Redefining Ambition & Success Across Generations - with Loretta Stagnitto and Annie Ricci
In this special episode of Leadership and Motherhood honoring Women’s History Month, Leanna sits down with executive leadership coach Loretta Stagnitto and her daughter, fractional marketing executive Annie Ricci, for a powerful cross-generational conversation about ambition, identity, and defining success on your own terms.
Loretta shares her journey from corporate VP in Silicon Valley to building her own executive coaching business after burnout and motherhood reshaped her priorities. Annie reflects on growing up watching her mother lead, and how that example shaped her own path from corporate marketing to launching a fractional consulting business.
Together, they explore:
How our identities get wrapped up in corporate titles
What happens when our ambition doesn’t align with the corporate ladder
The grief and growth that come with career transitions
The subtle expectations firstborn daughters carry
How the example we set quietly shapes our children’s beliefs about work and possibility
This is a conversation about generational evolution, how each woman learns from the one before her, keeps what resonates, and consciously chooses her own version of success.
If you’ve ever questioned whether you’re setting the “right” example for your children, this episode will remind you: they are always watching and they are learning from the example we set.
Connect with Loretta
Connect with Annie
Connect with Leanna
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Executive Leadership Coach
As a Silicon Valley veteran who led marketing and communications for groundbreaking tech companies during the early PC revolution, Loretta understands the unique challenges facing today's executives. For over two decades, she led marketing, communications, and investor relations for tech companies—from startups to corporations like Activision—helping introduce transformative technologies including vehicle navigation, voice-over-internet gaming, and online photo sharing. This high-pressure environment taught her what it takes to rapidly scale teams, navigate organizational complexities, and lead through constant change. She found it both exhausting and exhilarating!
After ascending to VP level before age 40 and experiencing firsthand the challenges of leading leaders, she discovered the transformative power of executive coaching. In 2004, she founded Loretta Stagnitto Leadership Associates (LSLA), which has evolved from a boutique coaching practice into a comprehensive digital leadership development company serving business professionals at all levels for over 21 years.
What sets her apart is that she has walked in the shoes of her clients, many of them ambitious women executives balancing high-pressure roles with raising families. Loretta understands the real-world pressures they face.
Fractional Lifecycle & Retention Leader
Annie is a fractional lifecycle and retention leader who helps DTC brands turn customer retention into sustainable, profitable growth.
She partners with brands ready to move beyond surface-level email marketing and build true retention infrastructure — from lifecycle strategy and loyalty programs to segmentation, messaging, and data architecture.
Blending strategic clarity with hands-on execution, Annie builds retention engines that drive measurable revenue, strengthen brand identity, and create deeper, more meaningful customer connections.
