Lesa Francis, a 34-year-old from Ajax, Ontario, has been writing grants for others since 2005 and she can’t picture herself doing anything else. She helps businesses, poets, musicians, and organizations get much-needed funds from governments or foundations with her company Ujamaa Grant Writing Services. Read more...

Excerpt from: Career Choices, February 2011 Granting Artistic Excelence: Who Writes Successful Proposals by David Silverberg
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I can’t recommend her highly enough. She’s wonderful to work with. A beautiful balance of casual connection and dedicated discipline to the task of getting the proposal done and done well. Both personally as an artist, and in my position as a board member of the Writers’ Circle of Durham Region, I have had nothing but extremely positive experiences with Lesa.

Susan Lynn Reynolds
Past President
Writers' Circle Durham Region
wcdr.ca

In order to continue organizing shows there is a level of financial support necessary. I have reached out to the government on numerous occasions by way of artistic grants. I was unsuccessful on my own, but with the help of Lesa Francis, over the past year and a half I have been awarded two grants. I have been so please with my results that I have recommended Lesa to friends and colleagues.

Al St. Louis
Poet & Event organizer
When Words Are Spoken
www.whenwordsarespoken.com

Lesa is a committed and dedicated individual who has assisted me a great deal in my professional spoken word career. She prepared my grant proposals for both the Word of Mouth (Ontario Arts Council) and Spoken Word (Canadian Council for the Arts) and due to her hard work, I was awarded the grants to work on my first professional full length spoken word album. As such, I have and will recommend Empress Lesa to many more spoken word artists and arts organization for her expertise in grant writing.

Bro Kofi Sankofa
Community Developer
www.sankofaincipher.com

Based on her track record, we would gladly recommend Lesa to other community and non-profit organizations that would benefit from her skills and experience.

Louis March
Communications Officer
African Canadian Heritage Association
www.achaonline.org

When I needed a professional to prepare my Factor grant proposal, I didn’t hesitate to seek the assistance of Lesa Francis. She’s a consummate professional known for her commitment and dedication to each individual project she undertakes. I was so pleased with Lesa’s proficient writing and organizing abilities that I’ve recommended her to several of my colleagues and friends.

Tony Anthony
Singer/Songwriter
www.myspace.com/tonyanthonymusic