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LeighAnn Kornberger
Class of 1988
Psychology Major

I was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1962.  I attended Corona Avenue School and Valley Stream Central High School.  When I was 17 years old, my family and I moved to La Jolla, California where I attended the University of San Diego.  I moved back to New York and completed a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Molloy College in 1988.

After some time and much traveling I landed in Maui, Hawaii where I met my husband.  We lived in a house up in Kula, in the heart of Maui’s agricultural district and where the Kula Sweet Maui Onion is grown.  I co-owned a gift basket company and worked with the island chefs and hotels.  I even worked on producing the Maui Onion Festival for several years.  This is where the idea for Sweety Onion® was born.  Sweety represents the peeling away of the many layers of life’s adventures.
I am now back in New York and developing a larger product line of novelty items, food products and a book that has Sweety at its heart.  I would love to reconnect with Molloy alumni – especially anyone with ideas for marketing my Sweety Onion product line!

What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
I found that creating Sweety Onion LLC gave me a creative freedom, that I somehow lost as I grew older.  Sweety allowed me to think as a child again and remember how free my thoughts once were.  Being able to create a vision is a wonderful gift that I do not take for granted.  Sweety is playful and fun; because of that I can allow that part of myself be expressed as well.

Who are your role models?
Disney and Warner Brothers have been the greatest creative models for me.  I always had many stuffed animals around, and still do.  They make me feel happy, comfortable and safe.  Because I have so many characters around me it was very easy for me to explore creating one of my own.  The coloring and design that Disney uses is so important to their overall message.  It created emotions and feelings that last a lifetime.  Disney’s imagery played a large factor in how I created Sweety’s coloring and how I work with Sweety now and in the future.

How do you balance work and life?
For me they are one in the same.  Sweety is with me everywhere I travel.  When a new thought or idea comes to me I write it down (usually on a Sweety notepad).  Keeping Sweety with me, in my car on and in my pocketbook, helps me to stay connected with my creative process at all times.  I like to work on one task at a time, and then can focus on my next project or situation.  I try very hard not to mix things together.  That will create a loss of that moment and the realness of that moment which cannot be retrieved.



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