Twenty-two years ago, Lauree Ostrofsky was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma brain tumor, just when life all seemed to be lining up just as it was expected to: She had a stable, corporate job in the city, a 401(k) retirement plan, a boyfriend her parents liked. But Ostrofsky knew she was called to something greater.

“If I can make it through this I imagined I could be brave and quit my job and [stop being afraid to] disappoint people,” Ostrofsky said. This surge in self-empowerment during a low point in her life led Ostrofsky to realize that her purpose was to help others recognize this power which lives within all of us.

Her tumor was benign, and after her surgeries were completed and she ditched her job she went back to school, traveled and launched her business, Simply Leap. Geared towards business consultancy and strategy, Ostrofsky began booking one-on-one consultations and workshops with clients. Twenty years later, Ostrofsky celebrated her business’ milestone on Sept. 29 at CoWork Kingston with current and former clients, friends, family, and community members.

Ostrofsky has written two books, I’m Scared & Doing It Anyway: how a little white blob changed my life and Simply Leap: Seven Lessons on Facing Fear & Enjoying the Crap out of Your Life, about how taking life by the reins once faced with something that threatens to unseat our conceptions is the greatest act of resilience we can commit.

During this time, as she was traveling on a book tour, Ostrofsky ended up back in the Hudson Valley where she was from. This was 12 years ago, a time when women-owned businesses were on the rise but Ostrofsky, looking to harness a community of female entrepreneurs like herself, found that the scale was tipped lower than she originally thought.

According to 2023 census data that Ostrofsky provided, women-owned businesses in the Hudson Valley make up about 35.5 percent of the total. Back in 2012, this number was skewed further south.

She also provided a quote from Deputy County Executive James Amenta, who said, she said, that “across the Hudson Valley women own nearly four in 10 businesses without a payroll, almost twice the share of businesses they own with employees.”

It was at this juncture in 2014 that Ostrofsky and four other women business owners banded together to found Hudson Valley Women in Business, which has since become the largest community of entrepreneurial women in the region with over 3,000 current members in seven different counties.

The premise for the collective is for members to engage with each other during monthly meetings and through this establish a network of similarly spirited women to support and uplift each other through their entrepreneurial successes and obstacles. It’s also a fight against the largely patriarchal environments at most other networking events business owners find themselves at.

It was only a few years ago when Ostrofsky began to dedicate more time to her family that she decided to step away from her leadership position at HVWiB and allow the board to take over and turn it into a nonprofit.

Ostrofsky’s inclination to support women is reflected in her approach for Simply Leap as well, as the majority of her clients are women business owners and leaders. Both her consulting business and HVWiB were founded with the knowledge that business ownership can be a lonely endeavor, that exists as an “idea in your head before other people start to believe in it.”

Because of this, she also regularly hosts retreats for women business owners, where a group will take the day asking each other honest questions about their businesses.

The growth that she has seen in women-owned business over the past 20 years is, she believes, a reflection of inflation and other economic shifts that have placed women in positions where working a 9-to-5 isn’t cutting it anymore.

Ostrofsky saw, she said, the after-effects of the pandemic caused a lot of women to leave work to care for their children, and it was during this prolonged time at home that they started businesses with their new flexible schedules.

“We have to see entrepreneurship as a potential path. Women needed to learn that this was an option,” Ostrofsky said, and added that she’s noticed “young women are learning this sooner, which is really exciting.”

She reflected on her recent anniversary at CoWork Kingston and distinctly recollected her 13-year-old stepdaughter attending and seeing her hit this huge milestone.

“I can’t imagine what life would have been like for me if I knew one women-owned business [when she was younger],” Ostrofsky said. “It’s amazing to think what she’ll think is possible just because she’s been in that room before.”

Learn more about Ostrofsky’s services and background at her website: https://laureeostrofsky.com/.