Ste was born in Middlesbrough Maternity Hospital, the son of Patricia Mary Ludley and Colin Leigh. Before the age of 9 he had already lived in three countres - UK, Poland and the Republic of Ireland - the family having travelled due to his Father's work. The family then settled in Redcar, which he considered home to this day and for which he kept a strong affection.  He attended Ings Farm Primary School, Rye Hills Secondary School and Longlands College in Middlesborough, before attaining a BTEC HND in Electronic and Computer Engineering from Teesside Polytechnic. Growing up, he was cheeky, loveable and popular. He did well at university, and progressed into working in the field, starting at OpenSystems in Redcar, moving onto Samsung in Sunderland and his final job in the North East was at Orange Telecom in Darlington. While working for Orange, he was offered a role at their headquarters in Salford, which led to his move to Manchester. In Manchester he worked at Knowledge Management Systems, iCon for British Airways, The British Council (in UK, Sierra Leone and Madrid) and The Christie. He left the Christie for a role with EPIC in NYC, returning in 2014 to set up his own company, SCL Technologies.