Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, she graduated from Goucher College in Towson, Maryland in 1927 having double-majored in English and economics.

[1] In 1931, Koller married New York advertising executive Joseph Leopold and became a homemaker, raising the couple's two children, Robert (1934-2004) and John.

While her sons were in the Weston, Connecticut public schools, Alice Leopold organized a hot lunch program for the students and became the president of the local Parent Teacher Association.

In November 1953 Leopold resigned to be director of the United States Women's Bureau, first as a recess appointment by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and then confirmed by the Senate in January 1954.

Eisenhower probably replaced the previous director, Frieda S. Miller, in an effort to mute Women's Bureau opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment.