Leilani works in mental health programs and policy, helping to secure access to quality services and supports for all students. She writes fiction across genres about myths, monsters, and monstrous ambition.

She is a 2024 Kundiman Fellow, a 2023 Lambda Literary Fellow for Emerging LGBTQ+ Voices, a 2022 Writers’ League of Texas Fellow, and a lifelong learner with degrees in Government, Communication Studies, Public Health, and Public Policy. She is the daughter of a Native Hawaiian and Vietnamese refugee, and she works to channel all aspects of her identity into her work.

When not writing, she’s known to go all-in on her various (emphasis on varied) hobbies, including everything from rock climbing to collecting stationery to making a perfectly crispy bánh xèo and catching up on her never-ending to-be-read and to-be-watched lists. She lives in Austin with her husband (whose coffee deliveries are 42% of why her drafts get drafted) and two cats (who take up way more space than 20lbs of fur should).