With a passion for real estate and giving back, Leah Coleman has been able to transfer those interests into her career as a Realtor, an entrepreneur and a business leader.
Coleman, who created her own investment company in 2018 called Real Estate Couture LLC, also works as a Realtor and is the new owner of Boss Babes RVA, an online networking group founded by Christine Greenberg with over 9,000 members. Coleman gives credit to the team of administrators and moderators who have helped Boss Babes engage with more than 97,000 comments in 2020.
Boss Babes RVA was founded in 2014 as a Facebook networking group dedicated to supporting women in business in the Richmond area.
“We are kind of a little underground movement of our own,” Coleman says. While the group originally focused on business and professional questions and resources, Coleman and her fellow administrators recognized that there were other needs the group could meet, especially with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a big step, they allowed people with personal needs to reach out as well. Through Coleman’s own businesses, she began helping more women with private lending for real estate investments and encouraging renovation as a way to bring more inventory to the market, even helping with design. She also has organized groups on investment, on entrepreneurship, women of faith and the power of silence.
Now, as things begin to open up again, Boss Babes has returned to its business focus, and Coleman hopes to strengthen the network even more with more in-person events and educational opportunities.
“Rise and rebuild is our theme,” Coleman says. She looks forward to planning Boss Babes meet-and-greets with business owners, as well as getaways and a conversation series with different themes such as women and money. “We want to begin to work on shifting a networking culture into more of a collaboration culture,” she says. "We have to help everyone see our city and their business pursuits with greater vision and potential, doing all we can to influence each member to play bigger in life and in their work."
