Leslie Plato Smith

I attribute my success to a strong foundation built on family values and a deep belief in equity and fairness, particularly the equality of women, which was instilled in me from an early age by my parents and extended family. I was also shaped by a pivotal and life-altering experience as a graduate student, when I survived a violent attack by a serial predator; through presence of mind, communication, and intuition, I was able to escape, and with the support of others and law enforcement—especially two women detectives in New Orleans—the case was successfully prosecuted, resulting in his conviction and life sentence. That experience reinforced my commitment to resilience, truth, and intuition, and it continues to guide how I move through the world, reminding me that living authentically, standing up for what is right, and trusting one’s inner voice are essential to both personal strength and meaningful impact.

The best career advice I ever received came from my mom, and it's two stunning pieces of advice. One is, don't ever be afraid of making mistakes. That's what erasers are for. And number two is always draw off the edge of the paper. I'm telling you, that changes a life when your mom tells you to do all that stuff. I put it in all my artist statements, and I tell people. I was at a studio yesterday and I told that story because I think too many times moms are scared and they try to pass that fear on to their kids, so it's important to not be afraid and to pursue your dreams.

I would give advice to really not be conservative. Really put your heart in it. Don't be afraid to share who you are. Don't hide. Throw everything that you are and your values into your work. Women need to be powerful. I think it's important to remember our history. When the Choctaw first met the Europeans in 1535, the Europeans said, where are your women? The Choctaw had brought their women to the center for negotiations because they thought the Europeans were missing half of their world when they didn't bring their women. We need to stand in that truth, that we are part of everything. We are there. Bring yourself forward, put your heart in it, and don't hide who you are.

Right now, I'm trying to get my World of We project funded, which would create large-scale sculptures inspired by the Olmec culture addressing the homicides happening to Indigenous women and men. But there's also something really overwhelming to me right now. I taught at City College of San Francisco for 30 years, and we always used to outreach to all adults, but the current leadership for about a decade has been closing the door. We've lost almost half of our enrollment, and they're proposing to close the downtown center at 4th and Mission in San Francisco. The downtown sector has 40% of the small businesses, 40% of the population, and produces 60% of the income, so that's where you need to provide an open door. It was a global campus where people from around the world went when they arrived in the United States. We have a campus that is mainly Asian, a mission campus that is mainly Latino, but we've been closing campuses. We closed our campus in the southeast sector which is the African American community, we closed the LGBTQ community campus, we closed our art campus, we closed our older adult program, and we closed our Civic Center campus which is now empty and has become the fentanyl capital of San Francisco. The downtown campus offered almost everything for free with no fees. They provided ESL, and when you got to about Level 3 you could start taking business classes, at Level 4 you could start taking computer classes. They had a culinary program, all free in downtown San Francisco. And then at night you could take the beginning of your credit program to go for your degree. They've closed all of that. They ended up having the campus open from 8 to 3 and lost all of the ability for the working poor to access higher education. I've been spending so much of my time fighting to keep educational opportunity or lifelong learning, because life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness means life, liberty, and lifelong learning. It's fundamental to our democracy, it's fundamental to equity, it's fundamental to creating a society that is just, and it also teaches everybody in the same room, that's how we understand each other. I have been putting together what I think are legal arguments and now I'm looking for a lawyer to help keep that door open.

My middle name is Plato, P-L-A-T-O. It comes from my grandfather who was born on the Choctaw Reservation, so I'm an enrolled and voting member of the Choctaw Nation. I do hold truth, justice, and equity as my deep values. I shared that with someone recently and they asked me about humor, so I think I'm going to add humor to it, because I think being able to laugh is fundamentally important to getting a good perspective and balance in what we're doing when we're fighting.