Michael and Stephania (known to friends and family as Nia) Leichtenschlag are happily settled in Coral Springs with their beautiful daughter Galilea, who is seven months old. The family is completed by a chihuahua/dachshund pup named Pepper.
Michael is the Director of Marketing Operations at Ryder System Inc, and Nia is a Dance Educator and competition coordinator at Xpress Yourself Dance Studio. Nia also owns her own photography business Nia Creates.
Michael has lived in Coral Springs since 1995, save for 4 years of college at UCF. “Nia moved to Coral Springs in 2019 when we decided to move in together,” he tells us. When asked about Galilea and her activities, Michael laughs and says, “Right now, she’s learning how to stand, trying to walk, and saying ‘Papa!’”
Michael has been volunteering for Parkland Buddy Sports since 2015 and joined the board in 2016. He has played basketball all his life and got started with Parkland Buddy Sports because of the basketball program. Now he coaches for the basketball, tennis, soccer, football, and running programs.
Nia has been teaching dance for over 10 years. She grew up training in all styles but her main focus growing up was Jazz, Ballet and Contemporary. She is passionate about the arts and invests a lot of her time training her competitive dance team to be strong & technical athletes. Her students are a constant source of motivation and inspiration.
When asked about family time, Nia tells us , “We enjoy traveling, salsa dancing, cooking, hiking, visiting family and friends, trying out new restaurants, playing trivia games, and snuggling with our baby and our dog.” She also adds that living in Coral Springs is wonderful, because it is close proximity to their families, and they love the wide variety of restaurants throughout the city.
Nia was born and raised in Colombia. Michael works with Nia’s sister, Nathalie, and went to Nathalie’s wedding in Cali, Colombia back in November 2017. Michael says, “We both had the same flight and we met in the Miami airport the day before the wedding! We also got married in Cali, Colombia in June 2022. Colombian culture is very important to us – we visit Colombia every year and speak Spanish to our daughter.”
Michael is a diehard Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres fan and has been playing bass guitar for over 20 years. After graduating College with a degree in film, Nia started her photography business back in 2017. She primarily does dance photography, but also shoots headshots and portraits. She also loves to cook and is the chef of the house.
