Superior local entrepreneur AliceAnne Loftus, the owner and founder of Leading Lady Coaching in Annapolis, provides business and leadership coaching to high-achieving women seeking community, collaboration and excellence. Born in the Philippines and eventually settling in Annapolis, AliceAnne has been a business owner for more than 20 years. She studied early childhood education and wanted to be a teacher from a young age. She is a life-long learner who believes with the right support and in the right environment, people can reach their full potential.
“When I first started as an entrepreneur in childhood education, I believed in quality childcare and couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for, so I created it,” AliceAnne explained of her start into business. She opened a childcare center just days before giving birth when she was 22 years old. Creating her business blended what she believed as an educator and wanted as a new mother.
Juggling Responsibilities
“I was very lonely when I got started,” she said. “I struggled with feeling alone as a business owner; I didn’t have a community to learn from. I was so exhausted and not thriving. I struggled for nearly 10 years and after some major missteps in business and life, I went back to school to learn skills and strategies around business and leadership.”
AliceAnne realized she could help other women through the same challenges she had experienced. She knew there was a need in the community for women juggling the many responsibilities of business and leadership and wanted to find a way to create a platform specifically for them.
“Most women in business didn’t go to business school and don’t know what they don’t know,” she explained. “A strong support system is also important. I wanted to make that village for them.”
In 2016, AliceAnne became a business coach and soon began renting space in Annapolis to host workshops for other women on topics like budgeting, technical aspects and to have real conversations about finding success in business.
“It was hard to find a consistent space for these workshops,” she said. “During the pandemic, I purchased a large office space and in 2021 I opened my own office and the first coworking and event space in Annapolis.”
Annapolis Collective
Thus began the Annapolis Collective, a community within Leading Lady that offers a yearly membership to women in business to connect and collaborate. The Collective provides members with luxury upscale co-working, event and meeting space, monthly networking meetings, individualized business coaching, professional trainings and extensive business support.
Solution Focused
In addition to private coaching with AliceAnne, Leading Lady also provides a six-month business coaching group masterclass, as well as a collaborative Strategic Planning Day for business owners. Leading Lady also has a group of ambassadors, highly vetted women entrepreneurs, who are specialists in their field that provide support to members of Leading Lady.
“When a woman walks into our space, we want her to feel calm, as if it was designed to be exactly what she needs,” AliceAnne said. “It’s a very professional space in design; we are careful in vetting a standard of excellence to provide expert resources to the community. For a member to take her expertise and bring an affordable, incredible meeting to our community using my space, it makes me choke up,” said AliceAnne of her pride in Leading Lady.
In addition to the local community, Leading Lady helps nurture an online community of over 7,000 women across the country.
“We are solutions-focused and hit challenges head on,” said AliceAnne. “We are breaking stereotypes and redefining gender roles. We challenge the community to do the same and we motivate women to be the best they can be.”
AliceAnne still runs her childcare centers alongside Leading Lady, proving that it is possible to nurture more than one passion. She also turned Leading Lady into a podcast and wrote a book called Take the Lead to encourage women to be their own leader.
AliceAnne lives by the motto, “Empowered women, empower women.” When we feel supported and inspired to be our best, we can step out of our own roadblocks and support others around us.
Photography by Dunks Photography