We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Constance Leyland and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Constance, maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your business?
My business was born because of my experiences both in the academic world. I taught K-12 all the way to a doctoral program. What I have noticed is that any institutions that I have worked for, all create their curriculum around theory a lot. Occasionally we look at case studies, etc. but we don’t ever teach our students the soft skills they need to stay employable and create that transferable skills. I created Level Up Academy to bridge that gap. I am quite familiar with most theories in business and I am also familiar with how the corporate world works in terms of navigating politics, cross-cultural communications, managing diversity, etc. I want to create a course that intertwines these two so my students can develop professionally and move up in their careers or be an entrepreneur themselves.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
What sets me apart from others is my ability to connect the gap between education and the corporate world as I have over 25 years of experience managing teams in sales, banking, real estate, insurance, and academia and have over 10 years of experience teaching in higher education and 3.5 years in K-12. I also have an insatiable passion for learning I am going to be graduating with my 2nd master’s in science majoring in cybersecurity on May 20th of 2023. I created my team purposefully as a global team as I want to serve the world and inspire the world to level them up. I am proud to say that in less than a year, I managed to have my company featured in Mentor’s collective, Top 10 Podcast to Listen to from L.A. Weekly, #121 on Apple Podcast for courses, and Featured in Feedspot for Higher Ed Podcast. I leverage my podcast to all of the entrepreneurs out there as part of giving back to my community where we talk about 3-5 added value conversations that have actionable items that my listeners can use for their daily lives. I learned to stay humble and grounded. I learn to be flexible more than ever, and I learn to listen and be patient.I want to world to know that my brand is all about inspiring the world to level them up.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If they were to visit San Diego, I would take them to top of the Hyatt in Downtown San Diego for a night out. Then drive them north to Temecula and do a cave wine-tasting tour. After that, we would hang out at the bay and rent a boat and enjoy San Diego’s beautiful view. Then I can take them to the zoo and safari park as we are famous and known for. Then back to Downtown and enjoy walking at the museums in Balboa Park, then onto the Old Town tour, then do the amphibian tour, watch the sunset from Coronado and take the boat, and shop and eat there. Then to relax, I would take them to the spa and shop in La Jolla.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to dedicate my success to my husband who keeps supporting me with my crazy ideas and endeavor. My parents to who believe in my pursuit of education. To all my team members throughout my career. My doctoral tribe Dr. Lauren VanTalia and Dr. Arcadia Cruz was there with me throughout our program. My new teammates now Dr. Peter Dufresne, Jason Hurley, and Ishani Behl. My new found friends who supports my mission in life, which is to inspire the world. Michele Juliano, Mike Ashabraner, Syya Yasotornrat, Marikit, and Raquel Flores.

Website: www.luabydocleyland.com

Instagram: @levelupybydocleyland

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cjleyland/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LUAbydocleyland

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LUAbydocleyland/featured

Other: https://linktr.ee/luabydocleyland?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=bf270422-3918-440b-ac44-00ad02aa91e7

Image Credits
I have the rights to all of these images

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