Youth, and Families. She is committed to creating equitable learning opportunities and career pathways for young people, and is passionate about bridging the divide between academic research and practice. At Brandeis, she taught a course on skills for college and career success and tutors writing with the Student Support Services Program (SSSP). Before coming to Heller, she wrote for Usable Knowledge at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, making education research more accessible for teachers, school leaders, and families. She also served as a City Year AmeriCorps member in Boston from 2014-15, transitioning to chapter books and learning the times tables with third graders. Leah graduated magna cum laude from Dickinson College in 2014, where she majored in English and American Studies and received departmental honors in both disciplines. She is originally from Simsbury, Connecticut, and is an avid reader, amateur knitter, and admirer of Julia Child.

Leah is Senior Communications Specialist for the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at the Heller School.