About Ali Levin

I understood things differently in 1992 when I graduated from University and got my first "real job" as a paralegal in Boston.

I liked the job so I went to law school and became an associate at one of the biggest law firms in the United States. I put my head down and did good work, but I wasn’t happy and there were almost no women leaders.

Around that time, one of my male colleagues told me that I was like a ship anchored violently at sea, thrashing about, but not really going anywhere. I had no idea what he was talking about.

In my mid-30s, I was the first, single pregnant lawyer in my firm’s 125-year history. My firm had no paid maternity policy, they just said “they would take care of me.” I quit. I went back to school to study leadership. I wanted to know who gets ahead and how.

I studied at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and began building relationships that mattered. I became an Associate Fellow at Oxford and designed and directed leadership programs there. I learned that it takes more than just hard work to get noticed.

I spoke at leadership conferences and facilitated leadership teams in over 30 major world cities. I coached leaders from across the globe. I brought what I learned about leadership to every classroom and every person I met. But the numbers of women weren’t changing.

I wrestled deeply with my core values and how they fit with the life I was living. I did every coaching exercise I have ever asked someone I work with to do. I started to realize that I was not connected to a sense of purpose. There were misalignments in how I spent my time and with whom, what gave me energy and what didn’t, and what I needed to stay resilient.

Two years before my 50th birthday, I walked away from a life that was stable and secure. The UK had been my home for over a decade. Nearly all of my professional and personal relationships were in Europe.

I returned to the States with my sixteen-year-old daughter and a new vision for my career. The only thing I was sure about was the impact I wanted to have, a hard-earned belief in myself, and the relationships I could draw upon for support and advocacy.

It’s Your Turn Now.

There are coaches who will tell you that they’ve created “cutting edge” programs and “meta-performance” institutes to help their clients. I’ve been doing this for work for years. It takes courage and grit. There’s nothing cutting edge about it. You just need to be brave, and bravery requires support.

To ambitious women everywhere, I am here to help you figure out where you are going so you recognize it as the place you envisioned when you arrive. I’ll help you find your voice to announce yourself along the way and in a manner that can be heard. I’ll teach you how to enlist allies because, trust me, you’ll need them. And together we will support each other in helping women rise.

Companies are now seeing the evidence that the higher the representation of women in leadership, the higher the likelihood of outperformance. Boards know this. CEOs know this. Investors know this. Female representation at the top is being demanded.

Nothing worth doing is ever easy. But calm seas do not a sailor make. I have gone from a ship anchored in rough seas to navigating the changing winds of life and keeping my boat on course for a purposeful life. I can show you how.