Lucy Hobgood-Brown spends more time in the air or in dugout canoes than she does in her adopted Australian home.  After careers as both a journalist and university educator, her interests evolved into community development work where she’s currently using more than 25 years of communication management skills to foster capacity-building projects in China and the Democratic Republic of Congo (where she grew up).

“My network of women friends has been a huge help to me,” she says, “sharing their skills and resources to support the efforts of marginalized women.  This support from sisters they have never met is so heartening to Congolese women.”  The globetrotter’s projects involve occasional Congo Canoe Challenges on behalf of HandUp Congo, the non-profit she co-founded with sister Anne Zolnor and Betsy Brill (see profile). Betsy is another Director of HandUp Congo who isn’t daunted by much of anything. Their non-profit serves as a liaison between local Congolese communities and grassroots NGOs in the DRC, linking them with outside donors and/or partners.  For details see www.handupcongo.org.

Now you might think dugout canoes are a challenging way to travel in a country involved in ongoing civil conflicts, but Lucy claims it’s not dangerous — just hot, muggy and buggy. When she’s not involved in poverty alleviation projects in developing countries, she lives in Sydney, Australia where she enjoys hiking with her husband and golden retriever on her kangaroo-filled country property, camping in Australia’s national parks and sampling the country’s multi-cultural cuisine. An Australian-American dual citizen, Lucy has Masters degrees in International Communication and International Social Development.

Marcia Smolens is one of the most successful and effective political consultants on the West Coast.  She grew up in Phillie, graduated in English Literature from Temple University, and began her career teaching high school English and Journalism in Camden, NJ.  In 1970, she landed in San Francisco on a vacation, wearing leopard print pants, and never left. She has always had a unique sense of style, and along with it, a profound sense of what truly matters. There are any number of people on this earth who have benefited from her support. She does a ton of volunteer work advising non-profits, writing checks, and mentoring young women. And she has served on the boards of the Exploratorium, Institute on Aging, La Raza Centro Legal, CARAL, Contemporary Jewish Museum and SFJAZZ, to name a few.

So where’s she showing up these days?  At a football game. At an art show. At political functions for the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and for Willie Brown’s birthday bash in Paris. Oh, yes, she has traveled, with a capital T. Marcia has a passion for art, life, connection and discovery. She has an awe-inspiring art collection, gathered on trips that have taken her – everywhere – often as part of an international delegation. If you talk to anyone who knows her, Marcia’s entire life is a work of art.

In her forties, while developing and managing products for the software industry, Kathy came to see that the life she had created didn’t reflect her values, her passion or even her interests. So she took a major plunge. She quit her job to start a special kind of dog training company, using positive reinforcement in her training of both dogs and their owners. Her company is called Gentle Persuasion. Today, Kathy is involved in nurturing confidence, creative problem solving, and non-violence. She has a life now that authentically reflects who she is. And she says she wears my jewelry because she feels like, “Hey, this is the real me!”

Portrait by Scott McDaniel

Mary Thorsby is a San Francisco-based freelance writer and project manager. She’s really very good at what she does, professionally. But her community work shines just as brightly. She is one of the co-founders of Chicks, Cheers & Charity, a fundraising group of friends who hold quarterly wine parties, donating all the proceeds to local charities.

These parties are a blast and raise a lot of money! They’re also an opportunity for Mary to show off her timeless sense of style. Does she wear jewelry? But of course. “What I love best about jewelry is that each piece has a special meaning – and it’s even more meaningful knowing the artist who created it. Every time I put on one of my many Leslie Lawton jewels, it’s as if I have a little bit of Leslie with me all day long.”

Portrait by Scott McDaniel

Douce was a dear friend who was very supportive of my creativity and efforts in making jewelry. I’m sorry to say that she died in February of 2006. She was a true gem – kind, gracious, beautiful and in love with life. One of those women who could light up a room. She grew up in Chile and moved to France in her early twenties. She became a force for the arts and a major player in both Chilean and Parisian society.

Here’s a little anecdote that will bring Douce to life. We were walking into a huge outdoor antique fair together one day, and she turned to me, “You know, Leslie, my problem is that I love everything!” She will be sorely missed.

Portrait by Cathy Dalton

Betsy Brill is showing up in her life as CEO and Director of the HandUp Congo Foundation, a non-profit founded with two friends who grew up in Congo. This organization is devoted to identifying and delivering tools, resources, and partnerships to enable Congolese villagers to rebuild their communities. Betsy has mastered multiple disciplines in journalism and communication — from daily photojournalism to business magazine writing and editing to publication design to marketing publications specialist. With her husband, photojournalist and professor Ken Kobré, she spent more than a year of travel and writing about microfinance approaches in Egypt, India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. Among other articles resulting from the year’s journey, her five-part series on the topic for the San Francisco Examiner was a Pulitzer nominee and a runner-up in the Pen West awards for non-fiction. “The world is filled with problems,” she acknowledges, “but solutions fascinate me. Sharing those solutions – taught by women in other developing countries – is the most rewarding thing I’ve done in my life.” Betsy lives in San Francisco but spends part of the year in a small village in France when she is not working in Congo. As you might expect, she’s particularly fond of the ethnic influences in my jewelry.

Portrait by Scott McDaniel