April Weygand
April Weygand is a professional speaker, author, and advocate for purposeful leadership and intentional living based in Saratoga Springs. After selling her cleaning company of 26 years, she transitioned into full-time public speaking, where she now delivers keynote and conference presentations focused on leadership with heart, employee engagement, and values-based business practices. Drawing from decades of entrepreneurial experience, April teaches leaders how to build workplaces where employees feel seen, supported, and valued—emphasizing that strong company culture begins with authentic communication and genuine care.
Before stepping onto the stage, April founded and led April Fresh Cleaning, Inc., growing it into a respected janitorial company serving professional, medical, and industrial offices. Her leadership philosophy was shaped by hands-on experience: she learned that retention is not about small pay increases but about understanding people as individuals. A graduate of SUNY Geneseo with a B.S. in Education and Psychology, she began her career in teaching—an influence she credits for shaping her dynamic, relatable speaking style and her ability to translate real-world lessons into practical strategies for business owners.
As an author, April published her memoir, Trail Gimp: Self Discovery and Empowerment on the Appalachian Trail, chronicling both her failed 1996 attempt and successful 1998 thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Through storytelling rooted in resilience, self-discovery, and perseverance, she inspires audiences to embrace challenges and lead with authenticity. Whether on stage, on the trail, or in the boardroom, April’s mission remains the same: to help individuals and organizations live and lead with purpose, positivity, and truth.
• SUNY Geneseo - BS
• Wilton Kiwanis Club
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to never giving up. There's always a way, and sometimes it's not clear, and sometimes you need to do a little searching for it, but there's always a way through. I find it funny - when I was a kid, I used to love obstacle courses, and I still love obstacles. Maybe it's because when you start, you can't see the end of the obstacle course. You have to go through all these obstacles just to get to the end. Sometimes they're fun, and sometimes they're really hard, and sometimes you think you're not gonna be able to make it through. You just have to push yourself, and before you know it, you're at the end of the obstacle course, and you did it - you did all of those things that you needed to do. Maybe that's how I look at things. Life is an obstacle course.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to be myself - to be authentic. You can't help somebody if you're not yourself to begin with. You can learn how to speak differently and more articulate, you can learn skills, but being your authentic self, that's what you need to do.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice would be to figure out what you're really good at and be able to share that. That took me a long time, and I think it takes a lot of people a long time, because you don't necessarily know what your expertise is. It took me a long time to understand that my expertise was really caring about my staff and running a company that they actually wanted to work for. You've got to create a company where they actually want to stay and work, and it's different for every single employee. You also need the confidence to go after those opportunities.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
There's lots of opportunities out there. The challenge is trying to find them. A lot of it is our own self-confidence - it's very easy to think, I'm not qualified to talk about that, or I can't charge that much money, nobody's gonna pay that much for my expertise. But I'm finding out that companies will pay for your expertise, and they do want women's point of view. It used to be a good old boys club of just hiring men as speakers. Women are on the rise, and I'm sure there's more than 50% women in the world. Companies do want women to talk about their experiences and to lead them through exercises because they need the women's point of view. You just need the confidence to go after those opportunities.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The first value is truth. You need to know your truth, you need to speak your truth, and you have to accept your truth. Sometimes people have a hard time admitting that, or even speaking it. I'll give you an example in my life - one of my goals is I really want to lose weight, but I think about it. I'm not exercising, and I'm not eating right, and I'm never going to lose that weight unless I do something about it. So I just started with the exercising and the walking and the eating properly, so I can start that goal of losing weight. You have to know and speak your truth first.