It’s been a winding journey for Leanna (Petrusma) Nightingale ’18, but looking back, she can see it’s all been part of God’s plan for her.

While she started her education at Redeemer studying social work, it took a few twists and turns, both in her education, and her career, to get to where she is now, working as a real estate specialist for the City of Hamilton.

After switching to psychology, an area that she was interested in for the opportunities to study people and their dynamics and how people work, she continued to explore career paths. It was a conversation with a professor who led her down the route of business, where the idea of doing a co-op placement really appealed to her.

After graduation, she started working in appraisals, then jumped to not-for-profit work, including a donor engagement coordinator role for Indwell, before an opportunity presented itself to go to the City of Hamilton and continue on with some of the work she had started during her co-op there.

“It’s been neat for me to look back at God’s faithfulness on that journey, because sometimes you’re a little bit lost and not quite sure where he’s taking you, but just really feeling that faithfulness from him on that entire journey,” says Nightingale.

God’s providence also included the preparation and support she received from her professors at Redeemer. It’s her leadership and ethics classes that she appreciates a lot.

“Things aren’t always black and white in the world we live in,” she says. And she says the real-life scenarios of those classes tackled those big questions.

You stand out when you show these characteristics in a workplace and show initiative, show drive. I do think that the business program really set me up for that.

While those classes were a bit more challenging, they taught important lessons of how character matters. They’re lessons that Nightingale carries in her work today, such as questioning how she wants to lead in the places she’s in.

“You stand out when you show these characteristics in a workplace and show initiative, show drive. I do think that the business program really set me up for that,” Nightingale says. “Who you are really does matter.”

Her continuous learning and growing hasn’t finished either. Building off of the presentation skills she developed during her business classes at Redeemer where she said they had to present regularly in class, she now has it as one of her professional development goals at work to build towards being able to present at council one day.

“Even though some of those experiences were frustrating, it teaches you things that you’re going to need in the workplace,” she says.

She also credits the business program for setting her up for success. Her professors stressed the importance of integrity, and provided opportunities to develop more of who she was.

One of those ways for Nightingale was through her co-op placements. Her second co-op placement was at the City of Hamilton. The confidence she had gained over her first co-op, and her classes, prepared her for the opportunity to step up when her supervisor went on maternity leave, and finish a report to council that is still referenced in the work she and her colleagues do today.

I think that I’m able to live out the calling that I have to love other people. Part of that is because the work I do directly impacts those who are struggling.

Now, back at the City of Hamilton, though currently off on her own maternity leave at present, she’s happy to be in a job where she’s able to serve others.

“I have always wanted to help people and didn’t quite know what that was going to look like, and I feel like there’s a ton of meaning in my job,” she explains. “I think that I’m able to live out the calling that I have to love other people. Part of that is because the work I do directly impacts those who are struggling. And so I love getting to do that and to be a part of making a difference in the small way that I can.”

In her role, she helps identify city-owned property that would be suitable for affordable housing. The work includes bringing the locations to council for their approval, then getting sites ready, and finding partner organizations that can take the sites forward and develop them.

“I guess I kind of look at it from a bit more of a very long-term thing,” she says. For Nightingale, the work she does is a tangible way to reflect God’s Kingdom here on earth.