Leonard was born on 26 October 1981 and completed his schooling in Singapore.

When Leonard was in primary school, his teachers identified him as more artistically-inclined than academically-inclined. In spite of this, they believed that Leonard could achieve much better academic results if he were to put in more effort in his studies. One of whom was Mrs Lynette Chan. She retired from the education service in 2004.

When Leonard was in secondary school, his favourite subjects were Geography, Art and especially Chemistry and Physics. This was partly due to his innate interests and the teachers' friendly disposition. Such was Leonard's interests in science that he wowed his audience with his showcase of a pyrotechnic effect using a low explosive (made from a mixture of chemicals) in a science fair. One of his favourite Science teachers, Mr Seet Chong Beng, retired in 1998. During Leonard's secondary school days, he was tasked to take on the roles of prefect and peer tutor. Although he declined to be a prefect, he gladly accepted the latter role. Through helping his classmates with their schoolwork and seeing their improved results, Leonard realised, for the first time, the importance of a sharing and giving spirit.

After his GCE O-levels, Leonard moved on to Nanyang Junior College. Having experienced JC life, Leonard knew that it was not what he wanted and opted to join a polytechnic instead.

Leonard studied at Temasek Polytechnic, graduating with a Diploma in Applied Food Science and Nutrition (Food Technology). In 2000, Leonard was awarded the Director's List of Top 10 students for his good academic results. In the course of his study, Leonard's pet modules included Principles of Management, Food Preservation, Packaging, and Food Product Development. This led him to eventually opt to major in food technology. During Leonard's Industrial Attachment, he worked as a flavour compounder at a Singapore-based German flavour house Harmann and Reimer. For Leonard's Final Year Project, he teamed up with his two classmates to study the effects of using the concentrator and Climbing Film Evaporator on different flavour cordials. Their Project Supervisor was Mr. Tan Keng Beng.

Leonard begain his Full-Time National Service in July 2001. He was posted to 46 Singapore Armoured Regiment three months later. Leonard was selected for the tankee gunner position after he achieved the highest overall simulation test scores among his cohort. However, he had to stop his formal training because of a leg infection. As a result, Leonard joined the 84mm Recoilless Rifle team instead. Due to his good performances and his superiors' recommendation, Leonard was invited to have a breakfast session with the Commanding Officer Colonel Lim Jit Chek. Thereafter, Leonard was selected for the Best Soldier Award in 2002. In the same year, Leonard was also invited to feature in 46 SAR's farewell video clip for Colonel Lim.

He joined the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University in July 2004. In Leonard's final year research project, he studied the effects of ammonia on carbohydrate metabolism of the tropical cuttlefish Sepia pharaonis. His Project Supervisor was Associate Professor Chew S. F. in the Natural Sciences Department. In Leonard's final year, his and his friends' lesson plans were chosen to feature in Associate Professor Jessie Ee's book entitled "Empowering Metacognition through Social-Emotional Learning:  Lessons from the Classroom". In the same year, Leonard did an Interdisciplinary Project Work (IPW) which focuses on helping upper primary pupils choose the right secondary school through sound decision-making - the first of its kind in the project work module and was singled out by his lecturers for its potential in schools. Leonard graduated in 2008.

As an undergraduate, Leonard has been urging his cohort mates to share their teaching resources with one another. This led him to set up many online sharing folders. As a result of these sharing initiatives, many trainee teachers benefited and started to be increasingly pro-active in sharing teaching resources. Besides his studies, Leonard also spent his time sourcing for ideas to improve the Brainbits website in terms of content and design.

Read more about the history of Brainbits.

Before becoming a full-fledged teacher, Leonard had his two Teaching Practicums (TP) at Cedar Primary School. Mr Sim Eak Bian was Leonard's Co-operating Teacher (CT) during his first TP. Mrs Katherine Faroek and Miss Goh Wai Leng were Leonard's CTs during his second TP. Besides his three CTs, Leonard also had the invaluable support of Mr Jabbar, Mr Fadil, Mr Naufal, Mr Saiful, and the Cedar management team that comprises the Principal Mrs Sharon Siew, the Vice-Principal Mdm Ariken Charmaine, Mr Goi Seng Poh, Mrs Katherine Yap, Mr Sun Chin Keong, Mr Ken Chong, Mrs Elaine Loke, Mr Zaki, and Mdm Maimon. Their invaluable advice opened Leonard's perspectives on teaching and made him realise that teaching is not about teaching of subject knowledge. Neither is it about teaching children. It is about the passing-on of the correct values and equipping our pupils with a variety of strategies that are relevant in today's society.  

Under their tutelage, Leonard learnt a great deal of teaching-related skills and led him to realise the wisdom in Epictetus' words: