Curator. Builder. Storyteller. Magic.

I am not for everyone, and I have made peace with that.

I am warm, deeply loyal, and genuinely invested in the people who have earned a place in my world. But access to me is intentional — I give from a full cup, not an open door. If you are in my circle, you know it. You feel it. And I will show up for you completely.

I am a curator, a builder, a storyteller, and a mother. I love fiercely and I show up — for the people I love, for the work I believe in, and for the life I am intentionally designing. I am optimistic, but I am not naive. I know we are all a mix of shadows and light, and I have learned to hold space for both in myself and in the people I love.

I believe in magic. Not the kind that erases hard things, but the kind that finds something extraordinary inside the ordinary. The kind that looks at broken pieces and sees a disco ball.

That is the philosophy I carry into everything I do.

WHAT I’M BUILDING

I am the founder of Sparks of Magic LLC, and everything under that umbrella is an expression of one belief: that moving through the world with intention transforms your experience of it, and that the right guide, the right product, the right story at the right moment can change everything.

Magic and WanderLuxe Travel Co. — I curate luxury travel experiences, helping people experience the world in ways that feel meaningful, not just expensive.

Sparks of Magic — I build brands and creative strategy.

Writing — I am a writer — currently working on my first novel and contributing articles and essays to publishers and platforms whose work I believe in. The stories are coming. There will be a whole space for them soon.

leaño+jean — I'm a maker at heart, and this lifestyle and gifting brand is named for the two women who shaped me: Evelyn Leaño, my Filipino maternal grandmother, and Bonnie Jean, my Black paternal grandmother.

My grandmothers were women who knew how to get dressed up, how to dance, how to give generously, and how to make people feel seen. They were also my biggest cheerleaders. This brand is how I carry them forward.

I work in leather, wood, acrylic, clay, and resin. I laser engrave and cut. I hand sew and macrame. I create keychains, jewelry, signs, pins, custom event pieces, and engraved stainless steel pieces designed to be given, kept, and treasured. leaño+jean is also growing into the travel space — a collection of bags and accessories built for the kind of woman who moves through the world beautifully and on purpose.

None of these are separate things. They are all me, refracting differently depending on the light.

WHO I AM OUTSIDE THE WORK

I am a wife and a mother of five. I have been building a life with my best friend and husband Jeff for over 26 years, and together we are each other’s most honest collaborators. My children are adults now, each of them extraordinary and entirely their own person, and watching them move through the world is one of the great privileges of my life.

I am a learner. A giver. A Black and Filipina woman who believes in the power of community and has spent years helping build spaces where people like me can see themselves in the magic. My roots are in California — that is where the sun and the culture and the people made me who I am. I am currently on a pit stop in Las Vegas, but California is calling me back, and I intend to answer.

I feel everything deeply. I need beauty and I need balance. I am somehow always called to lead even when I would rather be in the corner reading.

I am a Scorpio — Sun and Rising — which means I was built twice for depth, transformation, and seeing directly through surfaces to what is actually true. I do not do shallow. I do not do performative. And I have a long memory. My Libra Moon softens the edges just enough: I need beauty around me, I value fairness above almost everything, and I genuinely want harmony even when I am willing to burn something down to get there. It is a combination that makes me intense and fair, passionate and considered, all at once.

In Human Design I am a Generator 5/2 — the Heretic/Hermit. My 5 line means people tend to project their needs and expectations onto me before they even know me, which is precisely why I guard my energy carefully. I am not obligated to be what everyone imagines I should be. My 2 line means I need genuine solitude to recharge, that my deepest gifts emerge naturally rather than being performed, and that I often cannot fully see my own brilliance until someone I trust names it. My strategy is to respond rather than initiate — I trust what lights me up from the inside, and I follow that signal. My Sacral Authority means my gut is not a suggestion. It is a compass.

I am, at the end of everything, magic.

And I believe you are too. Sometimes the most important thing I can do is help you find it — through a journey, a story, a product, or simply a moment that catches the light just right. That is what I am here for.