TOP 15 HOME INDUSTRY INFLUENCERS
1 DOROTHY LEYBA Tiny Home Village
Program Manager, Colorado Village Collaborative
coloradovillagecollaborative.org
Raised by a single mom in East Denver, Dorothy Leyba knew the struggles of generational poverty firsthand, which might be why she’s pursued a career focused on helping others in similar situations. After working for Denver Public Schools as an education liaison for students experiencing homelessness, she joined Colorado Village Collaborative (CVC)—an organization that provides houseless Denverites with access to shelter and the opportunity “to lay their heads out of the elements and start thinking about healing their traumas that got them there,” Leyba says—in 2019. Leyba manages the day-to-day operations of CVC’s 33 tiny homes, which currently house 38 residents. “I make sure that the village community is a safe, healthy, transformative environment,” she says. She also plans programs for residents, ranging from employment- and housing-navigation services to yoga classes and writing workshops. As a result, CVC has no shortage of feel-good success stories: A nine-month study found that the vast majority of former residents were in stable housing, employed, and/or in school after moving on from their stays with CVC.
[ NO. 2 ] MIKE ALBERT
Principal, Design Workshop
Saying that Aspen-based landscape architect Mike Albert was a wunderkind is an understatement. “I started a business at age 15, selling seasonal plants like poinsettias and mums, and mowing lawns,” says Albert, who grew up on a third-generation cattle ranch in the Oklahoma panhandle. “It was all word of mouth, and I just loved the client-relations side of it.” So it’s no surprise that Albert chose to pursue a career in residential landscape design—where his passions for working with people and plants intersect. Armed with a master’s degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Albert became a partner at Design Workshop in
