Leah Justine is a Pacific Northwest Native with a love for mountains, coffee, and country music. Her life’s unfolding experiences demonstrate accomplishments and success already well deserved. Not stated at all lightly, she is energetic, loving and caring, confident, sensible and creative and gives the best of all her talents.
Leah grew up with a love of music. She was born and raised in Tacoma, WA in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. As a 90’s baby, she watched animated Disney movies that first sparked her love of storytelling through singing. Her family, varied in their music interests, exposed her to a wide range of genres and provided the opportunity for her to receive training in both vocal and dance and to perform at various venues.
In school, Leah was gifted in math and science and excelled in both. Graduating from high school, the time arrived for her to choose a course of further education. Leah had always wanted to be singer but she wasn’t certain how to accomplish the goal and to have a successful life as a singer. It was her passion, but it seemed to be an ambiguous and unknown path. It was a difficult decision in her life. She enjoyed music and was always excited to perform. Leah also wanted to become an independent woman, capable of financially caring for herself.
Leah found a way to do both but gave the practical more emphasis. She accepted a four year full tuition academic scholarship to the University of Southern California, majoring in engineering. She was a magna cum laude graduate from the Viterbi School of Engineering, earning a B.S. in Industrial & Systems Engineering.
In between her engineering classes at the University, Leah filled her schedule with classes from the Musical Theater minor. She studied with several amazing professors, including Kelly Ward (Putzie, from “Grease”). Leah continued to be cast in musical theater productions throughout college and participated in local Miss America pageants during her four year stay in California.
After graduating from the University of Southern California and while working in the field of her major, Leah managed to find time to continue with music and perform, giving the best of her abilities in both.
For more than ten years, Leah has worked for the Department of Defense (DOD) as a Project Manager and has earned her Project Management Professional certification, as well as her Professional Engineering License. She manages extremely large multi-disciplinary teams through all phases of
the project life cycle and has been trusted to manage several of the region’s highest profile projects.
The honors received for the work Leah has accomplished following her graduation reflect her work ethic, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Seattle District New Employee of the Year (2011); U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Seattle District Project Manager of the Year (2014 & 2018); U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Northwestern Division Project Manager of the Year (2019).