Xiomara “CieCie” Leonard
Staff Spotlight
Passionate. Professional. Creative. Encouraging. Innovative. These are but a few of the words chosen to describe Xiomara “CieCie” Leonard by those who know her best.
“She is professional, committed and passionate about her work and has a dedication to quality that ensures excellence in programming while staying in tune with the latest fitness trends,” says Adrienne MacKenzie, associate director of Fitness & Wellness and CieCie’s supervisor.
CieCie came on board as assistant director for the Fitness & Wellness program in June 2019. Prior to that, she served as the fitness and wellness graduate assistant at Texas A&M–Commerce where she earned her Master of Science degree in Kinesiology, Sports and Health Studies. The Florida native received her bachelor of science in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology from the University of Florida.
One of her main goals at RecSports has been to provide cutting edge classes and programming for participants and staff.
Since her start just over a year ago, she added Barre, POUND®, and Stand-Up Paddle Board Yoga to the TeXercise schedule. She taught a free outdoor Zumba student participants. She led the Longhorns to victory over the Aggies in the Texas Fight Cycling Challenge that took place last fall.
“These measures not only keep the Fit/Well programs competitive and current, but also helps us keep up with the changing needs of our participants,” MacKenzie said. One of her most important accomplishments to date has been working with the team to develop the TeXercise on Demand virtual program and the modified TeXercise on Campus program in response to COVID-19.
“CieCie was able to pivot programming to a virtual platform, facing challenges with quick and effective solutions, all the while staying laser focused on the job at hand, in a strong display of grit, determination and professionalism,” MacKenzie said.
Despite being one of the youngest full-time RecSports staff to serve on the management team, CieCie has leveraged her experience and education to supervise a diverse team of 70 group fitness instructors and assist in overseeing 20 personal trainers.
Shannon Briggs, a group fitness instructor and personal trainer who’s been practicing in the field of fitness for 30 years, admits to being a bit skeptical when she learned that she would report to CieCie. After all, Briggs has children CieCie’s age.
“Wow, was I wrong! I grossly underestimated her skills, talent, vision and leadership….(CieCie) works to build up each one of the instructors under her leadership to be the best they can be. This past year has been the most fun I have had at UT, the most challenging, too!,” Briggs said.
CieCie also manages the highly specialized F45 Training Studio and trains, develops and evaluates all of the instructors and coaches. Her other major responsibility is instructing curriculum for the ACE Group Fitness and Personal certification course for 10 weeks each semester.
“CieCie brings a breadth and depth of fitness knowledge and her expertise has been vital to the training of instructors and continuing to grow our staff development opportunities,” noted senior director Jennifer Speer, who once upon a time filled the position CieCie now holds.
While it’s easy to peg CieCie as only a hardworking, dedicated professional and always on the job, she’s the epitome of playfulness and fun, on and off the clock. She loves to laugh, is known to practice her aerial skills (yes, she’s trained in Circus Arts), and enjoys hiking with her boyfriend Michael and dog Drishti (which in Sanskrit or in yoga terms means “focused gaze”).
Learn about the latest ways to find your fit with RecSports by keeping up with our Fitness/Wellness program!
