Leilani Garrett didn’t set out to write a novel. She set out to answer questions that plagues most individuals – Why am I stuck? In writing her book “After the Burn” , Leilani discovers that being seen is not about visibility, it’s about courage. What shuts people down is not loud but quiet, slow, and deeply personal. The pathway to getting unstuck to becoming who you are meant to be is not a moment of arrival. It is a choice you have to keep making.
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Your Identity Starts With You: Conversation with Leilani Garrett
Hello, Leilani Garrett. I thank you so much for taking your time to have a conversation with me today on Change Your View. It’s my pleasure. Thank you so much, Haseena.
You are an accomplished author and you have over two decades of experience in sales and leadership. But I don’t want to belabor your resume. I think that as we have our conversation today, people will get to see the dynamic woman that you are. So let’s just dive right in. Let’s do it. So you have written your debut novel, After the Burn, and it’s getting incredible reviews. And I applaud you for that. But let’s go to the deeper story behind what made you write this book.
Your view is about to change.
Listen to the entire podcast.
This moment in my conversation with Leilani Garrett on Change Your View is one I keep coming back to.
And, you know, and that leads to the next point is that people are performing to be visible. But what does it mean to actually be known? And there’s a difference there between being visible and being known. And so you kind of touched on that about the being motivated. So let’s move to that part because those people wanted to be visible and they wanted to be known. But there’s a difference there. And what is that difference?
That is, wow, that’s one hell of a great point. Being visible is just being seen in the space and your contribution perhaps being seen in the space. Being known is all those other things. Where did I come from? What was my experience like growing up? Who are my parents? Where do they come from? What’s my history? What’s my legacy? What do I feel about certain things in the world? What are my values? What do I honor? Who do I care about? Being known is actually having someone get closer in and have some opportunity sort of not necessarily walk in my shoes, but care about what my shoes look like and how I’m walking in them.
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About Leilani Garrett
Leilani spent more than two decades in corporate sales and leadership, navigating high-stakes environments, leading teams, and closing multi-million-dollar deals. But behind every win, she saw what most companies were missing: connection. In rooms focused on performance metrics, she paid attention to what moved people, what shut them down, and what made them feel seen.
Today, she’s a creative force redefining leadership, connection, and culture through storytelling. A celebrated fiction author and sought-after speaker, she brings radical empathy to the stage and the page. Her work bridges personal growth and organizational impact, helping leaders and teams break down silos, build trust, and show up more fully human. With a voice that’s as bold as it is warm, Leilani equips her audiences with the tools to transform not just how they work, but who they become.
