We had the good fortune of connecting with Leslie Tankersley Arboleda and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Leslie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
This current iteration of my business, Kizen Living, is much like me, personally – it is the result of many revisions and it has been recreated many times to truly reflect my passion, purpose, and power.

My passion in this life is helping others to excavate their natural strengths and leave behind what no longer serves them. My purpose is to help clear the way for others. My power shows up in cutting though all the extras and getting right into the heart of the matter or getting to the answer without a lot of fluff, which can sometime show up in a shocking way, but it’s always partnered with love.

One of my most influential teachers teaches that we are each a once-in-a-lifetime, unique, cosmic event, and I truly believe that to mean that the world is a better place because every one of us is in it. We are here in these finite bodies, that I affectionately refer to as animated meatsuits, to express our infinite potential to be healthy, joyful, and abundant. The mission at Kizen Living is to inspire and guide others in finding alignment with how your natural energy works best to do just that!

What should our readers know about your business?
Getting where I am today has been a circuitous journey that has not always felt as fulfilling and aligned as it does today. I have a BS in Human Develpment and Family Studies that I thought would prepare me to be preschool teacher, and while 2-5-year-olds are still some of my favorite people, I learned pretty quickly that being a teacher was going to leave me with a furrow in my brow and a rumble in my belly. Because I had a love for psychology and parents who continued to fund my higher education, I pursued an MBA in marketing, which I think of as the psychology of business, but when my marketing professor pointedly asked me “what are you really doing here,” it became pointedly obvious that it was my affinity for psychology and not business management that was driving me. My final journey into higher education was in pursuit of a MS in counseling psychology, and when I started working with grieving children, my purpose and passion intersected in the most profound way.

Grieving is something that most associate with the death process, but what I have learned is that grief is a part of all change, including desired change, and 20 years later, while I do not specialize in working with grieving children anymore, I am very clear that the skills I learned in all those classrooms came together to form an aligned skill set that allows me to support my clients in excavating their own purpose and passion by shedding and releasing those old paradigms and beliefs that are no longer serving them, so they can learn to tell the story they want to live and live a story they want to tell.

Kaizen is a Japanese word I learned in business school that speaks to a process of continuous improvement. Kizen Living is inspired by that concept, and I hope to guide and support the folks I work with as they navigate life’s inevitable cycles of disruption to strive for improvement while giving themselves grace throughout the process.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I moved to CO when I was 19 because even then, before I could put words to it, I intuitively knew that the Rocky Mountains are the place my heart calls “home,” so I would certainly take my friend into the mountains. I am an avid snowboarder and the top of any snowy run feels like church to me – I am close to God and feel connected to everything when I am riding down a snowy mountain. If the concert line-up permitted (or even if it didn’t), I would take my friend to Red Rocks with a stop for a rooftop cerveza at Red Rocks beer garden. If the water was high enough, we would float down the Clear Creek in Golden and pop into the Golden Mill for some good food and fun, and if we were feeling fancy, I’d definitely find a reason to patronize Uchi for my favorite dessert in all of Denver, milk balls.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Dr. Karen Curry Parker is the guiding light behind Quantum Human Design, a system of self-understanding that has had a significant impact on my own personal growth and development.

Alan Lengel and Kitty Proenza are two teachers from my early school years that continue to be shining examples of authenticity and guidance to which I refer often when choosing how I want to model those same qualities in my business and in my personal life.

Most importantly, I want to acknowledge that the unconditional love and support I have received from my mother, Rosemary Butler, has been a fundamental steppingstone on which I still stand today.

Without direction, guidance, and support, we might get where we are meant to be in life, but when you *do* have those experiences, you are likely to get where you are meant to be with more ease and expediency. I have deep gratitude for these folks and many others who have pointed me in an aligned direction and supported and guided me along the way!

Website: www.kizenlife.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kizenliving/

Linkedin: https://www.instagram.com/kizenliving/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kizenliving

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM-Yjx0XOWLhVlgtf70uVXw

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