Earlier this year you were named one of the Des Moines Business Record "Forty Under 40," a
program in which past award winners recognize young professionals who have shown both career
excellence and unsurpassed community involvement. What did that recognition mean to you?
This was very surprising, as I had no idea I'd been nom-
inated. It's a prestigious thing in our community, and
it means a lot to me to be recognized. It is undeniably
nice to have your work noticed and know that people
care about that work. You can think of Des Moines
as "a big little city," in that it's easy to get involved
with things here to make the community better,
through neighborhood groups and other nonprofits.
In the "Forty under 40" Q&A, I acknowledge City Forest
Credits founder Mark McPherson as a key mentor.
We got connected through the Growing Futures work.
Microsoft built data centers in West Des Moines,
and the company wanted to invest in a program for
young people. Mark, a lawyer and businessperson,
facilitated that investment in Growing Futures. He
mentored me in carbon crediting to the point where
every tree planted in the City of Des Moines now
is being tracked for carbon crediting purposes.
With the help of City Forest Credits, Des Moines took
part in a bundling of carbon credit from our city with
carbon credits from cities in Washington, Ohio, and
Virginia. Through a grant from the U.S. Forest Service,
Trees Forever is working on taking that model and
scaling it down even farther so that a small community
can contribute its carbon credits to a bundle, which can
be sold to a local or national buyer. Mark's been incred-
ibly generous with his time; he's always had my back
and it's really nice to have people like that in your life.
In January 2022, the Des Moines Business Record named Leslie a member of the 2022 Class of "Forty Under 40" for her
career achievements including rapidly expanding the City of Des Moines' commitment to tree planting in addition to
myriad volunteer and community betterment activities. She received her award from Jason Swanson, Vice President at
Business Publications Corporation (left), and Dave Ernst, Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships, University of Iowa.
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