Leona has more than a decade of experience in health care public relations.  She has worked with clients in almost all facets of health care from hospitals and Medicare providers to public awareness campaigns for initiatives such as HIV/AIDS testing and organ and tissue donation.  She served as an account supervisor at Miller Geer Arizmendez (MGA), a Los Angeles area public relations agency, where she began her career as an intern.  Presently, she serves the agency as a media relations consultant and arranges for physicians and hospital administrators to comment on breaking news. She arranges for media coverage on the scientific and human aspect of health care.

Leona interned at three Los Angeles television stations, KVEA-TV, KNBC-TV and KABC-TV.  These experiences taught her how to place her clients into breaking news.  Under the direction of best-selling author and Associated Press and CNN television reporter/producer Susan Bullington Katz, Leona further polished her writing and editing skills and learned how journalists think.

As a writer of cover stories for Long Beach Magazine, Leona has interviewed international celebrities such as Billie Jean King, Cameron Diaz and Snoop Dogg who talked to her about growing up in Long Beach and their unique crusades to contribute to their hometown.  Her article on Diaz and her sister, Chimene, was the first time Diaz' sister had been publicly interviewed and photographed.  Her articles showcased local personalities including three-time Super Bowl Champion Willie McGinest and local attorney Skip Keesal whose charity events honoring Former Presidents Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, and former British Prime Ministers John Major and Lady Margaret Thatcher generously benefit children’s charities.

Leona has also written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, San Pedro Today, San Pedro Magazine, Coastal Scene Magazine, Vancouver View Magazine, North Valley Magazine and the Inland Empire Business Journal.