Leeanna M

Alhamduilah , My life experience , I got the privilege to come from a life where my death was assured to be early. I never thought I would be alive past 16 and my life was hard and at times still is but the way I have seen miracles . Some people would say it's my resilience and habit of beating the odds but it's my heart , it's my gratitude . My determination and belief that anything can be possible gives me an unshakable drive to succeed at what I intend to do. Is because Allah has shown me over and over a compassion I can’t describe . Just when you are at the break and you have nothing or no one and you think you’ve failed. Miracles and I can’t be more grateful . If I can experience that then surely I can make sure I don't waste the blessings that have been given to me and show my appreciation in the only way I know how and that’s making sure that I teach and pay forward what I’ve learned. Miracles are an indescribable hope .

I also have to attribute my success to all of my teachers, mentors , nurses, and strangers who at the exact right time pulled my life in just the right direction and more than anything my daughter. My daughter was a catalyst and an understanding and focus that made me see exactly where and how all of my heart and passion's purpose was for.

Wellness and healing and creating a better world was for her so she could be inspired, she could be safe and she would trust her instincts and her heart and never settle . The world cruelly humbles and breaks pretty brown girls too often . I want her to thrive and I want her to grow up in a world and society where she sees someone who looks like her and she’s thriving too, she’s happy , she’s loved and she loves. She gets to exist simply because she can , she gets to live not survive and she doesn’t need permission too. Most of all she gets to see that pretty brown girls with soft hearts get soft lives too. That she too can just breathe. I succeed because failure isn’t an option and I refuse to believe that wellness and the safety that comes with it isn’t attainable . I refuse ! 

Honestly it’s probably the worst advice actually that was my best career advice.

I was told that I needed to narrow my focus and pick just one thing. Because that’s “how you do things.”

As someone who is deeply multifaceted with ADHD (let’s all laugh out loud real quick) that advice never fit. My mind’s baseline is big picture. I run circles around complexity. Focusing on only one thing might work for most people, but for me, it feels like a prison in my mind. I didn’t need to give up half of what I loved, settle, or force myself to choose a single strength and make it great. What I actually needed was permission and strategy to take all the things I’m great at and intentionally focus them into a system that works together to create one remarkable something. The advice shouldn’t have been, “You’re good at a lot ,pick one.”

It should have been, “You’re good at many things so let’s figure out how to combine them so they work together toward one purpose.”

Trust your instinct. Know who you are, where you want to go, and exactly what you will and will not do.

There will be enough people trying to humble you to last lifetimes. Don’t you dare humble yourself.

The most important part is the first one, because you will doubt yourself. You will make mistakes, and you will get wins that don’t feel real. The higher you go, the stronger the imposter syndrome becomes. That first advice is your compass. It is your foundation and whenever you start flying, it will ground you.

One of the biggest challenges in my field right now is that wellness and social impact are often treated as surface-level initiatives rather than essential infrastructure. Too many systems focus on performance, outputs, or optics, while ignoring burnout, cultural harm, and inequitable access to care especially for refugees, women, and communities of color. At the same time, this challenge presents a major opportunity. There is growing recognition that self-care is not separate from health equity, and that sustainable systems require people-centered design. Organizations are beginning to understand that you cannot build long-term impact without addressing mental health, cultural competency, and dignity as core strategies not add-ons.

Honestly, I just don’t want to miss the mark or the purpose Allah has for me. I want to be the best mother, wife, and Muslim that I can be and to leave the world a better place than I entered it.

That’s my bottom line, and I don’t compromise on it. My integrity and who I am are deeply woven into every part of my work and my personal life.