Ilana Golan leads a career transformation platform breaking career barriers for others.
Ilana Golan’s path to founding Leap Academy began in the most unexpected of ways: training F-16 pilots. As the first woman to command a training unit for pilots in the Israeli Air Force, Ilana’s career has been characterized by breaking barriers and pioneering new spaces. From the skies to the boardroom, she’s built a career focused on leaping from one challenge to the next. She is now sharing her hard-earned wisdom with professionals around the world through Leap Academy, the career development platform she launched in 2020.
“Leaping is something I’ve done throughout my life,” Ilana says. “Whether it was becoming the first woman to lead F-16 pilot training or pivoting to Silicon Valley executive, investor and entrepreneur, I’ve always had to reinvent myself. I realized that others face the same challenge, but no one was teaching them how.”
Leap Academy is designed for professionals looking to navigate major career transitions, whether they’re seeking a new role, pivoting professional fields, or starting their own business.
“We meet people where they are and take them higher,” Ilana explains. “What makes Leap Academy different is that we don’t just offer coaching. We provide a proven recipe backed by mindset coaching, personal branding, and networking. That’s what makes the results so fast and so impactful.”
This emphasis on fast, tangible results is what sets Leap Academy apart from traditional education platforms like MBA programs or executive coaching. In its first four years, Leap Academy has guided thousands of professionals, helping them secure promotions, land new jobs, or raise capital for their ventures.
“Many of our clients come to us with an MBA already in hand, but they still feel stuck,” Ilana says. “We help them break through that ceiling and achieve more than they ever thought possible. Experience and personal brand is everything these days, so the faster you embrace that and take action, the more opportunities open your way.”
Ilana’s own journey from military officer to tech executive and entrepreneur laid the foundation for Leap Academy’s creation. After leaving the Air Force, she joined Intel as one of the youngest engineers, where she led the acquisition of a Swedish startup. She then joined multiple successful startups. But despite her success in the corporate world, Ilana faced her own challenges of feeling stuck.
“I hit the glass ceiling,” she says. “As a woman in tech, I had to fight to prove myself constantly. There was so much I had to learn, and no one was teaching it.”
After a co-founder took over her first startup and left her with nothing, Ilana found herself at a crossroads. She knew how difficult it could be to rebuild from scratch, and she wasn’t alone in that struggle.
“So many incredible professionals stay stuck, not because they lack talent, but because they don’t have the tools or confidence to make their next leap,” Ilana says. “That’s why I started Leap Academy. I wanted to give them the same process that worked for me and fast this process forward for anyone driven.”
When Ilana launched Leap Academy in 2020, the world was just entering the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Job markets were crashing, and professionals across industries were grappling with layoffs. But rather than retreat, Ilana doubled down on her mission.
“The pandemic showed us that we need to be adaptable, more than ever,” she says. “People were being let go left and right, but I knew that what I had created could help them rise above the panic.”
By offering free coaching to companies like Lyft, which had laid off hundreds of employees, Leap Academy quickly gained momentum.
“We helped people get back on their feet during one of the toughest job markets in history,” Ilana says. “Our results were so profound that I received the CEO World Award in 2020 for our work.”
Since then, Leap Academy has continued to grow exponentially. In 2022 alone, Leap participants saw over $60 million in value creation, with an average salary increase of $100,000. Many graduates have landed significant roles in major corporations like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook or gone on to become executives at companies such as T-Mobile, Salesforce, Gates Foundation, and more. Others have launched successful startups or secured venture capital funding. All of them feeling powerful and the best version of themselves.
The success of Leap Academy’s approach lies in its holistic, 360-degree model. The academy’s proprietary method starts with deep self-reflection, helping people find their zone of genius and identify their career direction. From there, they receive support in personal branding to leadership development.
“One of the biggest hurdles for professionals today is not knowing what they want next,” Ilana says. “Once you figure that out, we give you the right branding, network, strategies and support, you can achieve so much.”
Ilana’s journey, from her time in the Air Force to her leadership in Silicon Valley, is all about the power of reinvention. With Leap Academy, she’s not just helping professionals make career transitions — she’s teaching them how to leap forward with confidence, no matter what challenges lie ahead.
As Ilana puts it: “We’re living in an era of unlimited possibilities. But to seize those opportunities, you need to be ready to leap.”
To learn more about Leap Academy, visit their website.
Spencer Hulse is the Editorial Director at Grit Daily. He is responsible for overseeing other editors and writers, day-to-day operations, and covering breaking news.
