英文reported speech

:Sally Smith said that everyone thought Leon was handsome. Then she asked if he needed good looks to be successful. Leon replied that it's more important to have self confidence while hard work is also important. She asked Leon what are his plans for the future.

excellent!!

Sally Smith said that everyone thought Leon was handsome. Then she asked if/whether he needed good looks to be successful. Leon replied that it was more important to have self confidence because/since/as hard work is also important. She asked Leon what (his plans were) for the future.

繼續答埋(2)
it was more important to have self-confidence. Hard work was also important. Sally Smith asked what his plans were in the future.
Remarks: 「past tense」 is used instead of 「present tense」 as I think 「present tense」 will only be used in 「truth」 cases such as 「the sun is rising in the east」. 「Hard work....」is not necessarily linked by a conjunction with the first sentence. What to do if Neon said in a few sentences instead two only as above?
This is only my personal opinion.