In early 2024, about six months after I started consulting full-time, I hosted the first of many LEAP Roundtables, a virtual space for small business owners to come together for learning and connection. I hoped that every Roundtable attendee would leave with at least one actionable insight they could activate in their business.
The Roundtable met monthly for nearly two years. About halfway through, I received a grant from Neighborhood Allies to design and launch the LEAP Coaching Club (which we all refer to just as “LEAP” now), a way to deepen the connection and learning I saw happening at the Roundtables. I hoped the Roundtables were helpful, and I believed that I could help small business owners even more. What I couldn’t imagine at the time was how much LEAP would help me.
Over the last year, LEAP has become a recurring virtual meeting space for neurodivergent Pittsburghers whose work exists at the intersection of entrepreneurship and nonprofits. Perhaps it’s no accident that that is my professional identity — that I built something to help other people and ended up helping myself, too.
In reflecting on how LEAP was formed and how it has changed over the years, one of the early (and still current) participants, Molly Krichten, agreed to share the impact LEAP has had on her business (thank you, Molly!):
When the LEAP Coaching Club started in August of 2025, I knew I wanted to join because I wanted to support Shannon’s new venture in group coaching and also because my partner, Aric, and I were on the verge of starting our business, Forge Fried. While I felt Aric and I had a lot of necessary skills and knowledge, anyone familiar with small business ownership knows that regardless of what experience you go in with, you will be learning new things every single day (or learning what you didn’t know you needed to know).
One year later, Forge Fried is a real business with a solid web presence, actual revenue, and it has become a recognizable, albeit niche, brand in Pittsburgh. I think all of this would have happened without LEAP, but it would have been significantly harder, less fun, and some things absolutely would not have happened.
LEAP introduced me to wonderful people and novel ideas and opportunities that definitely would not have germinated otherwise.
What LEAP has demonstrated is the incredible ripple effect of entrepreneurs supporting other entrepreneurs. One of our first wholesale clients, Cookie Cookie Ice Cream, is a member of the LEAP Coaching Club. Cookie Cookie’s owner, Connie Feda, took a chance on us, and this relationship led to a collaboration with another local business, The Saucy African. Our flavor collaboration with The Saucy African, called Piri Party, has become the second bestselling flavor in our lineup, and is now an award-winning product. And the ripples extend beyond LEAP itself: When Kristy Graver, Food Editor of Pittsburgh Magazine, visited the Oakmont Farmers Market to try the new flavor, Aric and I introduced her to Janet Digber-Williams of The Saucy African. The Saucy African was subsequently featured in Pittsburgh Magazine themselves.
Adrienne Wehr, another member of LEAP, was kind enough to try Forge Fried peanuts and share them with her partner, who is not a LEAP member but has extensive experience in marketing. Adrienne’s partner is just one of those observant, thoughtful people whose opinion is very valuable, and she agreed to get on a call with me for an hour to talk about packaging, branding, words, and other things that were really important to Forge Fried when we were introducing a product to a market that was totally unfamiliar with it.
Later, when Adrienne had an opportunity to advocate for Forge Fried in her arts admin “jobby job” at Film Pittsburgh, we were offered a partnership opportunity to give Reel Abilities Film Festival viewers a coupon code to buy Forge Fried peanuts and enjoy them during at-home film viewings. Seeing Forge Fried’s logo in an email blast from an organization we respect so much, and knowing it went to thousands of potential customers, was an incredible experience that happened because of LEAP.
Unrelated to my small business, when an organization where I serve on the board of directors needed some digital design help, I immediately knew Duda Rubbo, whom I met through LEAP, would be the perfect person for the job. After a simple email introduction, Duda took on a full rebrand and website refresh project for Three Rivers Ballet (TRB), a new, small, scrappy nonprofit in Pittsburgh. TRB has finally found its identity due to Duda’s incisive questions and creative direction. I don’t believe their former name, Conservatory of Dance Arts, would have been changed to Three Rivers Ballet so decisively, cost-effectively, and beautifully had I not been able to get them in touch with Duda.
I can only hope that I, too, have brought the value that other LEAP participants have offered to the group. I have done small things to show support for Miss Cassidy Creates — I delight in liking and commenting on her Instagram posts (she is a bright spot in the dark abyss that is social media). And recently, Aric and I joined Shannon and her partner Ian (another LEAP participant!) at Arcade Comedy Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh to see a show that Parag S. Gohel (another one of my favorite people from LEAP) directed.
As I’m sharing this, I’m cognizant that none of these LEAP wins were planned. They were the natural consequence of the community that we built, but the resources that Shannon created LEAP to share with its participants were very valuable, too. The accountability really helped me personally. But the magic truly is in the way people showed up (and continue to show up!) for one another at biweekly LEAP meetings and in real life:
Making the introductions.
Talking loudly about you in the right places.
Spending a few dollars.
Giving your Instagram reel a thumbs up.
Being there to listen when you talk about how you almost gave up 14 times in the last week and doing so without judgment.
Populated by serial entrepreneurs, people with a kernel of an idea, and everyone in between, LEAP truly makes business ownership less lonely by organically creating a sounding board of people who get it, who are invested, and who are cheering you on — not just twice a month, but every chance they get.
When I look at my year in business with Forge Fried, so many of the successes and exciting developments are inextricably linked to the members of LEAP. I am certain that this investment in myself and participation in the program will continue to pay dividends, and I encourage any small business owner to start (or continue!) investing in themselves.
If you are a neurodivergent small business owner living or working in the Pittsburgh region are interested in joining the LEAP Coaching Club, reach out to Shannon at hello@shannonparris.com.
