About Luis Leonardo

I have spent most of my life moving between worlds that, at first glance, seem to have very little in common.

Aviation. Entrepreneurship. Hot air balloons. Real estate. Media.

But looking back, I see a common thread running through all of them: people, places, opportunities — and the decisions we make before we know exactly where they will lead.

My professional journey began in 1996 in Dominican civil aviation, where I built a career in air traffic control that would eventually include operational, management and national leadership responsibilities.

That same year, I also entered the world of entrepreneurship, co-founding a construction and real estate company. I didn’t know it then, but those two paths — aviation and business — would continue intersecting throughout my life.

In 2000, another unlikely chapter began.

I founded Dominican Balloons and became a licensed hot air balloon pilot. What started as an entrepreneurial adventure became more than two decades in commercial ballooning, with over 3,000 flights and experiences that took me beyond the Dominican Republic to places including Mexico, Albuquerque and Taiwan.

Eventually, I became the Dominican Republic’s first certified hot air balloon flight instructor and had the privilege of training the country’s second licensed balloon pilot.

A new chapter

Years later, real estate returned to the center of my professional life.

I founded CanaCity in Punta Cana and began advising clients navigating one of the Caribbean’s most dynamic real estate and investment markets. During 2025, I closed more than US$3 million in real estate transactions.

But something else was becoming increasingly clear to me.

Punta Cana was growing into much more than a tourism destination. Entrepreneurs, developers, executives, investors and families were quietly building the next chapter of the region.

Their stories deserved to be told.

That idea became Punta Cana Inside — a platform for conversations with the people shaping where Punta Cana comes from, where it is today and where it may be going next.

Why this site exists

At this stage of my life, I am increasingly interested not only in what we build, but in what we learn while building it.

This site is where I intend to document some of those lessons.

Leadership. Business. Aviation. Real estate. Punta Cana. People. Decisions that worked — and some that didn’t.

I am not writing because I believe I have all the answers.

Quite the opposite.

After decades of building, flying, leading, selling, failing, learning and starting again, I have discovered that the questions become more interesting.

One of them continues to guide me:

What should I begin building today so that I am ready when tomorrow arrives?

— Luis Leonardo
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic