260: Big Things Are Blooming in the Leading Lady Community

Hi there. You’re listening to the Leading Lady podcast. I’m your host, AliceAnne Loftus, and I’m a certified professional coach specializing in leadership and work-life balance. I work with clients to shift their limiting beliefs, insecurities, and self-doubt. This podcast will be filled with tools and strategies to help high-achieving women like you feel connected, empowered, and in the lead of your life, both personally and professionally. Let’s transform your life starting now. Lead yourself, the rest will follow.

Hi there, leading ladies, and welcome to today’s episode. I am super excited to share what’s going on with the Leading Lady community, what I’ve got cooking.

Have you ever had one of those seasons where everything you’ve been working on just finally starts blooming? Because that’s exactly where I am right now, and I have been bursting at the seams and just so excited to share it all with you.

If you’re new here, I’m AliceAnne Loftus. I’m the host and founder of Leading Lady Coaching. I also run a local (to me) networking and education group called the Annapolis Collective here in my hometown, Annapolis, Maryland. And I also run an online community on Facebook called Leading Ladies with AliceAnne Loftus. We’re up to about 7,000 members now, and we recently launched the Leading Lady Business Hub. That launched at the end of April, and it’s doing phenomenal. I’ll give you more details about that in just a few minutes.

What Leading Lady Is All About

But the Leading Lady community, and what Leading Lady is to me, is that I really wanted to create a space where high-achieving women like you could come and learn from each other, be in a safe space without judgment, without competition, to really explore what it looks and feels like to step into your authentic leadership.

And I’m not just talking about how you lead others, but really how you lead yourself. Obviously, my first book, Take the Lead, is all about how women become the leaders of their own lives and step into that power and wisdom that we have as women who are navigating our very full lives, often juggling many different roles, and how we can do that with grace and resilience and intention.

And so welcome. If this is new to you, I hope that this is the space you’ve been looking for. I know that it was the space that I needed, and it didn’t exist, so I created it. Leading Lady started in 2016. Here we are, 2025, and I have to pinch myself sometimes when I look at what has evolved, how it’s grown, how it continues to grow, and what lies ahead for my future and for the future of Leading Lady.

In today’s episode, I really wanna go over some new programs that I’ve launched and share how the Leading Lady team is growing. We’ve got some exciting events and things happening, and also a fresh wave of inspiration that I’m experiencing and just can’t wait to share with all of you.

Launching the Leading Lady Internship Program

So first up, I wanna talk about this new internship program that I launched. I wanna share the inspiration behind it. I had been looking for some support in Leading Lady for quite some time. I’m in that place of business where I’m really ready to scale, and I can’t do it on my own. And I think so many of us have been there in our businesses, where it’s beyond even outsourcing tasks.

I’ve been outsourcing for a long time. I have a lot of people on my team that I delegate out to, but those are mostly businesses that I work with. I wasn’t really ready to bring on employees. However, Leading Lady is growing exponentially. We’re experiencing rapid growth, lots of really cool things happening, and I knew that it was time to move to that next level.

And I wanted it to really align with who Leading Lady is. Leading Lady the community, the vision, the mission, the values of Leading Lady, and that’s all about empowering people, helping people step into the best version of themselves, whatever that might be. If it’s growing their business, whatever that might be.

And so after a lot of soul-searching, that’s when it just hit me like a ton of bricks that Leading Lady, the business, needed interns. It needed to provide a space where young professionals could come and learn from all the members of Leading Lady, the ambassadors of Leading Lady, and myself, and really get to experience what it feels like to be in a space where women are uplifting and supporting and encouraging and empowering one another.

And so we brought on three interns for the summer, and we’re kind of fleshing out what this internship program looks like, and how to create a win-win situation where these college ladies are gaining valuable skills and experiences and perspectives and mentorship. And it’s also supporting the members of Leading Lady, and me as the business of Leading Lady, in helping us be productive and streamline some of our processes and just elevate us to that next level.

We’re about two weeks in, and I have to say it is going better than I could have ever imagined or even knew to pray for. It is so phenomenal. I’m like, “AliceAnne, why did you not start this years ago?”

So stay tuned, because I’m gonna have some episodes coming up that feature the interns, why they chose this internship, and what they’re looking for. And then we’ll wrap it up at the end of the summer to hear how it went for them. I just can’t wait to share that journey with all of you.

Why this matters to the mission of Leading Lady, obviously, is developing future women leaders and creating intentional opportunities for these young women to learn and grow and experience working with so many amazing women entrepreneurs.

As for some ways that you might see them show up, stay tuned and look at my social media. You’re gonna see some fun things on there. Like I said, we’ll have some podcast episodes, and they will really be immersed in working with the Leading Lady ambassadors, getting to know their businesses, and giving them some support as well.

Inside the Leading Lady Business Hub

The Leading Lady Hub, like I said, launched at the end of April, and you know that was the project that I spent well over a year working on and developing. I worked closely with Jen Howat. She is our Kajabi expert and content strategist, and a Leading Lady ambassador.

How the Hub has evolved is we did a soft launch first with our Collective members, and like any launch, it was slow to take. There were some bugs to fix. But now that it’s been out there and we went live to the public, we’ve got some members joining now that are brand new to Leading Lady, and they’re participating in the live meetups and the discussions.

So just to highlight some of our key features, we have the weekly coaching. Members have access to our ambassadors. We have a rich resource library. I wanted to take it off social media. I wanted it to have its own platform, because I want the members to know that when they come to the Hub, it is so intentional, and everything is laid out in such a way that they can easily navigate and find the resources that can support them in very specific areas.

This is all based on the strategic wheel that I created for my coaching business, the wheel that I use with all of my clients, and that I use even with myself when I’m trying to figure out the next steps in my own business. And so the whole Hub is based on those eight key areas.

And so when members come in, not only do they get that weekly accountability and coaching from me, but they have a direct line to the ambassadors. When they identify, “Hey, this is the area I need support in,” I have that expert who is ready and willing and eager to step in and give them that help or that encouragement, or those tools and strategies and resources that are gonna take their business and their leadership style to the next level.

I wanna share a quick success story. I had a client who came in and joined a meetup call, and she was just curious. She was like, “What is this coaching call gonna be about?” And we were talking about our ideal clients, our ICAs, the ideal client avatar. And as we’re talking about it, we start to talk about how we really have two audiences that we have to reach.

You have to reach the audience that is ready to hire you, ready to work with you, and understands that you are the solution to the problem that they’re having in their life or their business. But there’s a secondary audience in there, and we went into this whole deep dive about that secondary audience and how to really tap into them. It’s usually the people who need you, but they don’t know they need you yet.

And so you have to educate people on the pain points they might be experiencing that they might not even know are pain points. They might be thinking, “Why is this hard for me but not hard for anybody else?” Not realizing that it’s a pretty common pain point.

Anyway, we went down this whole rabbit hole of the secondary audience, and she came back to me a few days later. She sent me a private message, and she’s like, “AliceAnne, that completely changed how I saw my messaging and what I was putting out into the world. It should’ve made complete sense to me from the get-go, but having a space to talk about it and hear that other people were struggling with that as well, and there was this whole other audience that I was missing.”

She had this huge aha revelation in her business, and she said that one coaching call was worth the membership alone, because it completely changed how she was showing up in her messaging and how she was educating people about the services that she offers and why people might need her.

The point of that is you just never know what those aha moments are gonna be for you. But to have coaching so accessible and so available to you, and to have those rich conversations in a safe space where everyone is going through that, or will go through it, or has recently overcome it, I think it’s a testament to why we have to have these conversations, why we have to be vulnerable, and why we have to be transparent and honest about what’s really going on as women entrepreneurs.

And maybe remove the facade that it’s so easy for everybody else, because I promise you, it’s not so easy for everybody else. If entrepreneurship was easy, everyone would do it, and that’s simply not the case. So join us over in the Hub, have these conversations, and know that you’re not alone and that you don’t have to do it alone.

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What’s Coming Up in the Hub

So we’re gonna be talking more in the Hub. I think in the next few weeks we’re going to be talking about the sales funnel, like what your sales funnel really looks like, and it’s not from the perspective that you think. I’m not gonna go too far into it, but it really touches on how we connect with our clients, how we build trust and rapport and create loyal clients who come back and give us referrals, and how we establish ourselves as experts in our industry.

And obviously, we have some guest appearances from ambassadors, and they’re talking about everything from HR, to using AI in your business, to what marketing materials you need, to supporting your mental wellness and your physical health. So lots and lots of really great content and themes are coming up.

So if you haven’t joined us yet, this might be your sign. If you’re like, “Hmm, what is all this about?” Shoot me an email, drop me a DM, send me a smoke signal. I am excited to talk to you about this. I want you there. We need you there. We need your perspective, and you never know who you might inspire by just showing up and sharing your experiences.

Upleveling the Ambassador Program

The Ambassador Program. The Ambassador Program is not a new program, but man, are we upleveling it. It is definitely high-touch support. The ambassadors have leveled up this year.

I’m actually excited to share that Leading Lady not only brought in the interns, but I’m bringing in a full-time PR and marketing coordinator. She’ll be joining us at the end of June, and her role is really going to be helping the ambassadors with visibility, getting us out there and letting the world know that we have this amazing community of experts who are willing, ready, and able to provide support to women in all phases of life and leadership.

With the Ambassador Program, the alignment and the visibility are so crucial for this ecosystem that I’ve worked so diligently in building. The ambassadors are people that I have personally worked with. These women have changed my life. That’s not a Google review that I’m just throwing out there on a whim. These women I have personally worked with. They have touched my life in profound ways. They hold the level of excellence that I give and would expect my clients to receive.

And the Ambassador Program is so much more than me just saying, “Hey, I like this lady. She’s really nice.” No. I like these ladies, they’re very nice, and they have changed my business. They’ve changed how I’ve shown up as a wife, as a mother, as a friend, how I treat myself, and how I take care of myself. They’ve helped me work smarter. They have changed my life.

If I could put that in all bold words on any marketing materials that I put out for the ambassadors, I would. This comes from my gut, of who I would recommend and refer my clients and my community to. It is who I refer my clients and my community to, because I have firsthand experience working with them and have seen the benefits and how each of them has impacted my life.

I don’t think a lot of referral programs could say that. They don’t just pay me to put up pretty ads about them. I stand behind them, I stand behind their work, and I’m incredibly proud to have these ambassadors as part of the Leading Lady community, and to be leading the Leading Lady community as experts in their field.

Events, Workshops, and Collective Growth

There are some really cool events and growth in the Collective. I’ve got a master class coming up. If you have participated in a master class before, you know that it is a six-month intensive that’s really focused on helping you build your business, scale your business, or streamline your business. So that’s gonna be coming up.

We’ve got really cool workshops. You can check out the Events tab on my brand-new website. I’m very, very excited. I have not been pushing my website a lot in past years because I didn’t love it. But Chrissy Rey did an amazing job updating my website, and if you haven’t had a chance to check it out, please do.

And like I said, look at the Events tab, and you can see all the cool workshops that we have here in Annapolis at the Collective, but also some really great workshops that are done virtually. You don’t have to be a member of the Hub, although we’d love for you to be a member of the Hub, and as a member of the Hub, all of those workshops are included for you. But if you just see something and you’re like, “Wow, that’s really cool. I’d like to participate in that,” you can find it there.

Our Spanish-speaking collective kicked off a couple months ago, and it’s been doing phenomenal. We started with about 10 members. I think we’re maybe up to 15 now, and that’s really powerful.

And I’m on Duolingo. I’m learning Spanish. I’m really stepping into that and embracing… I don’t know. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but English is not my first language. I was actually born in the Philippines, and so Tagalog and Pampanga is my dialect. So knowing a different language is not new to me.

But learning a new language like Spanish, as close as that is to Tagalog, is still really freaking hard. I’m not gonna lie to you. But La Cadena has ignited that passion in me, and I want to be that resource. I wanna show up in that community. I wanna support that community.

When Maria Winters brought this idea to me, I was like, “Oh my gosh, I don’t know how I’m gonna be able to do that.” And she really just assured me and has given me confidence and support to step into that, and I’m learning something new with it as well. So I’m really excited about that.

And I just encourage you, even if you’re not local to Annapolis, to get involved. Check out the website. Like I said, find ways that you can connect with us online. Join the Hub. I just think that there’s so much beauty in connection, and when we’re together, we’re stronger.

My Own Leadership Evolution

So, my own personal leadership evolution. Obviously, as I shared with you, I’m learning a foreign language. It’s really hard, but I love it. I have also been working on growing myself as a leader. I participated in SLG, Severn Leadership Group, last year and have been processing that.

It was a phenomenal program. It’s run by Julie Campbell. She’s one of our Leading Lady ambassadors. Again, I do work with all of the ambassadors. I get to experience them firsthand. And I’m taking everything that I learned from that program. I also did a DiSC assessment with Erin Harrigan. She’s my business coach, and also a Leading Lady ambassador.

Leaders are learners. I just cannot express that enough. Growth is hard and uncomfortable, and it stretches you, and you’re gonna have moments. At least I’m having moments where I’m like, “Ugh, I really did not want to know that about myself,” or, “I don’t like learning that about myself.” There are parts that are exciting and scary and joyful, and I just think that as leaders, we have to challenge ourselves to look and learn and stretch, know what our blind spots are, shine light on them, and challenge ourselves.

Because if you think that you’ve learned it all, then you are not a leader. I’m sorry, hate to break it to you, but if you are no longer teachable, coachable, if you’re not learning new things, if you’re not stepping outside of your comfort zone, you are not a leader. I don’t know what you are, but you’re not a leader.

One of my core values is love of learning. I’m always looking for ways to grow and learn and stretch and improve myself. And just some honest behind-the-scenes: it’s hard. It’s hard, and I don’t always like what I see. But I’m seeing how really paying attention to my own personal and professional development is impacting how I’m showing up in both my businesses, how I’m taking those next steps of faith to grow and do things that maybe I’m a little scared to do, or correct things that maybe I let go too long because I was scared.

There’s a lot happening behind the scenes with me, and I think that if you pay attention and stay with us and see how Leading Lady moves forward through the rest of 2025 and into 2026, you’re really gonna see the evolution of my leadership. And I’m gonna do my best to be super transparent about it and share with you some challenges that I’m going through and how I overcome them. I’m excited to share that and show you that it’s not all glamorous, but it is all necessary if we wanna continue to grow as leaders.

How to Get Involved

So how can you get involved? Obviously, join the Hub. If you’re local to Annapolis, attend a Collective event or our open networking. Refer a friend to the community. We love our Facebook community. It’s free. We’d love to have you there. We’d love for you to invite your friends and other leading ladies that you might know. Bring ‘em in.

Follow on Instagram. You’re gonna see what the interns are up to. I’m gonna give the interns an opportunity to take the lead on social media and share what they’re working on, how they’re learning, and how they’re growing.

Email me. I do read and respond to every single email. I do, me, personally, and I would love to know what’s going on with you and how the Leading Lady community, or myself, or any of the ambassadors can support you in that.

Definitely sign up for our newsletter if you’re not already on it. We put out some really fun stuff. I think my emails are funny. I think that they’re full of great information. I’m also the person that laughs at my own jokes, so don’t hold that against me, but I would love to just have you in there.

Let me know what you’re looking for. If I’m missing the mark, or I’m not putting out a resource or talking about a topic that you wanna talk about, let me know. Like I said, I do read and respond to every email. And this community, yeah, I created it, but it’s for you. I always say that. If you’re not getting what you need out of this, and you feel like the values are aligned, the personalities are aligned, and you like the space, but there’s just something that you haven’t heard me talk about yet, and you wanna know what I think about it or who the expert is in that, reach out to me. Let’s do it.

So these are some big, beautiful, blossoming times for Leading Lady, and I am so glad that you’re part of it. If you’re a longtime listener, thank you, thank you, thank you. You’ve seen how I’ve evolved over the last five years of podcasting. If you’re new here, again, I’m just so glad you’re here. I just thank you.

The best is still unfolding. I know I’ve said it probably 20 times on this podcast already, but I’m excited. I’m feeling very energized and very inspired for what’s coming next for Leading Lady and our community. So if you like this, share this episode, leave a review, DM me, email me, and let me know which part resonated most with you. And just, thanks. Thanks for being here, and I can’t wait to show you what’s coming next.

Until next time, take the lead.

Thanks for tuning in for another episode of the Leading Lady podcast. You can find all of the links and information mentioned in this episode at www.leadinglady-coaching.com. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to follow the show so you don’t miss any future episodes. And while you’re there, it would mean the world to me if you would take a few seconds and leave me an honest review. This will allow me to be able to help other high-achieving women find inspiration, connection, and develop strategies to live and lead with purpose and intention. See you here next week.