Francine LeFrak

Founder/Visionary Same Sky, Chair Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Leadership Board & Founder LeFrak Productions.

In 2008, Francine started Same Sky, an initiative that provides training, employment, and a stable income for HIV-positive women survivors of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. These women are taught to crochet beads into jewelry. Same Sky has sold these pieces of jewelry at Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys and Bergdorf Goodman, while creating a better living for numerous women. Francine’s social justice work has been honored with the UN Women For Peace Award, the Woman Who Cares Award, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. She is the Chair Emerita of the Women’s Leadership Board at the Harvard Kennedy School and also serves as CEO of the Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Foundation, which supports institutions of higher learning, hospitals, and cultural institutions. Follow Francine – Facebook InstagramLinkedin, or Twitter.