Leanda's specialist fields of teaching are interior design, design process and concept generation, and furniture design. She has over 20 years teaching experience including periods of time at Cleveland College of Art, Sunderland University, the University of Northumbria at Newcastle and, for the past 19 years, at Teesside University. Embarking on her creative career at Cleveland College of Art and Design, she studied a 3-dimensional design degree at Middlesex University (first class honours) and she completed her studies at the Royal College of Art in London with an MA Furniture Design. Leanda has worked as a freelance designer in the UK, and had work exhibited in London and the Far East.