Lea’s story.
Lea Nepomuceno has spent the last decade proving that young people don’t have to wait to lead.
She began her advocacy journey at just 13 years old, when she founded Youth for Juvenile Justice Reform, a youth-led organization challenging the stigma surrounding incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. What started as a small passion project grew into a national storytelling effort: Lea interviewed nearly 200 incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, and organized forums on issues like gun violence, school discipline, and juvenile justice. This early work taught her that policy isn’t abstract. It’s personal.
At 16, Lea was elected student board member for the San Diego Unified School District, representing roughly 100,000 students across more than 200 schools. From the board dais, she championed policies on sex trafficking prevention, gun violence, mental health support, and climate resilience. She testified in Sacramento, drafted resolutions, and learned how to move systems that were not built with young people in mind.
At 17, Lea launched Beauty Beyond Bars, the first initiative of its kind devoted to addressing the correctional hygiene crisis. Rooted in dignity, Beauty Beyond Bars distributes essential beauty and hygiene products to jails, prisons, and detention centers nationwide, while advancing legislation to humanize living conditions behind bars. Their work has contributed to landmark state policy, most notably California’s Culturally Competent Hair Care Act, signed into law in 2024, and is now expanding nationally.
Outside of Beauty Beyond Bars, Lea has served as a policy and communications advisor to leading justice organizations. She has supported Brady United, Vera Institute of Justice, and statewide coalitions through strategic research and narrative development — bridging the gap between grassroots experiences and systemic change.
Most recently, Lea served as the founding Chief Growth Officer at Code Four, a Y Combinator–backed public safety technology startup. There, she shaped go-to-market strategy, partnership development, and national outreach for cutting-edge computer vision technology solving inefficiencies in the criminal justice system.
Today, Lea continues to build at the intersection of justice, beauty, and innovation. Whether crafting policy, launching youth-led initiatives, advising national organizations, or reimagining how products reach people behind bars, her mission remains the same: