Leslie Lindo

Background

About Leslie Lindo

Activism began in my formative years - taking on environmental issues in elementary school and human rights issues in high school. I started paying attention to economic disparities along racial lines, inspired by my father’s work to build economic and political power in Black communities across the U.S. through shared ownership models. These early influences have led to two decades of a career embedded within environmental, social, and economic justice movements. My strategic mind manifests as a producer, puzzler, and program designer. I'm most activated building new programs and service products, and seeing the big picture from sparks of ideas. I found my sweet spot when I started an incubator and accelerator program to activate vacant spaces with community-determined development projects and businesses, where I had the opportunity to explore innovative investment structures with prospective funders.At Common Future (formerly BALLE), I focused on identifying and advancing solutions to address the wealth disparities in economically marginalized communities. I brought together diverse stakeholders around decolonizing access to capital, racial equity and impact investing, equitable financing tools, democratic governance of financial structures, integrated entrepreneurial ecosystems, and shared ownership of land, housing, and businesses. Building on the passion and experience from my last venture through my work at Common Future, I now serve as Managing Director of the Olamina Fund at Candide Group, a loan fund designed to address the lack of access to capital for communities that have faced historic extraction and exclusion from the economy. We have prioritized supporting Native American communities and organizations in the Deep South and Rural America. In 2023, I was proud to lead our team to full allocation of our $40M phase one goal, with 100% of our capital invested into BIPOC- and women-led organizations.