Three Years of LaFemina & Co.: A Moment of Shine Time
Last week marked three years of making LaFemina & Co. my full-time gig.
When I was an in-house nonprofit executive, I created something with my team called Shine Time.
Fashioned after BJ Fogg’s concept of cultivating “shine” – an internal feeling of accomplishment that fuels new habits and growth – Shine Time was our chance to:
Celebrate progress we were proud of (big or small, professional or personal), and
Share some shine, in the form of gratitude, for others.
As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to keep wins, growth, and hard-earned lessons to yourself. But looking back over three incredible years, it feels right to share a little Shine Time for LaFemina & Co.
What I’m Most Proud Of
The thing I’m proudest of is how often our clients choose to keep working with us—and recommend us to others.
In the past three years, we’ve served more than 20 nonprofits, foundations, social impact businesses, and social good executives. Almost all of them have chosen to partner with us across multiple scopes of work.
That kind of continuity and trust is exactly what I hoped for when I started this business.
I’m also deeply proud of the high-impact strategy, change leadership, and coaching work we’ve done together. Even more so, I’m proud of our clients as they’ve:
Navigated significant organizational change with clarity and compassion,
Invested in strengthening their team dynamics and building their own capacity as strategic, change-capable leaders,
Crafted strategies that make sense to staff and welcome supporters to their cause, and
Done the essential work of recognizing that to change the world, you first need to be willing to change yourself.
What I’m Most Grateful For
This Shine Time is also full of gratitude.
Because the “& Co.” in LaFemina & Co. has never meant “& Company” in the traditional sense.
Our & Co. has always stood for:
& Community,
& Collective,
& Co-conspirators for good.
I believe the very best wins are the ones we share as a team. That belief has been strengthened over and over again through amazing client relationships, collaborative partnerships, and friendships with smart, generous humans working to make the world better.
My work—helping executives address critical upstream factors that have an outsized impact on an organization’s success—doesn’t always fit neatly into a box (or a standard RFP).
But I’ve been fortunate, and profoundly grateful, that the nonprofit leaders, consultants, friends, and family members who make up our “& Co.” see the value we provide and have encouraged me every step of the way.
To Our “& Co.”
If you’re reading this—thank you.
Thank you for the work you do. Thank you for the good you create. And thank you for being part of our “& Co.”
I’m so glad you’re here, and I look forward to many more years of shining together.
I’m Veronica LaFemina, founder of LaFemina & Co. I help CEOs and Department Heads at established nonprofits create strategic clarity and lead change well.
👉 I’d love to hear your reflections, too. You can join the conversation on LinkedIn here.
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash