Leigh Spence is the editor-in-chief of Voices and is also a full-time  high school counselor at Hickman High School. Leigh has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Auburn University and a master’s in educational counseling from Stephens College. She is married to Sean Spence and is mom to Clark Leyshock. As an adoptive parent, Leigh is passionate about adoption issues and children’s issues in general. Her license plate reads “Advoc8″ as a reminder to herself to put her passion into action when possible.

What do you think are the biggest challenges for professional women today? Balance is probably the greatest challenge for anyone of either gender. I think sometimes as women we like to think we corner the market on feeling pulled in multiple directions, but I think men experience that too. Women tend to talk about it more.

The other challenge is having the time to develop ourselves professionally. Time AND money actually. It becomes more challenging as we age because our responsibilities grow and become more time consuming, but I believe that professional development is important to keep us fresh in our careers.

What is the best business advice you’ve ever received? Probably the one I quote most often is, “You learn from people what you want to be like and what you don’t want to be like.” I had a wise supervisor and friend who used to say this with regularity, especially when we were working with someone who was hard to get along with. With that type of attitude, everyone is  a “teacher” and it makes the difficult people more useful to my professional growth. Actually, in many instances I have probably learned more from the people who were hard to work with because it made me approach things from every angle before presenting an idea.

How would you describe your leadership style? Collaborative but decisive. At least that is what I hope it is. That style is definitely my preference when working with people who are MY supervisors. I like to work with others on a team, but when it is time to make a decision, I want to pull the trigger and not spend a lot of time second-guessing.

Has your career path held surprises along the way? Certainly! I actually use my own path as an example to my high school students who stress out about not knowing what they want to do in life. I went to college as a pre-law major (mostly because my dad was an attorney I think). Changed to journalism because I made an A in the weed-out Intro to Journalism class that 50% of the people failed. Worked as a journalist for 10+ years and then started working for the school district, rediscovered my love of kids, and earned my master’s in counseling. And now, we have launched Voices, so I am back to using my journalism skills. Flexibility is a good thing.

What do you do to relax? I love to read, go to movies, spend time with friends and travel. I try to work out every day, which I don’t love, but I do know helps with stress management. I like to paint but I haven’t done that as much as I would like.

What is one personal goal you haven’t yet achieved? I really love to travel and I want to do more of that. I actually get a little depressed when I go too long without a little travel. Sean and I just set a goal of visiting all 50 states together. I think we are at seven right now, so we need to get moving!

What is your workplace pet peeve? Negativity. I can complain as easily as the next person, but people who always find a reason why something is not going to work brings everyone else down and keeps organizations from growing and trying new things.

Who do you consider a career mentor and why? I have been really fortunate to work with some strong women role models. Not to weasel out of the question, but I think I have been able to learn at least one really helpful thing in my career from each of my colleagues through the years. I worked for a year for a newspaper publisher who was a raging, mean alcoholic. In keeping with the “You learn from people what you want to be like and what you don’t want to be like” philosophy, I learned a lot from her!

What is your dream job? I really do love the job I have now, but in the “jobs not likely to happen” category, I would say I would love to be the director of some truly impactful organization. The type of organization that helps children and teens who are underprivileged gain access to the highest quality education while supporting them emotionally to fill in the gaps of what having “lack of access” can mean. If you have never been outside of your town, how can you compete with kids who have traveled the world? That is a dream job for me.

What do you hope to be doing in 10 years – personally and professionally? In 10 years, I hope that Sean and I have built a viable and relied upon web presence with Voices. I also would hope that in 10 years I am approaching retirement with the school district, but I am figuring out how I stay connected to students and education in some way that is of service. Personally, I hope Sean and I have traveled to our 50 states and that we have also made it to Italy and Greece at least!

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