Graphic Design, Photography, & Video Production

ABOUT ME

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Leigh Rawls (she/her) is the graphic designer, photographer, and video production specialist for USAID's Bureau for Planning, Learning and Resource Management (PLR). She has been in this position since May 2019 and is the longest currently serving member of the Comms team. If you’d like to see some of her work, check out the design of the 2023 USAID Policy Framework.

 

Prior to USAID, Leigh worked for the U.S. Department of State (DoS) in the Bureau for International Information Programs (IIP) for seven years, having started as an intern in 2012 (during her final semester at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she graduated cum laude with a BA in Film Production and a minor in Business). While at DoS, she did everything from live television production, digital video production, photography, webinars, tech support, graphic design, event design, and more! Her favorite claim-to-fame is that actor Leonardo DiCaprio & Secretary of State John Kerry both personally tweeted out a graphic she designed for the 2016 #OurOceans Campaign. Another favorite moment was having five former Secretaries of State interact with, and give speeches in front of, her design work as part of the grand opening ceremony of the U.S. Diplomacy Center.

 

Outside of work, Leigh is very active in the DC/MD/VA theater scene. She has performed in 13 different plays and musicals in the region; designed sets, props, and costumes for more productions than she can count; and has directed two plays and one musical. She has received multiple nominations and awards for her work, but she’s most proud of her Washington Area Theatre Community Honors (WATCH Awards) for “Best Play” and “Best Director of a Play” for her 2020 production of Perfect Arrangement, a play centering around the real-life persecution of the LGBTQ+ community in 1950 at the U.S. Department of State, also known as “The Lavender Scare”.

 

Leigh originally hails from Montgomery, Alabama, but has lived in NW Washington, DC since 2012, accompanied by her grumpy old Himalayan cat, Rupert.