Lea lives in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts and is the author of the chapbook, All of Me (Booksmyth Press, 2008), a collection of poems. She is a poet, writer, teacher, and community organizer. Lea is also the editor and publisher of Oscillation: Poetry in Motion, founder of the Collected Poets Series, former poetry editor of the Equinox, and editorial assistant for the Marlboro Review.

She attended New England College's MFA program, facilitated stroke survivors' writing workshops, and managed her daughter's modeling career.

Her poems, "All of Me," and "Hallelujah," have been nominated for the 2009 Pushcart Prize. She was a finalist for the Pavel Strut fellowship in Prague. In addition, she won fellowships with Philanthropic Education Organization (2008), American Association of University Women (2007), and Yellow Fox Foundation (2006). 

Lea has been published in many journals including American Poetry Journal, Boiling River, The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Diner, The Equinox, Poetry Northwest, The Recorder, Slipstream, Survivor's Review, Sweet: A Literary Confection, and Tattoosday.

Works in Progress: a provocative manuscript focusing on her experiences as a stroke survivor, the Appalachian Project - a literary book-length ballad on rural, impoverished Appalachian women, and the Domestic Darling - an online vintage store.