Join us on the Sports Philanthropy Podcast as host Roy Kessel sits down with Leslie Robinson, founder of Trance4mation Games. From a sports-filled childhood to a distinguished career in social work and psychoanalysis, Leslie reveals how her innovative “games for healing and connection” — including Keep It Real, Prison Reentry, Warrior Spirit, and Streets — are transforming the way people communicate and heal. She also introduces new projects like Call It Out, a student-led anti-bullying game, and a campus connection platform designed to combat Gen Z isolation, highlighting the power of dialogue to strengthen families, teams, and communities.
Leslie Robinson
Leslie Robinson is a psychotherapist, social worker, and innovator with more than three decades of experience working with underserved communities. Her career began in the South Bronx, where she directed arts and after-school programs, ran poetry workshops at Rikers Island, and consulted with the foster care system. She later supervised residences for homeless youth and worked extensively with veterans, incarcerated individuals, and families navigating trauma, building a reputation for her ability to create safe, supportive spaces for honest dialogue and healing.
In 2009, Leslie founded Trance4mation Games, a company dedicated to designing conversation-based tools that foster connection and transformation. Her first creation, Keep It Real, opened pathways for authentic communication among youth and families, and quickly expanded into specialized games like Warrior Spirit Mission Homefront for veterans, Prison Reentry for formerly incarcerated individuals, and Streets for gang intervention. These tools have been adopted by schools, nonprofits, veteran groups, and community organizations nationwide, empowering people to share their stories, build trust, and strengthen relationships.
Alongside her work as a game designer, Leslie is a sought-after facilitator, speaker, and trainer on topics such as diversity, inclusion, leadership, and resilience. She has spoken for the Department of Defense, appeared on national stages, and continues to innovate new tools addressing grief, loss, bullying, and campus isolation. Whether guiding veterans through reintegration or helping students find connection in a digital age, Leslie remains committed to her mission: using the power of structured conversation to heal individuals, families, and communities.
Trance4mation Games
Trance4mation Games is a mission-driven organization focused on fostering deeper human connection, healing, and communication through innovative, empathy-centered tools. Rather than relying on traditional therapy, the organization offers card games, dialogue decks, and structured “conversation experiences” designed to open space for honest reflection, active listening, and mutual understanding. Their work is rooted in the belief that every person has a story worth hearing, and every relationship can grow stronger when people feel seen, heard, and understood.
At the heart of Trance4mation’s approach are its signature game-based platforms, such as Keep It Real, Recharge Beyond the Bars, Streets: The Game, Warrior Spirit Mission Homefront, and In the Line of Duty. Each of these is tailored to specific communities — youth, formerly incarcerated individuals, gang-involved populations, veterans, law enforcement — to provide a safe and structured framework for difficult conversations. Through thoughtfully crafted questions and prompts, participants are encouraged to share experiences around identity, trauma, resilience, and transformation.
Beyond simply selling tools, Trane4mation Games also runs workshops, consultations, and training experiences to help teams, organizations, and institutions embed these practices into their cultures. Whether working with schools, nonprofits, reintegration programs, or agencies, the organization aims to change how people relate — to themselves and one another — and to transform isolated or strained communities into spaces of connection, empathy, and collective growth.
0:03 – Introduction of Leslie Robinson: Roy Kessel welcomes Leslie Robinson, founder of Trance4mation Games, to discuss her life, career, and innovative healing tools.
0:45 – Athletic family roots: Leslie shares how her mother’s athleticism and coaching shaped her early love of sports, from swimming and horseback riding to playground soccer.
2:08 – Breaking barriers in sport: She recalls pitching for softball, playing field hockey, and running in the first women’s race in Central Park in 1973.
3:56 – Choosing social work: Leslie explains why she pursued social work in college, preferring hands-on fieldwork over a traditional five-day desk routine.
5:14 – Career of service: She describes her decades of work with homeless youth, foster care, and veterans, including serving as a Department of Defense reintegration speaker.
7:17 – Gen Z challenges: Leslie highlights how 60–70% of college students feel isolated and how her team is creating a campus connection platform to combat loneliness.
10:32 – Creating “Keep It Real”: Her first game, now in over 1,000 colleges and hundreds of schools, breaks stigma and builds trust through structured conversations.
11:24 – Expanding to reentry and veterans: Leslie discusses her “Prison Reentry” and “Warrior Spirit Mission Homefront” games, designed for peer-to-peer healing in prisons and the military.
14:41 – Family healing and trauma: She explains how her virtual family healing game, used in 400 prisons, fosters gentle conversations that rebuild relationships.
22:13 – Tackling bullying: Leslie previews “Call It Out,” a student-led anti-bullying game aimed at middle and high schools to reduce cruelty and teen suicide.
