Today we’d like to introduce you to Leandra West.
Leandra, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as the youngest of 5. My career originally started in the fashion world when I obtained my Associates Degree in Fashion Merchandising from Johnson & Wales University! Although I loved working in retail, I always felt like something was missing and I went on the search to find the missing piece at East Carolina University! It was there that I found my love of planning parties for my friends and organizations! So I switched my major from interior design to hospitality management and graduated a few years later with my Bachelors’s Degree and my eyes set on working at the famous Fontainebleu Hotel & Resort in Miami Beach.
While working at the hotel, I started my first event business as a day-of wedding coordinator, that quickly morphed into a full event planning small business! Business was doing well but my personal life was becoming unhinged. So I made a hard decision to push my business to the side and accept a new job on the west coast of Florida, which resulted in me meeting my husband, who moved us to Atlanta 3 years ago!
Planning our wedding reignited my passion to start my event planning business, but with a twist! So I recruited my childhood best friend Erica Scott (who also coordinated my wedding) and Under The Sun LLC was formed September of 2018!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I would love to say that everything has been smooth sailing, but my struggles have molded me into the person I am proud to be today!
I’ve been told that my dream was only good as a side hustle and that a corporate job is where the money was and to focus on that. For a very long time, I believed that until I lost my corporate sales job this October and just two weeks later, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. I was faced with the decision of finding another corporate job or living out my passion. It was at that very moment that I really understood that tomorrow is not promised and my healthy years are limited, I would be crazy not to live out my OWN dreams and passions, so I chose me and Under The Sun!
The best advice I can give is to choose you, not just some of time but all of the time because at the end of the day you are the only consistent person in your life so you have to be happy with you! Once you do that, surround yourself with people who are just as driven as you and hold each other accountable for your dreams and goals!
What should we know about Under The Sun? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Under The Sun provides premium Sugar Rush Candy Stations that make life sweeter one event at a time! Our claim to fame is taking the boring and ordinary candy bar stations and turning them into an extraordinary works of art that tell a story! We combine candies with handcrafted confections, and custom decor to create a delicious and eye-catching Sugar Rush Station! Along with our Sugar Rush Candy Stations, we also provide wedding/party day of coordination and recently added decor set-up for displays and photoshoots to our resume.
We are proud to assist in making our clients dream events a reality! We have been able to create some fantastic and joyous memories that our clients will hold with them for a lifetime and to be a part of that is priceless! We at Under The Sun view every event as our own and a new canvas to create something beautiful.
What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership, in your industry or generally?
I believe some of the biggest barriers we face in female leadership in general is each other. We have been taught to compete with each other more than seeing the value in celebrating and uplifting each other. We are so afraid of someone being more successful than us that we hold back information that can help someone else advance. As my mother used to tell me, “what is for you, is for you and nothing can change that”, which is why I share my experiences and my knowledge when I can to help the next person rise up even greater!
Contact Info:
- Address: Metro Atlanta Area
- Phone: 404-500-9330
- Email: info@sunnyevents.net
- Instagram: underthesunllc
- Facebook: UTSeventsandtreats
Image Credit:
Leandra West and Erica Scott
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