Since 2002, Leah Kotkes has been developing a career and respected name as a columnist and features writer, and more recently as a features editor and writing mentor in the Jewish world while being a wife, mother and homemaker.

Born in London, England in 1963, Leah— who formerly went by her English name Vanessa—embarked on a career as a fashion publicist at the age of eighteen and associated with some of today’s high profile names in the fashion and media world. In 1990, following her dream to be a writer she accepted a newsroom position at Independent Television News (ITN).

Despite her speedy climb up the career ladder without a university education, Leah eventually became disenchanted with London life. Spiritually perplexed and certain there was more to life than her career, she became a seeker of the Truth, traveling to a number of foreign lands.

The Map Seeker: One Woman’s Quest, her first book, is the compelling, poignant story of her search for a more meaningful, balanced life with personal peace of mind. Life’s ordeals, triumphs and joys are threads in the fabric of the author’s own evolution.

Today, Leah Kotkes’s name as a woman’s writer is beloved among her readers in Jewish homes in English-speaking communities in the world. She moved to Jerusalem in 1993, where she lives today with her husband and their four children.