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Lifting Others with Leah

Writer's picture: Woman Up ClevelandWoman Up Cleveland

Updated: Oct 1, 2024

Leah Cordy - Founder / CEO Hope's Landing

Hope's Landing is a nonprofit social enterprise founded in 2021 that produces handmade products such as candles, wax melts, and bath and body items.
Hope's Landing is a non-profit founded in 2021 that produces handmade products such as candles, wax melts, and bath and body items while creating a brighter future for individuals.

As everyone knows our local woman-owned vendors are a huge part of not only the summer social but most of what we do at Woman Up Cleveland. It would be impossible to create a successful market event without them and their hard work and once in a while, we are lucky enough to connect with women whose missions go beyond small business. Leah Cordy of Hope's Landing is the perfect example of a female founder who is going the extra mile to make a difference in the community.


Leah Cordy is a 25-year-old Cleveland native and the Founder and CEO of Hope's Landing. Apart from being a dog mom to Rosie the Riveter, her golden retriever, Leah also works full-time in community relations for the renewable energy industry, all in addition to leading Hope's Landing. At only 22 years old, Leah was attending Heidelberg University studying political science and international relations and working in a local women’s shelter and safe house for survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence. Her ambitions led her to the shelter office seeking an internship and within three months, the center had offered her a full-time job in community relations.


Leah spent much of her time at the shelter working with the survivors and started to understand more and more about the situations they were facing. “During my time there, I realized that these women would do incredible things when they were in the safe house. They were working on their mental health, their physical health, and emotional health and getting stronger in every sense of the word. It was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen,” she shared. But Leah quickly realized these achievements and milestones weren’t sustainable for the world these women were working to re-enter.


She talked about her experiences watching women try to move on from the shelter saying, “When they finally reached the point where they were ready to go back into society and take those steps, they realized they needed to get a job, they needed to find housing and there was only a little bit of support and resources for them. There wasn’t any long-term or actual sustainable support for them. So a lot of the women who were in our safe house who I watched grow and get stronger would leave and later they would end up back with us.”

All products are crafted by survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence, supporting their recovery and empowerment.
All products are crafted by survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence, supporting their recovery and empowerment.

With many factors such as PTSD preventing them from being hired and keeping a job, lots of the women leaving the shelter struggled to re-enter society successfully. Overstimulating work environments, resume gaps, and many other barriers prevented these women from being able to achieve their goals. This situation presented itself to Leah as a problem needing a solution and she began to brainstorm ways to help these survivors to find suitable and supportive roles.


Finally, after having no luck finding any existing support for these women, Leah decided to be the support herself. Creating a trauma-informed environment where these women can gain skills and make money to support themselves was at the forefront of her efforts. She told us, “They do not need one more barrier. They have already been through some of the worst things you can go through, and they do not need any other barriers to get back on their feet.”


Without any business experience and on the verge of moving to Europe for her masters, Leah pivoted her plans and the idea for Hope's Landing was born. Her deep passion for human rights led her to stay in the U.S. and begin working to make a difference. She said, “I care so much about human rights, and sure I can go and study it for three more years. Or I could try and do something about it right now in this community where I know I can make an impact.”


Especially when it comes to young entrepreneurs, it can often feel like there is no perfect time to start your business journey. As Leah explained to us, “I decided I was starting a candle company before I ever made a candle.” She is a prime example of the sacrifice and flexibility that often comes with being a female founder, trying to juggle all of the aspects of running a successful organization. As a new business owner, Leah was also working full-time at the shelter, training a new puppy, and earning her master's, proving that there is never a ‘right’ time to pursue your passions and begin to take steps in making a difference.

Leah founded Hope's Landing with the mission is to empower and uplift survivors, helping them find hope and rebuild their lives.
Leah founded Hope's Landing with the mission is to empower and uplift survivors, helping them find hope and rebuild their lives.

Three years later, Hope's Landing has become a successful local non-profit with a variety of products created by a team of survivors. Not only is the organization staffed by survivors, 100% of the profits are reinvested into the business and funds the wages for the survivors as well. With her previous experience, it was an easy choice for Leah to take the company in that direction and the organization's mission of helping survivors was a clear indicator that the non-profit space was the right fit.


We asked Leah about some moments that have stood out to her over her years of connecting with survivors. She told us about a survivor who overcame addiction and regained custody of her children by working her programs and gaining support through Hope's Landing. Eventually buying a home, she got herself another job and moved on from the organization that helped her get back on her feet. “She is going to struggle with plenty of things for probably the rest of her life but the fact that she was able to overcome so much in just a year, it was so inspiring. Out of everything she has been through she was able to set goals for herself and achieve them,” Leah shared.


Leah is no stranger to challenges and often faces many different kinds of difficulties in running and maintaining Hope's Landing’s success. One she mentioned early in our conversation was the aspects of building a business for the benefit of survivors that is also run by them day-to-day. Realizing that some of the things preventing these women from finding work have become obstacles for the company to overcome. She touched on this by noting, “Running any business it can be difficult to find good employees but with survivors, you are pretty much always hiring someone with extreme mental illness, physical conditions, or addictions.” Because these women have such heavy stories, managing a professional workplace that also feels like a safe space is always a priority.

Leah dedicates many of her weekends towards selling at markets all around Cleveland.
Leah dedicates many of her weekends towards selling at markets all around Cleveland.

Another difficulty for Leah is the pressure of leading a group whose mission runs deeper than profit and whose stakes are higher than lost money. Having a business that seeks to employ and benefit survivors leads the organization to focus its efforts on continuing to offer that support no matter the circumstances. Leah shared with us her fears of failure and how they differ from those of a traditional business structure. She said, “It wouldn't be that I was losing my livelihood, it would be that survivors are. That is really motivating. This trauma-informed environment is so needed for them. If this fails, my life won’t fall apart but someone else’s might.”


Overcoming these obstacles is no small feat but Leah works hard each and every day to ensure that all who are a part of Hope's Landing can receive the support and encouragement that they need to succeed. She dedicates herself to making a safe and nurturing space for all survivors and has truly built a legacy of giving her all to helping the community.


Every organization has its goals and dreams for the future and Hope Landing is no exception. Leah told us about her ambitions for the organization and the women it benefits including having the organization run solely by survivors. She dreams of having someone eventually take over her role as CEO to create a group fully run by the individuals it aims to support making it all come full circle. Leah captured her feelings perfectly saying, “These survivors know more about what they need than anyone else ever could. They’ve actually been through it and there is only so much a person can read, hear, and educate themselves on. I would love to see it run 100% by survivors for survivors.”


The financial success of the organization is another large part of Leah’s efforts and goals for the future. Receiving grants and continuing the support from the community through product sales is a driving force behind getting to employ more women and grow the support of the non-profit.


Leah told us, “We are mostly made up of our own sales revenue. The other 25% is grants and donations. So every year we are getting closer and closer to being completely funded by our own sales.” The more products sold, the more women that can benefit. The more women benefitting, the more products that can be made and the more the organization can grow. There is a self-sustaining element to the cycle of the non-profits structure and by helping these women get back on their feet, the group continues to thrive and grow itself simultaneously.


Additionally, the expansion of Hope's Landing is a long-term dream of Leah’s as she Hope's to continue creating impact in other communities as well. “I’d love to expand across Ohio working with different shelters and replicating Hope's Landing. Maybe nationally I don't know, you can't dream too big. Hope's Landing is obviously needed where we are but there are so many other places that could use a trauma informed environment.” There are so many elements to an organization such as this and luckily, it is a format and structure that could be implemented in different places to continue to spread its overall impact. Making a difference in as many places and ways as possible is a huge part of not only Leah’s work, but that of the entire Hope's Landing team.

In her free time, Leah enjoys cooking and baking, hanging with her Golden Retriever, and being in nature.
In her free time, Leah enjoys cooking and baking, hanging with her Golden Retriever, and being in nature.

As for her own personal goals, Leah Hope's to also foster her love for the earth and her other passions for green energy. The idea of making a difference and creating lasting impact is at the forefront of all Leah does. She lets her ambitions guide her and they continue to lead her towards lofty achievements and meaningful work. “It is very crucial to me that for the rest of my life I am doing work in my career that I care about. I really need to be passionate about the work that I am doing. Anything relating to empowering women is my favorite thing ever. There is no shortage of causes that I care about.,” Leah shared.


She also touched on the importance of empowering young women and how her story has led to her understanding that age does not often reflect ability and that we are truly never too young to make a difference. Teaching and passing on her knowledge are another path Leah imagines herself possibly exploring in the future. She is driven by her desire to pass on the things that she has learned and help bridge the gap between age and career. She said, “It can be really intimidating to be a young woman in this space so being able to go into a classroom and not be that much older than the students and say, ‘this is what I did, here is all you could do.”


Overall, Leah continued on to list fighting climate change, animal rights, human rights, and girls' education as passions of hers and causes she would be thrilled to help support. She truly is a people person and is so clearly passionate about helping others. Philanthropy and generosity are at the forefront of all she does, and it is so admirable to hear Leah speak about all that inspires her.


In the spirit of passing knowledge on to others, we asked Leah what advice she would have for other entrepreneurs who are passionate about making a social impact through their business. She gave a wonderful piece of advice, “When you hear the term ‘social entrepreneurship’ or ‘social impact business’ those things might seem like really large and intimidating concepts, but you don’t have to create something like a Hope's Landing to make an impact. You could start a cookie business and 5% of profits could go to a charity every month. There are so many ways, whether you’re a non-profit or a traditional for-profit business, that you can make an impact.”


It is obvious throughout our chat that Leah has a deep understanding of what it takes to make change, and she so clearly believed that it can be the job of absolutely anyone. There is no perfect formula for making a difference or creating lasting impact and after experiencing a somewhat spontaneous and ambitious start to her work, Leah knows firsthand that there is no perfect way to go about starting a business or setting out to change the world. She later went on to say, “There is no business too big, there is no business too small. There are a million ways that you can contribute to the causes you believe in. Even when we had no money and no experience and barely knew what we were doing, it still felt good to know we were trying to make an impact, and we were going to figure it out.”


We had such an incredible conversation with Leah about womanhood, making an impact, and non-profit work. It was truly an honor to hear her speak about her passions and overall drive to help others and make a difference in not only her own community here in Cleveland, but eventually to all who need support. Leah is ambitious, kind, generous, and thoughtful and has learned firsthand how she can be most helpful to those who need it. Hope's Landing is a one-of-a-kind organization in our city and continues to change lives each and every day with their meaningful work. Juggling challenges, multiple jobs, and many passions, Leah does it all with grace and a meaningful understanding of how she can make a difference. We are thrilled to have met her as a Summer Social vendor and hope to continue our work supporting Leah and Hope’s Landing in their mission to change the world!

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