For Leslie, “[Momentum] offered two things— a network [and] an opportunity to learn.” Prior to committing to code school, Leslie spent over a decade putting her doctorate in vocal performance to good use.
She performed and taught at universities and in her own private studio before moving to North Carolina. She became intrigued with the active technology scene in NC and got involved in various tech groups. However, Leslie did not immediately pivot to tech.
While she had interest in the field early on, she ended up shifting her professional focus and working a 9‑to‑5 role as a Project Manager at UNC Chapel Hill. There, she was exposed to a lot of things that she found interesting, but she wasn’t really convinced that being a Project Manager was something that she wanted to pursue. Realizing her desire to expand her network and to push herself to learn something new that she could apply in the workplace, Leslie committed to Momentum.
Now, she’s back at UNC Chapel Hill as their Financial Reporting and Analytics Manager. Her work is more focused now, and allows her to utilize her understanding of institutional financials while applying her coding skills to structure data to create visualizations and more. “I feel like I am doing something that I want to do,” she says.

There’s just a big difference when you are going to work and you actually feel like you’re learning. For me, that’s a big component.
Financial Reporting and Analytics Manager
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For Leslie, Momentum equipped her with the skills she needed to continue to learn in whatever role she’s in. “Now I do feel like the skills I’m learning and what I am focusing on can translate onto another role and that is huge […] That to me is so empowering. I don’t think I had that before I went to Momentum.”
But, it’s not just about what she’s learned and what she’s continuing to learn. Leslie also says, “I feel like with Momentum, I can reach out to the staff knowing that they have my best interests in mind.”
“Momentum is there if I need to be connected,” she says.
Moving forward? Leslie’s aiming to continue to learn. For her, learning shapes all other things, so she’s made plans to join meetups, and to work with people to learn what she wants to learn. “If I always have that kind of objective of ‘what do I need to learn’, and ‘how much time do I think is reasonable to learn it’, then that creates opportunities […] because it gives [me] momentum.”
“Hence,” she says, “The name, ‘Momentum.’ That’s what we need — momentum.” We couldn’t agree more.