BUILT WORK
Claudine Lucille
Premium stationery brand. Built from concept to a fully operational company: team, product line, ecommerce, and more collections in development.
BUILT WORK
Known Identity Coaching
Leadership advisory practice. Built from expertise to market-facing business. Positioned, launched, operational.
EXPLORE KNOWN IDENTITY →
FOUNDER PROOF
Embers + Apothecary
Mine. Idea to open doors in six months. Still running.
CLIENT PROOF
"Leah is something like a therapist for your business. She is going to probe down to the root of a given topic and craft an overarching narrative that makes all the disparate pieces make sense."
Danielle E. Wilburn
Claudine Lucille Founder
HOW THE WORK HAPPENS
From founder brain to usable plan.
We start by getting the thinking out of your head and onto paper. A structured business plan forces the hard questions and shows what you actually have, and what's still missing.
01
EXTRACT THE THINKING
You think out loud. I bring structure and clarity to what I'm hearing.
02
STRUCTURE THE WORK
A real map of where you are, where you want to get to, and what closes the gap.
03
BUILD THE PLAN
Create a real map of where you are, where you're going, and what's required.
04
WORK IT TOGETHER
Research, execution, hiring, partnerships, operations, or whatever the business requires.
WHAT MAKES THIS DIFFERENT
Before I worked with any founder, I worked with myself.
I left 20 years in corporate life, had an idea at a friend's birthday party, and sat down in a New York sushi bar the next day to write a business plan. I came back to Chicago enthusiastic, determined, and very aware that I had the skills to figure it out. What I didn't have yet was the structure this kind of work requires. Without it, even smart effort became scattered, urgent, and overwhelming.
01
BEFORE
Scattered Motion
Too many decisions, too many urgent-feeling tasks, and no clear order for what actually had to happen first.
02
THE SHIFT
Structured Plan
Decision points, dependencies, priorities, and a six-month work plan that gave the idea a real sequence.
03
AFTER
Open Doors
Embers + Apothecary opened one day shy of month six, with enough structure to keep going after launch.
Most founders don't get to skip the frenetic squirrel phase because they're navigating it alone. That's what working with me changes.
ONE HONEST THING
This work is not for everyone.
I push back when something isn't right. I ask hard questions. I'll tell you when the next decision is yours to make and won't let you pretend otherwise. Founders who want someone to execute their vision without friction aren't the right fit. Founders who want a partner who treats their business like it's her own usually are.
THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION
Why hire someone when you have AI?
AI can produce a business plan, a market analysis, and a brand strategy in an afternoon. That does not mean you're moving in the right direction.
What stops the spin isn't more output. It's structure: knowing what the workstreams are, what depends on what, and what has to happen first before anything else can move.
WORKSTREAMS
What the actual bodies of work are, so the project stops feeling like one giant fog bank.
SEQUENCE
What has to happen before the next thing can move, so effort has order.
JUDGMENT
What needs a real decision, not more output.
WHERE ARE YOU
Three ways to work together.
YOU HAVE AN IDEA
Idea Foundations
Framework guided engagement
A structured engagement over a few weeks. We work through materials I've developed to get your idea out of your head and onto paper. You think out loud, I bring structure to what I'm hearing. Between sessions we're both working: some questions we can answer from what you already know, others require real research first.
You leave with your idea defined on paper and clear next steps. Depending on what we find, that might be a complete plan and clear path to launch, a partial plan with a defined scope for what finishing it requires, or the clarity that this particular idea isn't worth pursuing before you've spent the time and money to find that out the hard way.
BUILD THE FOUNDATION
YOU HAVE A BUSINESS
Working Sessions
Project based engagement
Something specific needs solving. We define the problem, then determine how to solve it and what role I play in getting there.
SOLVE WHAT'S IN THE WAY
YOU HAVE AN IDEA
YOU WANT TO KEEP GOING
Ongoing Support
Retainer
Continued partnership as the business evolves. Structured around what you actually need, not a fixed package.