Disruptors. They are the few and the fierce. In our series, Leading between the Lines, we have the opportunity—and the pleasure—of meeting with some of South Florida’s most dynamic female business leaders: the ones disrupting their industries, approaching things in new ways, solving modern problems, and pushing the status quo into a new frontier. We want to understand their journey—what it really takes, what they’re actually up against, and how it feels each step along the way.

Meet Lauren Marsicano, Esq., the founder of Women for Success, a Miami-based nonprofit that celebrates and resources women entrepreneurs through Business Showers, grants, mentorship, and community- and The Daily Drip Magazine Vol. 5 Nonprofit Partner.

An award-winning commercial litigation attorney, she is co-founding partner of Marsicano + Leyva PLLC, where she serves as fractional general counsel to businesses and family offices. She earned her J.D. from the University of Miami and studied at Oxford. Her honors include ABA Top 40 Under 40 Lawyer in the Nation, Florida Super Lawyer Rising Star, and Best She-Owned Miami Business. On May 17, 2025, Miami-Dade County proclaimed Women for Success Day.

Lauren earned her J.D. from the University of Miami and studied at Oxford University. She began her career in commercial litigation, representing Fortune 100 companies including Bank of America and Ryder, before co-founding Marsicano + Leyva PLLC, a boutique firm in Coral Gables, where she serves as fractional general counsel to businesses and family offices.

In May 2020, during America's first female recession, she founded Women for Success, where she serves as Founder, President, and She-EO. Guided by its vision of creating generational impact for self-identifying women, Women for Success provides self-identifying women with a supportive community where they can receive free workshops, tools, resources, mentorship, small business grants, and Business Showers to ensure every woman has a chance to define success on their own terms. She is also the creator of the Networking Maverick community, where she teaches entrepreneurs to turn their networks into net worth.

Read our full interview with Lauren to discover what it really means to do it scared, turn celebration into strategy, and build the kind of community that doesn’t just believe in women’s ambition, but backs it with resources, capital, and support.

What motivated you to create Women for Success?

When I got engaged, everyone celebrated. When I started my law firm, I got warnings: most new businesses fail, entrepreneurship will eat your life. Some of the people closest to me never acknowledged the launch at all. That contrast stayed with me, because we build rituals around what we value, and women's professional dreams were getting caution labels instead of champagne. So, in May 2020, during America's first female recession, I founded Women for Success to build the missing ritual: Business Showers that celebrate female founders and back that celebration with real resources.

What has been your proudest achievement and why?

On May 17, 2025, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava proclaimed Women for Success Day. An entire county stopping to celebrate women's ambition out loud is the ritual I always wanted, at a scale I never imagined. Just as meaningful are the individual wins, like watching one of our first grant recipients, Elisa Molina of Covedoza, go from doubting her vision during the pandemic to winning a national grant from American Express months after our support. That is what celebration plus resources can do.

What have been some of your failures and challenges along the way and what have you learned from them?

I grew up moving constantly, attending new schools fifteen times, so I know the fear of walking into a room where you know no one. That fear never fully leaves; I just learned to do it scared. Launching a nonprofit during a pandemic meant plans failing on repeat, and I learned to treat every setback as data rather than a verdict. What I have improved most is inviting support. I used to think asking for help was weakness. Now I know it is strategy, and it is the skill I teach most often.

What surprised you most on this journey?

How much the celebration itself changes outcomes. I expected the grants and resources to matter. But when I asked Elisa and our Showerees what a grant would mean, they did not talk about money. Elisa said it would mean someone else believed in her and her vision, and most of our Showerees have echoed that. That confidence carried Elisa to national grants she once thought were out of reach and gave other graduates the courage to expand their businesses. A Business Shower tells a woman her dream is legitimate before the world agrees. That is why we lead with celebration.

What influences and inspires you?

The women we serve inspire me daily. Women now own roughly 14 million businesses in this country, nearly 40 percent of all companies, generating about $2.7 trillion in revenue, and in recent years they have been starting businesses at close to twice the rate of men. They are not waiting for permission; they are building their own tables. I am also inspired by the next generation of wealth-holders I see in my law practice who want their capital to back overlooked founders, as well as my community of Queens who show up for each other, every time.

What scares you? What are you currently challenged with and how have you addressed it?

Visibility still scares me. Every stage, every launch, every first brings back that new-school fear of being judged. My answer has not changed: Do it scared!

My current challenge is capacity, balancing a growing law practice, the nonprofit, and family. I have addressed it by building strong teams and boards, and by taking my own advice about inviting support. In the office, that means delegating without guilt. Outside it, it means protecting time for the people I love, because burnout serves no one, and the mission needs me for the long run.

What are some common challenges for female founders and how does Women for Success uniquely solve it?

Women founders are under-celebrated and under-capitalized. Companies founded entirely by women still receive roughly 2 percent of venture funding, a number that has barely moved in a decade. Women for Success attacks both gaps at once. Our Business Showers celebrate a founder the way we celebrate a bride, and our Business Showers Grant and Incubator program backs that celebration with funding, software, marketing, coaching, and a year of mentorship, education, and accountability. A toast without resources is just noise, and resources without belief often go unclaimed. We are built to deliver both, led by a business attorney who helps founders fortify their companies legally, too.

What is the biggest mistake(s) founders make and what is something you wish more founders understood?

The biggest mistake founders make is waiting to feel ready, or legitimate enough, before applying for grants, raising prices, or going full-time. Grants, mentorship, and communities like ours exist, and the founders who win are the ones who apply before they feel ready. Asking for support is a strategic leadership move, not a weakness.

I also wish more founders knew that legal foundations are confidence tools: clear contracts, the right entity, and protected IP quiet the mental noise so you can sell and scale. And for anyone considering supporting women entrepreneurs, remember that a warning has never changed the odds for a founder. Resources and support change the odds. Celebrate her, then resource the dream.

Additionally, from the investor perspective, the biggest misconception is that backing women is charity rather than smart investing.

The data says otherwise. A Boston Consulting Group study found that for every dollar of funding, women-led startups generated 78 cents in revenue while men-led startups generated 31 cents. Less than half the investment, more than twice the return per dollar. Funded like a risk, performing like a sure thing. Women do not need warnings; they need capital and community.

What does the future of the start-up and small business ecosystem look like?

The future is blended capital and new money in new hands. I see platforms working to close the financing gap by blending philanthropy and investment dollars that too often sit in separate silos.

In my law practice, I am watching next-generation wealth-holders take the reins of family fortunes with the intention of backing women-led ventures and overlooked founders, treating impact as a thesis, not a phase.

Nonprofits will evolve from writing occasional checks to building bridges between believers and builders. The organizations that pair belief with resources, at scale, will define the next decade.

What are your goals currently? What is next on the horizon for you personally and professionally?

Right now, we are focused on our Nonprofit Partner campaign with The Daily Drip and celebrating at the Vol 5 Magazine Launch Party on September 17th at the Biltmore!

Beyond that, we are growing the Business Showers Grant and Incubator program, expanding our annual WFS Female Founders Forum (which is on October 17th at the University of Miami!), and deepening partnerships that put more resources behind more founders.

Personally and professionally, I am building the next chapter of my work helping women claim their crowns and build their Queendoms, from first-time founders to family offices who want their wealth to reflect their values.

What steps or advice would you give young professionals or new founders who want to be or are embarking on a similar professional journey?

I’ve said it several times now, but do it scared!

Fear is not a stop sign; it is a signal you are growing. Walk into every room with intention: know the three types of people you want to meet, your three asks, and the three people you will follow up with afterward. Give first, always. Fortify your business legally before you need it. And celebrate other women loudly, because the ritual you build for someone else becomes the community that catches you. You do not need to feel ready. You need to begin.