Gen X Special Feature: Don’t Confuse My Many Versions for Lack of Focus!

Dear Lovely Human,

Meet Sallyann aka Moi;-) 

I’m always writing to you about the bold reinventions of others—but today, I thought I’d get a little vulnerable and re-introduce myself.


Why reading this feature matters:

Many of you Gen-Xers like me, share with me your longing to reinvent and the only reason I am so useful is because I know that pull—I’ve lived it over and over.

At 22, I was a corporate lawyer advising some of the world’s most sophisticated business leaders, often jetting off on Gulfstreams for meetings. But my story didn’t begin—or end—in boardrooms. I had a side hustle long before “side hustles” were a thing: volunteering for foundations from the age of 13, teaching human skills. That path set me up to launch my own NGO, Growing Leaders Foundation, at 32, and then GLEAC at 40.

Looking back, I can connect the dots to every single curiosity I acted on .... when everybody thought I was being distracted. Each decade so far in my life has been training preparing me for the next version of myself.

And now, I can feel the knock at the door again. Only this time, I’m the strongest, most innovative, and most ready I’ve ever been .... a quiet powerful storm.

From Fear to Forests

For the last few years, I carried a fear: that I wasn’t scaling fast enough for my investors and to leave a legacy around this version of my work. My competitive side consistently measures GLEAC against unicorn scoreboards—$200M raises, 5 million users, billion-dollar valuations. But here’s what I’ve come to realize: I’ve been methodically planting forests. Forests take longer, yes, but they bear shade for generations. It’s a different game I’m playing—and building.

To get here, I had to rewire a belief that held me back for too long—that only pedigree, the Stanford–YC–McKinsey club, made someone a real player at scale. The truth? My zigzags are my edge. Law sharpened me. Running a foundation taught me to build with nothing. I’ve guided billion-dollar transactions with businessmen, persuaded presidents in gilded rooms, and taught human skills to prisoners in bare cells. And in every one of those spaces, they felt I was one of them. That ability to connect with anyone, on anything, at their level—that’s my unique advantage. 

For years, people reduced me to my good looks which I am deeply grateful for from my parents. I even had a powerful aunt, the first Acting President of my country, who would introduce me by saying, “We wanted her to be Miss Universe!” Others focused only on my network.

Today I know better. I’ve not only earned my seat at any table—I’ve built tables of my own, the very ones others now wish to be invited to. And I didn’t get here through glamour, but through cross-domain intelligence, business savvy, grit, and a stubborn curiosity that refuses to quit. That’s what makes me formidable.

Legacy Beyond Glamour

With that rewiring came a shedding. I no longer crave the ornaments of success— My legacy isn’t measured in titles or wealth but in encounters: the boundaries I set , how I make people feel, and whether they leave any encounter with me with that joyful 8 year old whisper inside them that says anything is possible.

The boldest decision I’ve made in this chapter leading Gleac is to stay the course. Many founder friends I know have crashed or sold their souls. I chose patience. I chose to show up every day, quietly but with the steady force of a brick layer building a cathedral to God.

And in doing so, I’m building GLEAC to outlast me. By making myself replaceable- this year I took on the title Interim CEO. I am ready to create freedom for others to step into their strengths, and freedom for me to evolve into new versions of myself.

Anchors and Mindsets

For the last decade, I’ve held onto a mindset that’s served me well protecting my energy: not everyone is meant to walk beside me, and I’m not meant to walk beside everyone. That clarity has protected and allowed me to curate my circle with intention—sometimes power players, other times some older mothers and grandmothers who can finally teach me how to cook;-)

What Sallyann Needs From You

This year, I decided my theme word was Leverage. It’s the filter I use for every decision—what and who I say YES or NO to.

Leverage, to me, is never one-sided.

On the give side, it means taking everything I’ve built—my network, my cross-domain expertise, my ability to operationalize ideas anywhere in the world—and letting a partner use that as rocket fuel for their own vision. If they think something is impossible, I help make it inevitable.

On the take side, it means aligning myself with people, companies, or governments whose scale and reach can amplify my work far beyond what I could do alone. They give me the stage, the platform, the resources—and I spray the perfume of what I’ve built so its scent lingers for decades after I’m gone.

Leverage is reciprocity at scale. It’s not extraction—it’s acceleration. When the right partners come together, both sides move further, faster, and leave a legacy neither could create alone.

I’m not looking for transactions. I’m looking for legacy partners in leverage.

I will end on this note…

I know what it feels like to carry a vision so big it almost scares you, and to wonder if anyone else will believe in it the way you do. I want you to know: the impossible is just the starting line. Those of us who flip it into possible are the ones who bend the arc of the world.

Warmly,
Sal

P.S. For the last decade with my Foundation and now Gleac, I’ve been planting trees—over 25,000 across the globe. If we are already friends…I probably made you hug a tree for me somewhere in the world;-)