LeadHer has launched a new professional development platform designed to help female athletes carry the skills developed through sport into leadership, career and business opportunities. Founded by Jennifer Addabbo, the initiative combines mentorship, leadership development, career readiness and access to professional networks in a format built specifically around the transition from athletics into longer-term professional life.
The platform opened in September 2026 and is initially building a founding cohort in Florida. It is aimed at female collegiate athletes across sports and competition levels, while also creating a structure for mentors, employers, sponsors and university partners to participate.
From athletic strengths to professional development
LeadHer is built around the idea that qualities often developed through competitive sport, including discipline, resilience, teamwork, communication and the ability to perform under pressure, can become useful foundations for professional growth. Rather than treating the end of an athletic career as a separate chapter, the platform is designed to help participants translate those existing strengths into a clearer sense of professional identity and direction.
The offering includes one-to-one mentorship, leadership development, career-building internships, executive coaching and support around personal branding and professional opportunities. LeadHer also plans to connect members with experienced professionals who can provide guidance as athletes navigate early career decisions and new leadership roles.
A wider support network around the athlete
Addabbo is working with a small founding team that includes Neen James as Board Chair and Founding Advisor and Kaylah Thompson as Director of Operations. The broader model extends beyond individual coaching by bringing together mentors, employers, sponsors and other partners who may be able to support athletes before and after graduation.
This makes LeadHer relevant to a wider conversation in coaching and professional development about how structured support can help people carry strengths from one identity or life stage into another. For athletes, that transition can involve more than choosing a job. It may also mean learning how to describe their experience in language that makes sense outside sport, developing confidence in unfamiliar professional settings and building networks that did not previously exist around them.
LeadHer is currently inviting female athletes in Florida to apply for its founding cohort while continuing to build partnerships around mentorship, leadership development and professional opportunity.
Source: LeadHer / Jennifer Addabbo
Web: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jenniferaddabbo_leadher-launches-to-transform-opportunities-activity-7505980921548824577-ktdS
