Sallyann Della Casa 🦓

I'm having the time of my life. I advise sovereign-level CEOs, Heads of Transformation, and AI leaders around leadership, GTM, workforce and culture transformation +++ . I've automated and unleashed AI agents across roughly 75% of GLEAC's own operations and freed up 50%+ of my time as a CEO.

Behind this role: I raised a seed round of just under $2M from a US fund at a time when the Middle East wasn't ready for a female founder in AI and tech in 2019. Nobody handed me a playbook for that. Then came the harder part. I didn't just recruit 2,500 experts, mentors, and coaches . I created enough friction to filter true contrarians, outliers and deep operators and then added value that they chose to stay. GLEAC became their third place. A space to grow professionally, cross-pollinate across domains, and sharpen each other — not just serve clients. They share their knowledge, their reputation, and their trust. They act as back office to one another. They show up for each other before a client ever enters the picture. The proof? My first 10 community members are still here today with 20% joining our cap table. And I run a dual marketplace which means winning on two fronts simultaneously. On one side, I'm earning the confidence of powerful companies who could just as easily hand the work to McKinsey or Korn Ferry. On the other, I'm keeping 2,500 mentors engaged, valued, and choosing to stay. Most founders manage one side of that equation. I manage both. Every day. And I never stopped learning and ensuring everyone around GLEAC is on the same trajectory. I act as a dean of sorts, constantly cross-pollinating knowledge across domains and upskilling our experts so they stay ahead, not just relevant. The community doesn't just serve clients. It sharpens itself. Seven years later, that same instinct runs everything we do. The network. The street view. The edge view. It all started because I learned early: the right person in the right room changes everything.

This is some of the dinosaur like evidence I hope to leave to the world as a reminder that I was once here ............I awaken the potential of youths and adults in the areas of human soft skills. My Corporate Social Education training focusers on redefining the role of corporates in education and my School programs focus on leadership.

I was brought in to take a look at all things people and culture . It is where I first had access to data scientists to spot people attrition patterns . I also knew from this experience I could build a tech company with everything I know and was doing around people patterns and learning and development for decades. What a gift to be close to these Founders and team at such a critical early stage of their journey . The light went on for many things that led to Gleac here. In gratitude for this brief sprint with this unicorn in the making back then.

Geared towards start-ups, I designed the you -tube video and classroom series to fill the gaps in what I was seeing being taught to ensure start-ups got what they needed to thrive. There were 3 lecture series: Presentation Skills using a Pitch Deck, Standing Out- How to define your Zag, and Design Thinking and the 10 Innovation Types. I ran these sessions at Abu Dhabi University, Masdar Institute, Impact Hub, Lok Jack Business School and many other start-up hubs. All classes are now available on-line: http://growingleadersfoundation.com/studentpanel/ And yes all that 8 years of corporate law comes in handy...just maybe had to go through that to teach this! You can view Brain dates videos which are still on-going monthly here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQyLgavIZDmYaJRR3cb_jrA

My first youth leadership book came out ;-) Need to run away to a forest for 6 months and JUST DO THE SECOND ONE..hehe;-)

I did not know I was preparing for GLEAC since I was 21 years of age. I adopted classrooms and taught them workforce skills and designed curriculum where I saw gaps in the program under the wonderful guidance of John Casbarro. This program was developed by the National Child Labor Committee and approved by the School Board of Florida. This is where I honed my skills for my own Foundation (not knowing at the time I was preparing). My Secretary would tell you this is where I was most of the time where I should have been practicing law;-) Often our true mission and passion lies in the things we do as hobbies and as volunteers thinking we could never make a living out of it. This was a hint early on in my life of who I was meant to become.

Practiced law in various areas from estate planning, to M and A- corporate and real estate law over a 10 year span. A completely different life where I never felt "me" . Thank goodness I found the courage to walk away and start over climbing the right mountain.... this time without any compromise to my value system. I am forever grateful for the scars from this professional experience that paved the way for me finding my way and courage;-)

Lazlo Bock, Adam Grant, Ray Dalio and a few others got me super curious about what is happening in this field and how this ties into my Foundation and People Development fascination. I am eager to learn how to scale/elevate (with the new data science, cognitive and behavioural science) my existing programs, writings, and teachings in this new context. However, I do have to tell you my Foundation team and friends are very worried that I may get super impatient (I am imperfectly perfect as they say) and want to teach the class! Sept 2017- I have now developed some patent-pending methodologies using my first APP, GLEAC, as my channel to run an experiment about how we show up our 21st-century skills on our resumes and school transcripts. Jan 2018- GLEAC becomes the first SHRM re-certification APP globally for soft skills. Watch out world......GLEAC is in the building! Classes to date: Organisation Behaviour, Human Resource Management ( covers all topics under SHRM certification).

Amazing one year program and I loved the challenge as it totally stretched me. However, I did not graduate b/c I had to take the GMATS as a condition to graduate and after 10+ years of not looking at algebra/trig, etc. I hesitated! It's ok I am not attached to degrees;-) This program was critical in opening my eyes to how space impacts our behavior and how we work with each other. In my leadership development work, this has been crucial information that allows me to approach how I teach, how people interact, and where, etc. in a completely different manner.

Great education but I totally felt I was playing pretend practicing law! I graduated at the age of 21 and now that I look back...I had zero life or other experience to be giving advice;-) I clearly did not think so back then! This degree explains my structured focused thought process and my ability to see all legal issues whether I want to or not. My years practicing law is what sets me apart in developing people since I know exactly what is going on in the board room and various levels of the companies having created hundred of companies, written tens of thousands of contracts, reviewed I do not know how many financial statements etc., and having gone to court and battled many times.