About Us
Charlie Leonard is the construction genius behind Ithaca Artisan apartments. All our buildings are his handiwork, most all from plans drawn up by Ann per his specifications. Charlie is capable of caring for most anything that goes awry in the apartments, and for the few things that prove beyond his experience, we have a network of professionals to rely upon for assistance. Currently all our routine maintenance, repairs and lawn mowing is handled “in house.” We have just recently started hiring out the snow plowing. We also have a terrific crew of independent contractors who fill in the gaps when needed.
When not building or maintaining things for Ithaca Artisan and around home, Charlie is playing as hard as he works. His free time passion is running, and not just your hop skip and jump marathon, either. His shortest race distance is typically 32 miles, with 50 and 100 mile races more to his liking. These races take a lot of time, both to run and to train for. Race times are typically in the 24 to 36 hour range… depending on the hilliness and technicality of the course; to date he has two sub 24 hour 100 mile races under his belt. Training for these races takes the most time, however, and our times away from Ithaca are typically planned around Charlie’s race schedule.
Ann Leonard is Ithaca Artisan‘s property manager. When prospective tenants write Ithaca Artisan for the first time, it is Ann who answers their questions and sets appointments for viewing places. She handles the phone, email, website and paperwork, manages apartment turnovers, fetches supplies, and helps with the repairs, maintenance, and lawns.
As it is difficult to write about oneself in the third person without feeling just a wee bit self conscious, I switch here to first person.
I am passionate about horses, natural horsemanship and long distance riding. I have three horses in our barn at present. Cricket is a sweet-natured 13 year old Welsh pony who is teaching our grandkids to ride like responsible equestrians. Apollo, pictured above, is my now-retired endurance horse, a blood bay Egyptian Arabian and my anam cara, the twinkle in my eye and the wind beneath my wings. Gunner is a old style gaited Morgan who just joined us in 2021 and is proving to be one of the kindest little guys I’ve ever had the pleasure to call mine. We are hard at work helping him learn to gait properly, a whole new ball game for me, never having owned a gaited horse before, but we are having fun learning together.
I love cows, dogs and cats… actually, just about any furry critter (what else would you expect from the daughter of two veterinarians?) Nature and trails advocacy is very important to me as well, and is where I direct most of my volunteer efforts as the co-leader of the Friends of Hammond Hill. Besides being fond of hiking and back country camping, Charlie and I have also done short and long distance orienteering, a map and compass sport we have competed in around the world. Learn more about this year round activity at United States Orienteering Federation’s website and then try a local event… check the schedule by logging onto Central New York Orienteering’ Why stick to the beaten path when you can find your own way with map and compass?
Increasingly, our daughter-in-law, Zoe Leonard, is assisting with the management end of the business. In time, we hope to turn that entirely over into her capable hands. In her own words:
Originally from Fuzhou, China, I emigrated with my family to the United States in search of the American Dream when I was just 16. I soon earned my Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from SUNY Oswego; during which time I developed strong leadership, managerial and entrepreneurial skills as an 5 year UnFranchise owner with Market America. Moving to the Ithaca area with my husband in 2008, I spent 5 years at CFCU Community Credit Union learning customer and financial service excellence through my progressive growth working as a teller, member relations representative, and finally, ending my time there as an interim branch manager.
Leaving the job market in 2015 for 4 years, I changed my focus to nurturing my growing family, and providing the best possible early childhood experience for my three beautiful daughters, McKenzie, Aislynn, and Evelynn. During these-at times – terrifying, sleep deprived, yet heart meltingly wonderful years, I rekindled my entrepreneurial spirit by achieving my long held dream of becoming a Licensed Real Estate Salesperson. This wonderful profession allows me to develop lasting relationships while exceeding my clients’ expectations in achieving their goals of buying the right home, selling property, or making real estate investments.
Currently, I enjoy contributing to this wonderful community through involvement in the Cornell Campus Club, YMCA, Ithaca Dragon Boat Club, and by increasing cultural awareness through events such as the Lunar New Year Celebration at Southworth Library.