Meet Riva 

K. Riva Levinson is a globally recognized political and business strategist. As a lobbyist for over four decades, she has navigated the corridors of power—from the legendary firm of Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly in the mid-1980s to the founding of her own consultancy, KRL International. People often describe Riva’s career as having a “Forrest Gump-like” ability to find herself in the middle of historical events, and a knack for making the impossible possible.

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Riva holds degrees from Tufts and Georgetown Universities and an honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Ghana. Her first book Choosing the Hero chronicles her work advising Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first democratically elected woman president, from exile, through war, democratic elections, and the rebuilding of a nation.The book was hailed as a “riveting geopolitical thriller” and is being republished for its tenth anniversary in 2026. Misadventures on K-Street is the prequel to that journey.

 

Her work has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Washington Post, and NPR’s All Things Considered.