What if adversity isn’t the end of your story — but the launchpad?

On this powerful episode of Women Road Warriors, Shelley Johnson and Kathy Tuccaro sit down with Ilana Golan — trailblazer, tech executive, Ironman triathlete, and founder of one of the fastest-growing companies in America – Leap Academy.

Ilana made history as the first woman to become a commander in the F-16 Flight Simulator in Israel’s Air Force. She later became Intel’s youngest hire and rose through the ranks of Silicon Valley as a high-level tech executive. But her journey didn’t follow a straight line. After a devastating startup betrayal that left her at rock bottom, Ilana rebuilt — stronger, smarter, and unstoppable.

Today, she is the CEO and founder of Leap Academy, ranked in the top 7% of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., revolutionizing how we think about careers, education, and the future of work. She has interviewed icons like Richard Branson, Gary Vaynerchuk, and the president of Starbucks on her hit podcast and delivered keynotes on some of the world’s biggest stages.

This conversation dives into resilience, reinvention, leadership, and the courage to leap when life forces you to pivot. If you’ve ever felt stuck, blindsided, or unsure of your next move — this episode will show you what’s possible.

It’s not about avoiding adversity. It’s about outgrowing it.

🎧 Listen now and discover how to leap higher.

Schedule a Free Strategy Call and receive the Career30 here: https://calendly.com/d/cr2g-jpn-h25/leap-academy-complimentary-strategy-coaching-15min

https://www.leapacademy.com

https://www.leapacademy.com/training

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www.womenspowernetwork.net

· How to rebuild after business failure

· How women break glass ceilings in tech

· Turning adversity into success

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This is Women Road warriors with Shelly Johnson and Kathy Tucaro.

From the corporate office to the cab of a truck, they're here to inspire and empower women in all professions.

So gear down, sit back and enjoy.

Welcome.

We're an award winning show dedicated to empowering women in every profession through inspiring stories and expert insights.

No topics off limits on our show.

We power women on the road to success with expert and celebrity interviews and information you need.

I'm Shelley.

And I'm Kathy.

When life gets in our way and we wonder where to head, there's always a new direction.

And when adversity knocks, you don't have to answer the door.

Today's guest is a true force of nature, a trailblazer who's flown to incredible heights.

She was the first woman to become a commander in the F16 flight simulator in Israel's air force.

Alana Galan has shattered glass ceilings at intel as their youngest hire, scaled the heights of Silicon Valley as a tech executive, and then turned rock bottom adversity into unstoppable momentum.

Alana is now the CEO and founder of Leap Academy, which is in the top 7% of the fastest growing companies in America.

She's revolutionizing how we think about careers, education, and the future of work.

She's interviewed icons like Richard Branson, Gary Vaynerchuk, and the president of Starbucks on her hit podcast.

And she's delivered keynotes on some of the biggest stages in the world.

But Alana's story isn't just about accolades.

It's about resilience, reinvention, and courage.

From losing everything from a startup betrayal to building a global platform that empowers people to reclaim their future, she's proven again and again what true leadership really looks like.

And did I mention she's also an Ironman triathlete, a mountaineer, and an adventurer who embodies grit in every sense.

Alana is here to share not just her journey, but the lessons we can all use to leap higher.

Welcome, Alana.

We're so excited to have you on the show.

Oh, it's so great to be here, Shelly.

Can I hire you to always introduce me that way?

Sure.

Holy cow.

That's quite the introduction.

You are amazing.

Oh, my.

Alana, your life has been a whirlwind of both obstacles and opportunity.

Could you maybe give us a brief summary of how you got started and what you've done?

I know our listeners would love to learn more.

Yes, of course.

I mean, you nailed it.

I mean, I started because I grew up 5,000 miles away.

From California, on the other side of the ocean.

We had a military service that was actually mandatory, so.

But I think it was an incredible opportunity at age 18 to be basically thrown in the deep end and to try to swim.

And I still laugh that probably at age 20, I had more responsibility than I had at age 40.

And I think it was the best school that I could have asked for in hindsight.

So that's kind of how I started, I guess.

Shelly, what made you decide to join the Air Force?

And I was just kind of curious, how many women in Israel joined the Air Force?

I don't know what the percentages are compared to, like, the United States.

There weren't a lot.

I mean, the Air Force overall is huge.

And we do have various areas in the Air Force.

My specifically, it was insanely small.

I think we were nine girls basically doing this course on flight training, if you will.

And it was incredible because again, at that point, women were not allowed to become fighter pilots in the sense because they were really, really afraid of women being caught beyond enemy lines.

So the only option we really had is to go train kind of like Kelly McGillis, you know, in Top Gun.

So I essentially was the Kelly McGillis, if you will.

Shelley.

Oh, very cool.

Yeah, absolute.

She had a pretty exciting life in that character.

My goodness.

Now you actually can fly planes.

It's not just a simulator, correct?

Yes, you can fly planes, but we were not allowed to do, like, really specific things with them.

So at the end of the day, you really found yourself training more than anything.

And I think the interesting piece here, I was very determined to show that women can actually do this part as just as good as men.

And we were all standing on the shoulders of each other, I think, at that point.

And I did become the first woman to ever become a commander in my squad.

So I, you know, I. I pushed that ceiling a little bit further, but after me, there was, you know, like, we kind of kept standing on the shoulder of each other and eventually there was a, you know, a female pilot that was allowed.

And now it's.

It basically, women are allowed to become fighter pilots in Israel, which is a big deal.

Bravo.

And you were one of the monks that broke through that glass ceiling and made the way for women behind you.

That's so terr.

Yeah, but I was standing on shoulders of incredible women that broke it before me.

So I, you know, salute every single person that helped.

So, yeah.

Did you always want to be a pilot?

Oh, no, that was totally not in my future.

No, I was just like, you Know, I, I didn't even know anything about it.

My, my family is not from, you know, the military service.

I mean, they did their own share of it, but not much.

So, no, this wasn't in my car.

I mean, it just kind of stumbled upon it, I guess.

And it was incredible gift to learn how to.

Oh my God, so many lessons, I guess that I can learn from it, but they serve me until today.

Well, I would imagine fearless is one of the things that you'd probably learn.

You learn to be, to not be afraid of trying new things, for sure.

And I think the other thing is also because of that training hat that I found myself in.

You are training people that have 30 years more experience than you ever will.

And I think that creates incredible opportunity to learn how to have very crucial conversations, which is not something that taught in school.

And it's priceless for leadership.

So I think it actually gave me an incredible gift that I don't know if I would have acquired in any other way.

And this gave you an entry point because you fell in love with technology and then you went on to study electrical engineering and then of course you ended up working at intel and wow.

I mean, you just kind of went everywhere in a lot of different directions.

You know, just, just the, the words electrical engineering scares me.

So kudos to you.

See, they scare me too.

So don't worry.

I would have to hire an electrician to probably change IT outlet.

I just, you know, I have respect for electricity.

So.

Yeah, yeah, so, yeah, I studied basically IT engineering.

It was mainly computer engineering at that point.

But yeah, it was very, it was basically, again, I think we were eight women, 300 men, and you know, it's a very male dominant environment.

But, but I did get, because of my Air Force days, I did get an opportunity right.

In the first semester before I knew even how to code.

I actually got an opportunity in Intel.

I'm still pretty sure they took me just so that the other companies will not take me.

Like, I, I was really useless at that point, but I was the first or the youngest hire they ever had until then.

So it was a pretty big deal and I learned a ton from at least trying to be useful.

So that took you over the ocean to California, correct?

Yes.

Eventually I got into.

I started in Haifa and eventually I did move to California and, and it was incredible.

I started also in startups and my tech career has started to kind of take in shape and everything.

You did becoming a tech executive and then you ran into some real adversity.

What was it with a startup.

Could you tell us a little bit about that?

I mean, you had everything going and then all of a sudden, whammo, it just kind of blew up on you, didn't it?

You can say that again.

So, yeah.

So to give some context for the listeners, I did leap again, again, again from intel to startups and all the way in different roles in those startups.

And it's interesting, Shelly, because every single time I found myself stuck and I was like, you know, every time you get good at something, you get stuck at it because they see you in that box, right?

And, you know, and finally I got out of the engineering box into technical sales, into product management and marketing, and there's a reason why I'm telling the story.

And eventually I was vice president.

So I kind of felt like, oh my God, like I, I knocked all the, you know, the boxes of success as vice president and I was flying every single week.

It was like daunting.

And I was like, is this really what success looks like?

Like, I didn't see my kids for five years.

They were probably two and a newborn when I basically took that job.

And I missed the entire five years of their life.

And so when a friend of mine came to me, I was pre burned out by then.

And my, a friend that I knew for 20 years came to me and said, hey, let's start a startup together.

And I was like, oh my God, how did I miss that?

Like, if I'm already working so hard, why would I not do it for myself?

So the whole idea was fantastic.

I got really excited.

I worked around the clock on this new baby of ours.

And you know, I live in Silicon Valley, so the typical Silicon Valley thing that you do is once you think you have kind of what, you know, a vision of what this looks like and what we call minimum viable product, you actually go to investors.

So we went to investors and even that went really well because our founder story was so fantastic.

And within three weeks, there it was, there was a term sheet.

They were evaluating our little baby at $5 million.

And I remember looking at that term sheet, it was like, for $800,000.

And I remember closing my eyes and thinking, oh my God, how did I get so lucky?

And during the goodbye party, as my vice president, I told everybody about the startup.

I wanted to make sure they don't follow me or they don't think something is wrong with the company.

But also I was really proud of what we're creating.

And I told them about the money that we raised and everything was so incredible.

Within exactly 24 hours, my CO founder decided to take the money, throw me out of the business and I was left with nothing.

No job, no salary, no startup, no investment.

And you're right, Shelley, the worst part was my ego came crushing down in a way that I think it's hard to imagine because I think especially when you ticked a lot of boxes of success, your ego kind of gets in the way a little bit.

And suddenly it was like, how did I not see this coming?

How did I totally miss the boat on this and what do I do now?

And one of the interesting thing, I think Kathy and Shelley, I'm sure your listeners will resonate with this.

My identity was completely attached to my title, to the companies that I was with and suddenly I was a nobody and I did not know how to handle it.

And I think the hardest part was that as a driven person, I always knew what's next for me.

We talked about it, right?

Like everything was scripted, like I knew and I was leaping and everything was like incredible.

And suddenly you fall of this horse of success.

And I had no clue what I want to do next.

I didn't know if I'm looking for a job, I didn't know if I'm looking to start a startup.

I didn't know if I'm looking for revenge.

Honestly, like I was so lost.

It was unbearable.

Well, yeah, just real quick anecdote to that.

I lost my 13 year nursing career due to a lifetime of undealt trauma.

And it was the exact same thing what you just said.

I had my whole identity attached to that nursing cap and uniform.

Take that away.

I was 42 at the time.

I had no idea.

Right.

Because my identity equaled nurse.

So once I didn't have that anymore, I was so lost, like I didn't know what I liked, what I didn't like, who Kathy was, who I wasn't.

It's a horrible feeling, that empty shell.

Oh yeah, we really do get wrapped up in the day to day and what we've become and we think that's who we are.

And I mean, it's like you fell into a black hole.

You're concerned for your family, there's desperation, there's panic, there's your ego that's just totally shattered.

You look in the mirror and say, who am I?

I mean, you got nothing to lean on.

That had to have been so scary and for you to even turn it around.

A lot of people couldn't.

I mean, I want to acknowledge if somebody's lost, right?

Now or somebody's stuck and listening to this episode.

It does get really, really, really dark before sunrise.

And, you know, I couldn't sleep at night.

I wasn't sure what I'm waking up for.

I was snappy at my kids.

I was snappy at my husband, deteriorated.

I mean, I was hospitalized three times because of some random breathing issues, which now in retrospect, I can tell you it was, you know, stress.

It was losing relevance.

It was panic.

It was feeling like a failure.

But probably if you would have told me that a decade ago, I would just like, I was just like, no way.

Because I, you know, it can happen to somebody like me.

Like I do Ironmans.

I do, you know, things like I don't let things, you know, throw me off so bad.

But it did.

It was losing my relevance.

Feeling like a failure is something that is insanely painful.

And it's incredible to see how it takes a toll on every single thing in your life.

And basically crawling out of this dark hole was not simple.

Stay tuned for more of Women Road warriors coming up.

Dean Michael, the tax doctor here.

I have one question for you.

Do you want to stop worrying about the irs?

If the answer is yes, then look no further.

I've been around for years.

I've helped countless people across the country, and my success rate speaks for itself.

So now you know where to find good, honest help with your tax problems.

What are you waiting for?

Industry Movement Trucking Moves America Forward is telling the story of the industry.

Our safety champions, the women of trucking, independent contractors, the next generation of truckers, and more help us promote the best of our industry.

Share your story and what you love about trucking.

Share images of a moment you're proud of and join us on social media.

Learn more at truckingmovesamerica.com.

Welcome back to Women Road warriors with Shelly Johnson and Kathy Tucaro.

If you're enjoying this informative episode of Women Road Warriors, I wanted to mention Kathy and I explore all kinds of topics that will power you on the road to success.

We feature a lot of expert interviews, plus we feature celebrities and women who've been trailblazers.

Please check out our podcast@womenroadwarriors.com and click on our Episodes page.

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Check us out and bookmark our podcast.

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And tell others about us.

We want to help as many women as possible.

We're continuing our powerful conversation with Alana Golan, a true force of nature.

From becoming the first woman to command an F16 flight simulator in Israel's Air force, to being Intel's youngest hire, to rising as a Silicon Valley tech executive, Alama doesn't just break ceilings.

She redesigns the buildings.

She helped lead the way for other women to finally become fighter pilots in Israel.

And she didn't stop there.

After a devastating startup betrayal that left her at rock bottom, she didn't just rebuild, she launched.

Today, she's the CEO and founder of Leap Academy, now ranked in the top 7% of the fastest growing companies in America, revolutionizing careers, education, and the future of work.

And yes, she's also an Ironman mountainee and global keynote speaker.

Alana, in our previous segment, we talked about a lot of things.

You talked about losing relevance.

You know, losing relevance.

That's a powerful statement.

And I think a lot of people may even feel that way today.

As fast as the world is moving and with social media and everything, people don't know how are they relevant, they don't know what their identity is.

And you have to feel relevant.

You have to have a sense of purpose.

Yeah, yeah, I was going to say relevant and purposeful.

That sense of purpose.

Yes.

And with what happened to you, Alana, you probably didn't even feel like you had a sense of purpose.

How did you end up starting Leap Academy?

Was that shortly thereafter?

I mean, did you kind of go do an introspective and try to figure out who you were before you knew where you were going to head?

Yeah, I mean, it's a great question.

So at that point, it was really the lowest point in my life.

I was searching for everything like I was searching on YouTube.

How do you find your passion?

How do you find your next career direction?

Like, I was searching everything.

It was incredible.

I was like, I can engineered my way out of this.

But the truth is that's not how it works.

And at that point, I made a promise that if I ever figure this out, I have to tell the world how.

I have to know if I'm the only crazy person or anybody else is feeling the same thing and the same overwhelm because there were, you know, everything was exciting and everything was not exciting, and I wasn't sure what I want.

And I mean, it was just.

It was a horrible time.

And, you know, eventually, and I think this is what's interesting, I can't even point the exact time that it happened, but eventually I did start leaping again.

Again.

I started a tech startup.

It was acquired.

I started investing in companies.

I'm today invested in over 100 companies.

I started mentoring in some of the biggest startup accelerators like Google and Singularity University and Carnegie Mellon, et cetera.

And I started, you know, doing all these public speaking and standing on stages.

And I was looking back, I was like, this is incredible.

Like, I'm actually leaping at a pace I didn't even know existed.

Because until then, I was, you know, used to be in corporate.

And in corporate, you have these rules.

You need to wait there for four and a half years until you qualify for the next.

You know, like, you can get the promotion, and then you need to prove yourself.

And, like, there's all these rules and it always feels so slow.

And I never knew how to play the game.

And suddenly I'm leaping in a way that, you know, people are coming to me and starting to ask me about my career.

And it was interesting because success leaves clues, but we many times don't look at the clues.

And people were already asking me what it is that, you know, how am I going?

How am I doing all these things?

How did I get on this stage?

How did I start investing?

How did I start my startup?

And it took me time to understand, wait, maybe this is a clue.

This is something that is going back to that promise that if I figure this out, I have to tell the world how.

And what's interesting is I am a geek at the end of the day.

Electric engineering, you know, it's as geek as it gets, right?

And I had to understand, is there like, some steps that I do again and again and again to leap?

And there was actually, when I engineered the heck out of it, there was actually like four steps that I just do again and again and again.

I was like, this is so interesting.

I wonder if I can teach this.

And I just sat, you know, with a few friends, and I could see how suddenly they're morphing.

And I was like, can this be something?

Leap Academy was born.

2023, we already became startup of the Year, and now we're two years in a row, one of the fastest growing private companies in America.

It's pretty insane.

It's pretty amazing, too, because you did that during the pandemic when a lot of things were shut down and you just kept going.

I, you know, I think it's.

It's easier to keep going when you can rely on a very hard moment that you had in your life.

And this is why I want the listeners to understand if you are in a dark place, if you are in a hard moment, it really does become darker before the sunrise.

And this could be very well, the thing that you need to learn right now in order to change your trajectory.

So if somebody's feeling this, you know, really lean into what.

What can I learn from this?

What are the possibilities?

What am I trying to create for myself?

And it's incredible.

Like, there's so much on the menu these days.

People will have portfolio careers and multiple ventures and multiple income streams.

Like, it's the best time in our, you know, in.

In our.

In the world.

But you need to know how to create those leaps so that you can create that into a habit and leap, really, to your full potential.

So it's an incredible time, Shelley, and

get over the fear.

When you're taking that leap of able to get over to the next plateau, you're not gonna fall into the big crevasse, if you will.

Let's talk about fear.

I think it is important, and I think many times you look at somebody else's middle or success, success, and you're thinking, oh, it looks so easy for them.

The fear of what do people say?

Like, at that point, I'm this investor and I had this exit and I sit on stages and like, is this really what I want to be known for?

What if I fail?

What if I look miserable?

What if I hate it?

What if it doesn't work?

What if I look dumb?

Like, there's like, so many things that could theoretically go wrong now.

Some people will tell you, well, what's the worst part about it?

It's like, no, this is really bad.

I don't want to look dumb, you know, like that.

So that didn't really work for me.

And I was sitting and procrastinating and I keep laughing that I was binge watching Grey's anatomy because that kind of, you know, numb the pain and the fear.

And I remember, you know, kind of being more in victim mentality.

Like, I don't know the strategy.

I don't know the strategy.

But the truth is the strategy was really simple.

I needed to write one post on Facebook, hi, world and friends.

This is why, you know, I decided to do what I do.

Do you want to be on a call with me so that I can share more about, you know, at that point it was called careerly, but, you know, like, do you want to talk about it?

And all I needed to do is this one post.

And the fear, the fear was absolutely numbing.

And it wasn't until I reached out for help that I, I could hold on to somebody's hand and say, okay, if they can do it, I can do it.

And that changed everything.

And that's where I think I also realized that I want to help people reinvent and leap their careers.

And I want to do it in a way that it's not a book, it's not a podcast.

I have a book coming.

I have, you know, the podcast.

And they're great.

They're going to help millions.

But the truth is, in order to transform somebody's life, you need to hold their hand through this bridge of fear.

And it's incredible to see what's possible after you do that.

Stay tuned for more of Women Road warriors coming up.

Dean Michael, the tax doctor here.

I have one question for you.

Do you want to stop worrying about the irs?

If the answer is yes, then look no further.

I've been around for years.

I've helped countless people across the country, and my success rate speaks for itself.

So now you know where to find good, honest help with your tax problems.

What are you waiting for?

Industry movement Trucking Moves America Forward is telling the story of the industry.

Our safety champions, the women of trucking, independent contractors, the next generation of truckers, and more.

Help us promote the best of our industry.

Share your story and what you love about trucking.

Share images of a moment you're proud of and join us on social media.

Learn more at truckingmovesamerica.com.

Welcome back to Women Road warriors with Shelly Johnson and Kathy Tucaro.

We're back with Alana Galam and What a journey this is.

First woman to command an F16 flight simulator in Israel's Air Force.

Youngest hire at Intel.

A powerhouse tech executive in Silicon Valley.

And then betrayal, loss, and starting over.

But here's the difference.

Alana turned rock bottom into rocket fuel.

Now, as CEO and founder of Leap Academy, one of America's fastest growing companies, she's transforming how we think about success, education, and the future of work.

She's interviewed icons like Richard Branson and the president of Starbucks, and she's taken stages around the world to challenge what's possible.

Alana, in our previous segment, you were talking about working through fear and all the things that are possible.

Sometimes people just need a direction.

They may have a secret dream.

They haven't told other people things that they've always wanted to do, but they're fearful because they don't know exactly how to go about it.

Do you think that's part of the obstacle?

Not really knowing what direction to head?

They need some sort of compass or GPS or something.

It's huge because, again, I don't believe a jar can read its own label, right?

So I think there's a lot of times that you need somebody to show you the mirror.

I think what's next is huge.

I think there's also a lot on the, a lot of options today.

Like, I think most people don't even know what's on the menu.

And I think just even realizing what else is available because again, we all have a little bit of blinders on.

Like, I, when I was in corporate, I had very, you know, I had blinders on.

Like, I didn't know what's next.

Like, I could only see that one title that I'm trying to get to.

I had no clue that maybe I can take some equity and do some advisory and do mentorship and do board seats and do public speaking, and maybe I can charge for public speaking and maybe I can do coaching and consulting and, you know, and I can go on and on.

None of these were on the table.

And I think one of the most beautiful thing is, first of all, understand what else is there.

What is your zone of genius?

What is your must have?

And then, yes, you obviously want to get that clarity, but then you want to start being really strategic about your personal brand.

What are you known for?

What do people, what kind of opportunities will people bring your way?

Because again, all the coolest opportunities are actually happening in the hidden market and not on job boards or anything else.

So we need to play at a different level in a different game.

Especially now when it's crowded.

So how do you rise beyond the people's pile?

Right?

Like, how do you.

And it's all in the hidden market.

It's all about creating your network to become your ambassadors and to bring those incredible opportunities your way.

The truth is, I did not play the game for a decade or so, Shelly.

Like, I did not even think of building my personal brand.

I had no interest.

I didn't know why I needed it.

And.

But today, your personal brand is the only insurance policy you had.

This is the only thing that will actually help you leap again, again, get the right opportunities your way again.

I needed to learn this the hard way if you want a juicy story.

But, you know, I mean, at the end of the day, it's like it's about that personal brand, but it's an incredible way to also control the narrative of what you want to be known for.

It used to be really, really hard to get press and to start getting people to recognize you, et cetera.

Now you can control the narrative so fast, so powerful.

And I think that is a big reason why we were able to leap so fast in Leap Academy in the programs and Leap Academy podcasts.

I think there's a reason why these things were so successful so fast is because we learned to control the narrative,

which is one of the advantages of technology today.

People can be their own advocate.

They could be their own broadcaster, their own media entity.

It's a matter of getting out there so more people can hear you and see you and all of that.

So it requires a strategy.

And then you probably need to surround yourself with people who are going to be positive.

I do think that quite often women will doubt themselves and maybe they'll talk to some people who say, you can't do that.

So it sounds like you were able to not be around people like that.

I mean, you were able to believe in yourself.

It's.

It's a very great question.

Surrounding yourself with energy and positivity is really important, especially when it's hard.

Right.

Because, you know, the people tend to give you empathy, but empathy is not necessarily what you need.

What you need sometimes is exactly the opposite of get over it.

Right.

So it depends.

But, but, but the truth is, I think the positive attitude, and it's really interesting because if somebody would talk about mindset or anything else that sounded a little bit of woo woo about a decade ago, I would literally roll up my eyes and shut them down.

And I can't stress how important mindset is now that I came a long way.

I think that was part of my ceiling, if you will.

And you do need to get relentless about staying positive, staying grateful, staying in a positive state, whether it's getting out on a hike or whether it's listening to great music or being surrounded by people that will lift you, but also inspiration.

I would not, you know, I don't think that I understood the power of inspiration.

And listening to podcasts like this, listening to, you know, like, for me, it's Richard Branson is probably one of the biggest inspirations.

And that's a reason why I try to hang out more to learn from him and to recharge my positivity and my outlook on the world.

But I think don't underestimate the power of inspiration.

And it's pretty incredible what happens when people show you the possibilities because we are in the era of new possible.

We just need to see it.

We need to find our passion.

Stay tuned for more of Women Road Warriors.

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Welcome back to Women Road warriors with Shelly Johnson and Kathy Tucaro.

If you're just joining us, we're talking with Alana Galan.

And her story is the definition of grit meets vision.

The first woman to command an F16 flight simulator in Israel's Air Force, a Silicon Valley executive, Intel's youngest hire, an Ironman triathlete, a mountaineer, and oh, my goodness.

And whatever else she sets her mind to.

But what makes Alana extraordinary isn't just the accolades.

It's the resilience after losing everything in a startup betrayal.

She built Leap Academy, now in the top 7% of the fastest growing companies in America, helping people reclaim their careers and leap into the future of work with courage and clarity.

Alana, now you said that you took four steps to reinvent yourself.

Would you mind sharing those with our listeners?

Yeah, of course.

So, I mean, in the general sense, it's, it's pretty simple.

I mean, the very first part is exactly what you talked about is clarity.

And I think one of the mistakes maybe that we do is maybe it's around passion.

We want to find something that eventually we love.

But the truth is initially you don't have enough evidence to know that it's going to be your passion.

So also don't try to find this perfect epiphany and say, oh my God, this is going to be the perfect dream.

It's more about starting clarity comes from action, not just thinking about it, dreaming about it.

And it's about finding those zone of genius and your must have and if you're not quite sure, experimenting with your career, just like startup, experiment with market, fit with which direction they should go to.

We experiment with careers in a very, very engineered way.

Now once you have that clarity, your story, and I think a lot of people get this wrong, your story is not about who you've been, it's about who you want to become next.

And again with complete integrity, you want to emphasize the right things that are relevant towards who you want to become next.

So if I'm in Intel and I'm writing all this like cool code, that's not going to get me in the door of more customer centric roles, right?

Or if I talk about only cloud and data center, no clients will come to Leap Academy.

So you really want to kind of lean into what it is that you want to be known for and how do you craft a story of why you, why this, why now.

And so your story is really, really, really important.

So that's the second part.

The third part is elevating your brand.

And again there's a massive correlation between your brand and wealth and opportunities that come your way.

And there's kind of three levels of branding if you will.

There's like a very basic just don't be a red flag.

Right.

I think most coaches talk about the resume or LinkedIn or whatever and, and that's cool.

Like you just don't want to be the red flag, which is important.

But there's two more layers that actually create freedom and legacy and more possibilities and that's visibility and authority.

And you know, we can talk about it but in general the more you can get into authority, that's where you can charge premium.

That's where opportunities come your way.

That's where you get, you know, the most incredible things opening and it's incredible.

The fourth thing is the hidden market.

So when you need to you basically all the coolest opportunities, especially to mid to late stage career are really going to happen all in the hidden market.

Especially if you're trying to create some kind of a portfolio career or multiple streams of income.

And every Single one of those will come from who knows you according to what you want to be known for.

So navigating that, building that executive presence, building your authority in the space, navigating the network to become your ambassadors, and how do convert those into actually opportunities, that's an incredible art.

But once you do this well, and these are the four steps, you can actually just get better and better.

So every single leap, you do, like a mini leap, and you stand on the shoulders of what you achieved, and you build a little bit more of your brand and you negotiate a little better.

And now you can start leaping again, again.

And what's beautiful is that you can start having, like a list of wish lists.

You know, like, I want to try to join a board.

Great.

What do I need to do?

I want to be paid to speak.

What do I to do?

I want to, I don't know, like, get some equity to mentor and advice.

Great.

What do I need to do?

I want to coach somebody.

What do I need to do?

So at some point, it just becomes like a wish list, and you can just leap again, again and create this incredible life of possibilities.

And I just wish I knew that earlier.

But if I didn't know it earlier, at least I can help thousands of others do it now, which is so

cool that you're doing that.

Unfortunately, life is full of experiences that we have to have, and hindsight's 20 20.

I wish there was a magnifying glass where we could see the future and somebody could say, this is the direction you need to head and this is what you need to do.

But it's like we have to kind of grow into it somehow and evolve so we can reach that potential.

That's very true.

And, you know, and as you were saying it, I was like, yeah, yeah, I would love to, you know, some outlook into the future.

And on the other hand, no, no, I don't.

Because the truth is, if you would have showed me, Shelly, my future a decade ago, I would laugh so hard at you and I would probably kick you out of the house because my life is so weird right now.

Like, Shelley, I'm going, you know, cycling with Richard Branson in India.

Like.

Like, how surreal.

That's right.

Cool.

Yeah.

So I. I think you're, you know, I think once you start playing the right games, I think your dreams will surprise you.

And once you're able to continue, when everybody else stops, you can live a life most will only dream of.

And I, I, you know, that's.

If anything, this is what I want.

The Listeners to get and, and hear today, you absolutely can have an incredible life.

And there's a saying, and I think Tony Robbins says it, but don't quote me on that.

You know, you always gonna overestimate what you can do in a year.

And that's why we always live in this like a little bit of a disappointment, especially as driven people and creatures, right?

We're always kind of, I should have, I should have, I should have, I should have done further, I should have done more.

But we underestimate what we can do in a decade and so we never get started.

And if you gonna look at your life a decade into the future, if you actually start getting really intentional, very, very strategic about every move you make, you will not recognize the life that you create for yourself.

Very true.

Do you think people don't look maybe a decade out because it seems daunting?

I mean obviously it's kind of relevant to our age.

I mean when we're 20, 10 years seems like a long time because that's half of our life.

Do we think more in short term, short term leaps rather than long term plans?

And I think we should to some extent we should leap again again and we should look at short term because you can't live for 10 years.

You need to bring the cash now or you need the things that will be, you know, relevant now.

But on the other hand, you do want to seed things that are further.

So the way I like to look at it is kind of the 30,000 foot view and then the mirror.

So I like playing with, okay, what else is available?

What would be like incredible to dream and kind of that dream 100, like what are the hundred dreams that would be incredible in a decade.

But then you also want to look in the mirror and say, okay, so in order to start achieving that, what do I need to do now?

And again, you're going to need to do both.

You're going to need to say yes to possibilities, to more opportunities, learning more.

But as things open up, you're going to need to start getting very relentless about saying no to things that are actually not taking you closer to your goal.

And I think by the way, speaking as women, we tend to do things because we don't want to hurt people versus this is the right thing for me and my future.

And these are probably Some of the things that we need to start cutting from our life.

Yes.

Women tend to say yes, probably more than men do.

Yeah.

Oh, absolutely.

Right now men do you think men are taught to be more intentional and that's something that women have to learn.

You know, it's interesting because in Leap Academy we're literally 50, 50 men and women.

We've been, you know, it's, and it's actually shocking to me because we've been advertising exactly the same thing for five years and ultimately pretty much landing on 50, 50 men and women.

So apparently it looks like both genders have the need to reinvent themselves and leap and go faster and higher and, and tilt the possibilities and they want to create this, the most incredible decade of their life.

But I will say that you do see differences in how they approach different things.

But I will.

But on the other hand, I will say men also don't want their ego hurt.

There's other things that are driving men to not take action.

And the women, it's more like I don't want to hurt or I don't want people to think of me in certain ways, et cetera, or I don't want to brag like there's.

We see different things in different people and it's beautiful.

But the idea is to move every single person forward and you know, to leap into their full potential, I guess.

Yeah.

So women are more driven by modesty and empathy perhaps.

And men are, have more of a self serving motivation when you're talking about the ego.

They're more into self preservation perhaps.

Maybe I don't know if I would generalize.

But yes, in general we do see differences.

And I will say, for example, you know, if we do want to generalize a little bit for women in general, it is harder to rise above the noise in a first impression environment.

And so if one thing that I want the listeners, or at least the female listeners to hear me really well, branding and personal branding will be your best friend.

Because if you come, you know, down from a stage or you come with a certain level of authority, or you come with, you know, after, you know, some pretty interesting credibility and authority with you, it's a lot easier for people to lean into a conversation with you versus when you're networking completely, you know.

You know, in just some kind of a random networking environment, it is truly harder for women to be known for what they want to be known for and to get the respect that they deserve.

And again, it's not the men's fault, it's not the Women's fault.

I've seen women sometimes, you know, being harder than any men I've ever seen.

So it's not around like, who the biases are there.

But if you can build your personal brand in an unshakable way, you will open doors in a way that is undeniable, more incredible than anybody else because you are more memorable.

So it's actually becoming your advantage.

These are skills women from all walks of life can use when you think about it.

Oh, yeah.

And your website, Leap Academy, I love it.

It says, get the skills, tools and courage to create your new possible.

I like that.

I don't think people think of possible today.

I think sometimes people get inundated with the impossible.

You're giving them a rainbow, if you will, to achieve.

It's like I want to find that pot of gold somewhere, you know, whatever it might be, metaphorically to do the goal setting.

What does the Leap Academy do and can people access this online?

Oh, yeah.

So Leap Academy, basically we, we look at it as disrupting a little bit of the professional education.

I do believe that driven people don't really have a home today because they can go and get an MBA and again, it's nice networking experience, but it's not going to meet you where you are and it's not going to take you forward.

And there is no, like, if you are whatever, 30 to 65, you don't really have a good home to, for somebody to look at your career, look at the 360 view of it and say, okay, how do I leap into my full potential?

How do I create a portfolio career?

How do I create not just move, get a promotion for 10K and you know, and be grateful, but how do I actually change my trajectory in my life and create not just a paycheck, but the life that I want with a paycheck?

And I don't know of any environment that really does that.

So Leap Academy, for me, it's about taking driven people again.

They need to be driven.

It's okay if you fell off the horse of success.

Most people have as you, as I shared in my story.

But in general, you need to be driven.

You need to want more for yourself.

You need to want to put that line to sand and say, oh, I know I'm meant for more.

And if that's the case, we do have free trainings.

We have a full career360 that you can have intake for yourself.

So you can go to leapacademy.com training and there's a ton of free Stuff that we give and based on kind of where you are in the journey, we'll either send you free information or we'll have, you know, a full strategist to sit with you and kind of create a whole career, 360 with you for free.

And we have a lot of free stuff because we are on a mission to change 10 million lives.

So that's a big mission.

This is awesome.

This is exactly what people need.

And you've got a great podcast, too.

It's called the Leap Academy Podcast, correct?

Yes.

The Leap Academy was Ilana Golan, and I do get to speak with some of them, or the most incredible, pinch me, leaders of my time.

And I think for me, Shelley, the big thing for me was to show blueprints of what some of these careers look looked like.

Yeah, the challenges that they had, the.

The, you know, the hardship that.

I mean, I literally just talked to someone that, you know, she's like, we just raised $24 million, but guess what?

After 107 no's, I stopped counting.

You know, and.

And I think sometimes we need to hear these stories.

You have the founders of Airbnb.

You have, you know, Hyatt who talked about being too poor to bankrupt.

You know, you have the president of Starbucks telling you he was almost suicidal when you lost relevance.

And I think when we hear these stories, I can't think of something more inspiring to keep on going, despite the fear, despite the doubt, despite the hardship.

Just pick a leader that you like and listen to their story because it

will inspire you, and you're bringing the human element back.

I mean, I think we tend to put people on a pedestal and think they've always had this kind of luck and they're human.

They had to work at it, and they had to learn, and they stumbled, too.

But it's possible, and that's what's so important.

Where do people find the Leap Academy?

Yeah, so Leap Academy, like L e a p academy.com.

there's the leapacademy.com training, or you can look at the podcast on any podcast platform.

We have it.

Also on our website, we have a YouTube.

Again, we're here to serve.

We're here to help.

We have a lot of free events and just join something, you know, like.

Like join us on one of these free things to get at least the energy that you need in order to take yourself to the next level.

And if we can help you beyond that, it will be the biggest honor.

But again, we're here to give, to give back as much as I can, so.

But yeah.

I hope that the listeners enjoyed this.

Oh, absolutely.

Oh, my goodness.

I don't.

I want to continue talking, Ilana, but we're running out of time and you have so much good stuff to say.

There's so many great takeaways.

I feel really inspired.

So do I.

Thank you, Alana.

This has been a huge honor.

I'm just amazed by you.

Oh, thank you.

Well, I mean, you two are doing incredible work, and you're giving so much hope and opportunities to all the women and all the listeners out there, and it is about being a road warrior.

So congratulations to you, too, on everything that you created.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

That's what we're trying to do, empower women on the road to success, because we all have roads we have to follow in life and we need the right directions.

Thank you, Alana.

And that's exactly what you're doing, too.

Yeah.

And I love that.

Yeah, it's an incredible journey.

And, yeah, so many takeaways, so many learnings about what you need to do in order to just keep on going when it's hard, when the power of a smile.

Let's go.

That's what you're doing.

Thank you.

We hope you've enjoyed this latest episode.

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You've been listening to Women Road warriors with Shelly Johnson and Kathy Takaro.

If you want to be a guest on the show or have a topic or feedback, email us at sjohnson at womenroadwarriors.

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