Leila Steinberg

Leila Steinberg (born December 18, 1961) is an American manager, business woman, educator, writer, poet, and founder of AIM4TheHeART, a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to helping at-risk youth find their voice using an emotional literacy curriculum and writing workshops. She is best known as the artist mentor and first manager for superstar rapper, Tupac Shakur who came to her writing workshop, The Microphone Sessions in the Oakland Bay area. Today Leila manages the rapper Earl Sweatshirt, formerly of Odd Future. In the 2017 Tupac biopic "All Eyez On Me" the role of Leila will be played by actress Lauren Cohan.

Steinberg was born in Los Angeles, California. Her mother was an activist of Mexican and Turkish descent and her father was a criminal defense lawyer of Polish-Jewish descent. During the late 1980s Steinberg was a backup dancer and singer touring with musicians O.J Ekemode & The Nigerian Allstars. She also shared the stage with Santana, Bo Diddley, The Neville Brothers, The Spinners, Burning Spear and Jimmy Cliff. As a veteran music industry executive she served as a marketer with Atlantic Records, Sony, Def Jam, Tommy Boy, Interscope, and Relativity. While living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Steinberg learned about a recording artist named 2Pac. After a meeting in spring 1988, she opened her home, where he read and wrote under her encouragement. The Microphone Sessions (TMS) is a writing workshop started by Steinberg and Shakur that develops the spoken word, poetry, musical, hip-hop, pop and dance, jazz, rock n' roll singing, and dramatic performances. Weekly gatherings are held worldwide, led by Steinberg-trained artist-educators.

Leila co-teaches a class on Race and the Law at USC's Law School with Professor Jody Armour. For 25+ years she has taught her curriculum to a group of inmates at San Quentin, through the No More Tears' program. One of the greatest success stories has been that of Curtis "Wall Street" Carroll, known as the 'Oracle of San Quentin."