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At the end of each traditional academic year, Jackson College recognizes leaders who are making an impact in their world.
Among them was Kyle Leighton who received the 2021 Captain Zenneth A. Pond Soaring Young Alumni Award.
The Captain Zenneth A. Pond Soaring Young Alumni Award recognizes the outstanding achievements of individuals who have distinguished themselves through professional accomplishments, and who have demonstrated the qualities of integrity and character early in their careers.
Native to Jackson, Michigan, Kyle Leighton is an entrepreneur, business executive, and investor. He holds an Associate’s degree from Jackson College and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication from Siena Heights University.
Prior to establishing his businesses, Kyle started his career at Everlast Lighting as a Public Relations representative in 2011. There he studied and mastered the commercial lighting trade’s integrities. What began as dry research took on a life of its own as Kyle’s engineering reports and case studies were later published in trade magazines, international publications, and college textbooks. Kyle also worked on projects for the United States Department of Energy, and the University of California Davis Lighting Technology Center. During this time, Leighton was invited to teach at Jackson College as an adjunct instructor and help develop the Energy Systems Management Associate’s degree program. As a result of his work, Leighton was honored at the National Association of Electrical Distributors LEAD Conference in Chicago, Illinois, as he was named to tED Magazine’s list of emerging electrical industry leaders in the United States. And, in 2014, Leighton received the Recent Graduate Award from Siena Heights University which was also based on his success in the energy field.
In 2015, Leighton moved to New York City where he worked and consulted for businesses in New York, Boston, and Moscow, Russia. While visiting a construction site, Leighton made the decision to take all that he had learned and form his own engineering company, which is still going strong today. Later, Leighton invested all of his profits into real estate markets, laying the groundwork for him to found Leighton Property Management. To date, Leighton Property Management currently owns a portfolio exceeding $1M in residential real estate within Michigan.
Along with the finer points of lighting design, installation, and global regulations, Leighton learned a great deal about international imports and brokering while sourcing lighting components in China. It was this specified knowledge that led him to found Tapestry Girls in 2019. With distribution in California, Pennsylvania, and Florida, Tapestry Girls currently sells its products direct to consumers as well as to wholesale customers such as Society6, Redbubble, Amazon, and Walmart. The company was recently given a 7-figure valuation by Clearbanc, a financial firm headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
Overall, Leighton has a deep understanding of how to drive scalable operational growth and innovation, and as a person who comes from humbling beginnings, enjoys demonstrating to others that the key to success stems from hard work, dedication, and resilience. Further, Leighton has helped numerous young people develop their own successful businesses by securing commercial real estate and startup capital.
“When I learned that I had been recognized with the 2021 Captain Zenneth A. Pond Soaring Young Alumni Award, I was humbly honored,” Kyle Leighton said. “Jackson College is an excellent institution and I am thankful for all that I learned during my time there.”
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