Skip to content Leigh Bertelsen

Calm, focused, kind.

That's how colleagues describe me. I try to deserve it.

I'm a senior web developer based in Copenhagen, and I've been building things on the internet for 17 years, across fintech, e-commerce, nonprofits, wellness, healthcare, and education. I genuinely love this work. Getting a high-level overview of what a business needs and then running with it from planning to execution, that's where I'm happiest and where I do my best work.

Right now I'm at Skandinavisk Data Center, where I'm part of the team building and evolving a core banking platform across 50+ Nordic financial institutions. Within that I led the company-wide accessibility initiative, which is something I'm particularly proud of, both for the reach of its impact and for how we integrated it into the team's workflow without adding friction. Before that I spent years freelancing through my studio Neptune Illume, working with clients in yoga, meditation, nonprofit, and wellness, which gave me a foundation in listening carefully, moving fast, and building things that actually sound and feel like the people they're for.

working with me

I'm calm, focused, and I care a lot about people's time. Colleagues consistently describe me as someone who lifts the quality and mood of a team without making a big deal of it. I think that's because I genuinely enjoy the work and enjoy the people I do it with.

I thrive at being an expert in tandem with helping others. That means I'm as comfortable presenting architectural decisions to a CTO as I am walking a first-time client through what a website actually needs to do for their business. I find working with non-technical people particularly rewarding, because what I do genuinely seems like magic to them, which never gets old.

When I say something, I've usually already thought it through. I process internally before I speak, which means my contributions tend to be considered rather than reactive, and I plan for the long term rather than the next sprint.

beyond the work

I'm also a 500-hour certified yoga teacher, an ICF-accredited coach, and someone who has spent a significant part of her life in serious study of contemplative practice, from monasteries in Nepal and India to academic Buddhist studies in Austria. I mention this not because it's unusual, but because it's part of how I approach everything: with patience, with genuine attention, and with a long view. If you're curious about that side of things, you can find it at Breathe and Be.

I live by a forest outside of Copenhagen with my husband Mads and our dog Nighteyes. I have a small garden, I'm a maker in the broadest sense of the word, from building things with Raspberry Pi to crochet to watercolour, and I mark the turning of the year.

education

  • Drexel University B.S. Digital Media, Fine Art Minor, Graduated with Honors September 2005 to June 2009 · Philadelphia, PA A liberal arts curriculum grounded in 3D modelling and animation, human-computer interaction, web development, programming principles, design, new media theory, and photo, audio, and video processing. This is where I learned to think about technology and design as inseparable disciplines.
  • She Leads ICF-Accredited Coach Certification Coach training grounded in ICF methodology, feminine leadership, somatic and nervous system approaches, and self-worth as a foundation for change. This training deepened what I already knew from years of yoga and contemplative study and gave it a practical coaching framework.
  • FreeCodeCamp Responsive Web Design · JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures · Front End Libraries January to March 2020
  • Marie Forleo B-School, Marketing Certification · The Copy Cure, Copywriting Certification March to June 2020

contact

If you're looking for a senior developer with depth in accessibility, platform thinking, and a genuine interest in the people on the other end of the screen, I'd love to hear from you.