After graduating from Georgetown University in 1998 with a degree in Linguistics, Leah Wells interned at the Center for Teaching Peace in Washington, DC, studying under the founder, Colman McCarthy. There she was exposed to teaching peacemaking in classrooms in public schools as well as juvenile detention facilities. Upon moving to Ventura County in May 1999, Ms. Wells continued pursuing her interest in promoting nonviolence curriculum in high schools. In the summer of 2000, she interned for the Fellowship of Reconciliation during the People's Campaign for Nonviolence in Washington, DC.

From 1999-2003, Ms. Wells taught classes on peacemaking and nonviolence in three Ventura County high schools and was recognized in Who's Who Among America's Teachers in 2002. These semester-long course, students covered issues of personal conflict including conflict transformation skills, tolerance, diversity, and facilitation and consensus process as well as local, national and international conflicts. Her students participated in a letter-writing program with Iraqi students prior to the 2003 Iraqi invasion and were involved in service learning and community projects.   

From 2001-2003 Ms. Wells served as the Peace Education Coordinator for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. While at NAPF Ms. Wells wrote a curriculum to be used in coordination with the Solutions to Violence course from the Center for Teaching Peace. This curriculum includes lesson plans, articles and other group activities which she uses in her classroom, as well as resource materials for teachers and students and is available through peaceed.org. She also facilitated nonviolence trainings for student activist and community groups and spoken before audiences of high school and university students as well as international organizations. In June 2003, Ms. Wells presented a paper on peace education at the UNESCO conference in Finland.

Ms. Wells has also worked with Nobel Peace Prize-nominated group Voices in the Wilderness to educate students about the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, having visited Iraq three times since 2001. She has also been active with United Farm Workers struggle to gain contracts and ensure fair labor practices, and was named by the activist band Audioslave as their Freedom Fighter of the Month in 2002 . Her writing has been published in the Los Angeles Times, the International Journal of Humanities and Peace, the Ventura County Star, the Jordan Times, Common Dreams and the Santa Barbara News Press.  Ms. Wells serves on the board of Interalianza, a reforestation and educational organization working in Guatemala, and enjoys running, hiking and traveling in her free time.