we didn’t build leapzone to be bigger.
we built it to be truer.

LeapZone Strategies exists for one reason: to help exceptional people stop running brilliant businesses that feel heavy… and start leading with clarity, conviction, and momentum—by design.

We’re Isabelle Mercier-Turcotte and Margarita Romano—partners in life and business—and we’ve learned this the hard way, the honest way, and the only way that matters: by living it.

Two women. One shared vision.

Isabelle’s story starts in a hair salon, surrounded by women, their stories, their reinventions, their quiet bravery. She watched women walk in carrying the weight of their lives… and walk out two inches taller, with a different kind of energy in their eyes.

That’s where the obsession began:
How do we make life better—on purpose—not by accident?

Margarita’s journey has always been guided by deep intuition and devotion to what’s real. In her own words and lived experience, it has been a path of courage, clarity, and answering the call to lead—including a life-altering vision that set her on a new trajectory, and ultimately into an extraordinary partnership with horses.

Different beginnings. Same pull:
to live, lead, and build from truth and by design, not by default.

The moment everything changed

In 2005, we made a decision that changed our lives: we sold our ten-year-old, successful, award-winning creative firm. We had loved the work. We had built a great team. We had huge momentum.

And still, we could feel it: we were ready to go deeper than “external business communications.” We wanted clarity that wasn’t cosmetic. Alignment that wasn’t theoretical. A business that didn’t just look good, but felt true.

So we did something most people don’t do:
we sold and stepped away.

We took a year to travel, think, reflect, and ask bigger questions, like…What makes us tick? What actually creates a life we love? What does success mean when nobody’s watching?

Our biggest realization was simple, and it changed everything:

Business is not who we are. It’s what we do.
And success can be measured by something most people forget to track: happiness.

LeapZone was built from that truth

In 2007, we established LeapZone Strategies with renewed desire and drive, bringing our brand-building expertise forward, but now pairing it with something deeper: performance, team alignment, culture, and leadership that holds under pressure.

We stayed intentionally small—by design—because it gives us the freedom to excel and go deep with the leaders we serve.

And because we’ve built and run two successful businesses (including plenty of “hide-your-head-in-the-sand” mistakes), we don’t teach theory, we teach what works in the real world.

what we believe

We believe the “Next Big Thing” isn’t a tactic.
It’s this: walk your talk.

Because nothing works on its own. No strategy. No plan. No system.
It’s the people behind it—and the intention behind the people—that determines whether it scales or collapses.

That’s why our work is built on three principles:

1) clarity

Who you are. What you stand for. What you’re here to deliver.
(And why the right people should choose you.)

2) Pivotal shifts

The decisions that remove drag, restore focus, and change everything.

3) momentum

Execution that sticks…because it’s aligned, not forced.

When clarity, pivotal shifts, and momentum combine, something powerful happens and it is what we call the LeapZone™: a force that catapults leaders and teams into their next level with less noise and more certainty.

Trailblazers: where clarity becomes undeniable

One of the boldest expressions of our “by design” life is Trailblazers, our retreat centre on Vancouver Island.

We left city life behind and followed a gut-level knowing to create a space where entrepreneurs and leadership teams step out of noise… and back into truth.

And yes, this is where the horses come in.

The herd is part of our methodology, not as a metaphor, but as a mirror.

Horses don’t respond to titles, tactics, or “good lines.”
They respond to what’s authentic.

If you’re unclear, they feel it.
If you’re over-functioning, they mirror it.
If you’re performing leadership instead of embodying it, they quietly call you forward.

Leaders leave Trailblazers with a level of signal, presence, and conviction that’s hard to access in a boardroom, because the truth becomes visible, fast.

This is why we say our work lives at the intersection of Outcome and Overcome:
the external result always follows the internal alignment.

how we help

We help entrepreneurs, business owners and leadership teams:

• Get clear on who they are, what they stand for, and how to articulate it

• Align culture, brand, and operations so the company moves as one

• Make pivotal decisions with confidence

• Build momentum that improves performance—and protects quality of life

We do it with an honest, direct approach and no room for BS.
Because clarity isn’t soft. It’s structural. And once you experience it, you can’t unsee what confusion has been costing you.

If you’re ready to replace noise with signal—and turn your clarity into momentum…let’s go.