Leslie Ivie is an attorney at Restoration Law Center. Restoration Law Center is a private law practice that guides individuals and nonprofits over obstacles by providing mobile criminal defense, nonprofit formation legal services, and training resources. Ms. Ivie works with REDF’s LA:Rise program, and LA Conservation Corps to provide legal services to people who may be at risk of homelessness, on the verge of employment, and/or newly returning home from a period of incarceration.
Ms. Ivie has served the community since 1999 helping nonprofit organizations such as the Liberty Hill Foundation, National Immigration Law Center, Japanese American National Museum, and Inner-City Arts achieve their missions.
She has also served as a trial attorney with the Law Offices of Los Angeles County Public Defender; a volunteer with the ACLU of Southern California Reentry Initiative (ABC^2) and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, South Los Angeles Community Economic Development Unit; and as a USC Board Fellow with the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy. Ms. Ivie graduated from the Harvard-Westlake School, received her A.B. from Smith College, was a Riordan MBA Fellow at UCLA Anderson School of Management, and earned her J.D. from Chapman University Fowler School of Law.
She learned the values of dignity, justice, and freedom from her mother who was a civil rights lawyer; her father who also grew up in Los Angeles, earned a doctorate in education to improve educational opportunities for low-income communities; and from the legacy of her grandfather Dr. Charles R. Drew a surgeon and medical researcher who improved blood preservation processes and fought against racial discrimination.
Volunteers
Volunteer Dr. Desmonette Hazly; MA, MSW, Ph.D.
Dr. Hazly has been a life-long resident of South Los Angeles and is very dedicated to improving her community. Recognizing that education is the key to success, Dr. Hazly holds multiple graduate degrees including a Ph.D. in International Politics and Policy.
She uses her many talents to address issues in health care, education, community development and legal advocacy locally and globally. At the core of Dr. Hazly’s achievements is her ability to create innovative collaborations across communities and involve all stakeholders in unique problem-solving methods to better serve those in need.
A true renaissance woman, Dr. Hazly has many interests and hobbies that include travel, culinary arts, dance, ying, sur ng and cross-country motorcycling.
Volunteer Marie Smith’s ambitious entrepreneurial spirit has led her to be a founding contributor in her 20 year career to nearly 50 media, tech and wellness companies and projects which have contributed to over $100 million in transactions. After bringing her talents to work at Warner Brothers in their Consumer Products division, Marie Smith began developing her skills in the areas of advertising, sales, dynamic and automated operations, and marketing, working with companies such as Computer Associates, Electronic Arts, Viewpoint Datalabs, Digital Domain, Saatchi & Saatchi and the Nobel Foundation.
Additionally, through various ad agencies, Marie has worked with the following companies over the last 10 years: United Healthcare, Bausch and Lomb, Mercedes Benz, Oprah Store, Lindsay Phillips, Valley Crest, Wal-Mart, Macys, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna. Also, Marie has managed outside program, product and services development with both Twitter and Microstrategy. She also prototyped early social media advertising with Facebook and Rakuten.
Marie has continued her educational goals over the last 15 years by attending summer and online graduate programs with Harvard Program on Negotiation and Stanford Center for Professional Development. She is currently pursuing a JD and PhD in legal informatics from Stanford University (currently on extended hiatus).
Lastly, Marie has been a speaker/presenter, lectured at and produced curriculum for over 10,000 elementary, middle, high school, college students and workers online and in-person about coding, career development, corporate data analysis and technology development with Harvard Innovation Lab, the University of Southern California, University of California Berkeley, Los Angeles Trade Tech College, California State University Dominguez Hills, conferences and corporations throughout the United States and Europe.