We caught up with the brilliant and insightful LeAnne Dolce, PMP a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
LeAnne, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?
I think the most important lesson learned from a previous job was that I was not destined to be an employee and that I needed to follow my dreams. As a child, we all have such vivid imaginations and we think anything in the world is possible. As we grow and mature, it sometimes seems like life beats our dreams out of us. I know that working was definitely beating the dreams out of me. I was a single mother of 3 and I was working at a company and with a group that I THOUGHT cared about me. I learned that I was nothing more than employee XYZ123….
I was working at a major Telecom company as a Senior Business Analyst. There was an opportunity to join a newly formed group and I was excited to be a founding member and help shape the group’s policy and framework. I jumped at the change and worked really hard to be a major contributor to this group. This new group would be overseeing, assisting and providing Quality Assurance for IT Projects. At this time, the company had over 200 disparate systems operating to service one single call. Our goal was to help reduce that number, help improve the quality of the IT Projects to ensure success! D
As a new group, we didn’t have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and processes established at the onset. Well, I singlehandedly wrote ALL of the policies that the group followed. I wrote all of the Standard Operating Procedures for how we did our work. I worked hard and finally was promoted to Lead. I was in a supportive group with people who truly liked and respected me. My manager and I met for lunch at least twice a week, every week (this is important)!
As we started to grow, there was a need to efficiently train new Quality Assurance Analysts, Leads, and Managers. I wrote and implemented a training program to ensure new team members were properly onboarded to our team and trained to do their job effectively and efficiently. I lead a team of 10 QA Analysts and then our group was re-org’d and all of a sudden we had a new VP of Engineering…. He was no nonsense and in his first meeting with our group he established that the company was getting rid of LOW PERFORMERS. We had some low performers on our team, so I thought this would definitely have some impacts across our team.
Since I had successfully implemented a complete training program for my team, I was asked to join the national training organization and I would start spitting my time between training and my lead position. I was super excited and started the process, when it was all put on hold! For some reason the process was stalling…. And then my manager tried to drop the boom on me.
It was September and I will never forget the meeting because my performance review was already 3 months late! He basically assessed me as a LOW performer and gave me a rating of 2 / 5 for my efforts over the last year…. A DAMN 2 out of 5. I had just come off training a new lead within our team so I asked her for her assessment of my LATE performance evaluation… She told me that they were trying to establish that I was a low performer so that they could fire me. I WAS FLOORED and I was HURT, but the I started paying attention. My manager, whom I went out for lunch with at least twice a week, wasn’t really speaking to me any longer. He wouldnt look me in the face, there were no more lunches together. He started negatively assessing my work AND having meetings with my team without me).
To wrap up this LONG STORY, I ended up filing a complaint with HR and it all came to light… They really were trying to establish that I was a low performer, but because I had established all their policies AND implemented training programs AND improved the performance of the analysts on my team, they had no foundation for their assessment. I was vindicated! My previous manager (whom I thought was my friend) was eventually demoted, the group ended up being disbanded a few short years later, and I went on to a new company with a $15k a year raise AND started my own IT Consulting firm on the side…. That whole process let me know that it is important to follow your dreams AND find a company that truly values its people; where you aren’t just a number, but you are a valued member of the team – respected for your contributions!
That next job lasted about 6 months before I started working for myself. That was over 16 years ago and I have never looked back! It pushed me to invest in my star player, ME. It helped me show ME what I was capable of accomplishing in the face of adversity. It also showed me that I needed to take more time to understand a companies true values, goals, and mission. I take that into every business dealing that I make or even think about. That experience truly shaped how I view the business world.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is LeAnne Dolce and I am a Self-Care Strategist, Certified Skin Care Product Formulator, and the founder of Dolce & Lay. Dolce & Lay is a self-care and wellness experience company whose mission is to help Black mompreneurs, caregivers, and professionals working in high stress careers get RADICAL about their self-care so they can go from overwhelmed to overjoyed and wake up happy every single day. We accomplish this mission through our Wake Up Happy Sis movement where we provide curated experiences such as Sisterhood Wellness Retreats, Live and Online Wellness Seminars, and other wellness events PARTNERED WITH our amazing line of personal pampering skin care and self-discovery products and accessories.
My passion is helping Black Women heal past traumas, connect authentically to a supportive community of like-minded women (our sisterhood), and to unapologetically put their self-care needs FIRST so that they can give their best those who need them the most. We can’t continue to pour from an empty vessel! I want to help them seek and find their abundance center – to be happy, healthy, healed, and WHOLE so they can wake up happy every day!
As Black women, we are taught to be humble, to put others needs first (especially if we are married and/or have children), and we are pushed into being the “strong black woman.” I want us to be able to be vulnerable, to be able to ask for help, and to be able to put our needs first without feeling guilty. I want us to shift our thinking in order to shift our lives for the better.
Just how did I get into this space you ask? I was morbidly obese (almost 300 pounds), I was unhappy, and I was a people pleaser. I faked high self-esteem to mask the fact that I felt horrible about myself and had very low self-worth. I worked 2 jobs and took care of 3 children as a single mother. Oh yeah and I was a community activist and involved in nonprofit work… My motto was “I can sleep when I a dead” and I was well on the way to making that happen. I had a health scare that really opened up my eye and I realized that if I wanted to see my children grow up, I had to make some serious changes in my life.
I got on a path to health. I started seeing a mental health professional to help me with my pain and trauma. I learned how to self-assess my moods and understand what my body, mind, and soul are needing. NO it didnt happen overnight, but I did happen. Along this path to health I started reading labels and understanding what was included in the popular skincare products that I used – it wasnt healthy at all! So I started working with someone to create a natural line of products. I owe so much to Santeyonne Powell because she taught me how to make HEALTHY skincare products. I went on to earn a certification in natural and organic skincare formulation so that I could Formulate my own recipes. But I realized that just having access to great products was a start, but not the answer. I needed to help my sisters mind and souls as well, not just their bodies! And Dolce & Lay was birthed from that need to help my sisters get over their pasts, learn how to love themselves unapologetically FIRST and show them that it is possible to wake up happy every day!
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
My start as a professional was centered in IT! I was the total and complete IT girl and I loved it (or so I thought). I came to realize that I loved the pay, but not the stress that it brought to my life! I spent more time behind a desk and less time outside moving my body. I worked long hours and didn’t get to spend as much quality time with my children as I should have.
My eating habits were horrible, my eyesight started to weaken because I spent 8-12 hours in front of a computer and making someone else rich!
If I could go back, I would start my self-care business much sooner. I would have focused my career around black women’s empowerment and I would have formulated products and experiences so Black women would have more safe spaces just for US! Life is about so much more than money!
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
I have 3 characteristics that underpin my principles and my life direction. 1. PASSION is one of the most important characteristic in my business (in my opinion). I have a strong passion for Black Women’s wellness – for their healing, their growth, and their support. That passion drives me to work harder and push through any adversity to help us win!
2. DRIVE/AMBITION is the second characteristic that is important for helping me find success. I might not be the smartest person in the room, but I am smart, strategic, and I will outwork you! My passion helps fuel my ambition and drive to bring my self-care movement to the world…
3. Finally LOVE. I have so much love in my heart that I just want to share with the world. I see myself as a world changer and as such my love for my sisters (and my black men as well) makes my business not work for me. I LOVE what I do and I love knowing that I am changing lives for the better through quality products and quality programming that helps my sisters pamper themselves OR have others pamper them. They do much for everyone else without asking a think for themselves. My love for them ensures that they know someone has their back!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wakeuphappysis.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/dolceandlay
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/dolceandlay
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/leannedolce
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dolceandlay
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wakeuphappysisshow
- Other: TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@dolceandlay