2025 Social Justice Award: Leasa Neaves '92

Leasa Neaves has spent her career empowering women in the workplace. She graduated from JMU in 1992 with a Bachelor of Business Administration concentrating in marketing and management with a minor in Spanish. She later continued her education, graduating from the Texas A&M Mays Business School in 2006 with a Master of Business Administration.

The majority of Neaves’ work has focused on ensuring that women in tech have a seat at the table in the historically male-dominated field. For over twenty years, she worked for Dell in sales, marketing, and even as chief of staff. At the same time, she led Dell’s Women in Action Employment Resource Group where she grew membership to over 7,000 women. She received the Women of the Channel and Michael Dell awards for her groundbreaking work.

In 2024, Neaves left her role at Dell and became the founder and CEO of Elevate for Women. Elevate for Women is an organization that seeks to help women reach their career goals and become better leaders. The best part is that Neaves is now able to reach and empower women across all industries, not just tech. Despite operating for less than a year, Elevate for Women has touched the lives of over four-hundred women – a number that will only continue to rise.

Neaves pushes people to take risks. She says, “the reality is that when you don’t manage your life and career with some level of risk, you put a limitation on yourself that doesn’t need to be there.”