01:30
Leilani Brown Highlight
You don’t have to have everything figured out end-to-end. Give yourself some room for experimentation, failure, and risk-taking. There are a lot of different ways to have a good life.
About Leilani
- As a child, I would go to my mother’s night classes with her, which instilled in me at a young age the knowledge that my family saw college as a means of upward mobility.
- Right after college, my intention was to go to law school for no other reason than the fact that my mother wanted me to—but I didn’t get into any of the law schools I applied to.
- When I graduated from college, I started working for an insurance company as a production underwriter selling insurance, which really put my relationship management and communication skills to work.
- Outside of work, everything I was doing was related to education or workforce development—I realized I was really passionate about inspiring and guiding young people.
- I wrote a book called “From Campus to Cubicle” to help give counsel to young people who had missteps after entering the workforce after college.
- My experience and interests in education led to a job offer from K12, where I’ve been able to leverage passions as well as my communication, strategy, and relationship management skills.
- I’m now a senior vice president at K12, where I get to drive strategic partnerships that will ultimately help more young people have access to educational and workforce opportunities.
- In addition, I often speak at events and panels on a range of topics—in 2016, I was recognized as a Woman of Power and Influence by the National Organization of Women (NOW).
