Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela Simpsom.
Angela, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey started about ten years ago when I packed my bags in Colombia, said goodbye to everyone I loved, and got on a plane to California. I had just graduated with a degree in environmental engineering, and my plan was simple: learn English, gain some experience, and go back home ready to build the career I had worked so hard for. I was never planning on staying.
Life had other plans.
Starting over somewhere new, even temporarily, is hard in ways that are difficult to explain. It is not just the language. It is the little things. Not knowing how things work. Not having the people who have known you your whole life nearby to remind you who you are. You figure it out piece by piece, and some days it feels impossible, and some days it feels like exactly where you are supposed to be.
I came as an au pair and I am forever grateful to the family who welcomed me into their home. Through them, I met the man who is now my husband. Suddenly, going back to Colombia looked different. A few years later, we built our home in Austin. And then came our son.
I want to be honest about what that season felt like, because I think so many people not just moms, not just immigrants have been here: I was far from home. My entire family is in Colombia. My closest friends hadn’t had babies yet. I was starting a family without a safety net, in a city I hadn’t grown up in, in a country I had never planned to stay in permanently. And it was lonely. Beautifully, profoundly, unexpectedly lonely.
So I started looking for my people. I visited indoor playgrounds around Austin and fell in love with the concept, a safe space where kids could play and parents could exhale. But many felt overwhelming. Too big, too loud, too easy to lose a toddler in and too hard to actually connect with the person sitting next to you. I kept asking myself: what if it were smaller? What if it were calm? What if a mom could sit down, see her child, and actually finish a cup of coffee?
Colombian coffee, of course.
That question became Little Leaps. I built the place I had been searching for, small, welcoming, calm enough for toddlers and real enough for the moms who are just trying to get through the day without feeling alone. Because that loneliness I felt when I first became a mom? I was not the only one. Community does not just happen someone has to create the conditions for it.
Building a business while raising a family, far from home, without a support system nearby it has not been easy. But I am so grateful. Grateful for the unexpected turns, for the country that became my home when I wasn’t even looking for one, for the husband I found along the way, and for every mom who walks through our doors and finds her person. When I see two women exchange numbers after a play session, when I see a first-time mom exhale for the first time all morning that is my purpose. That is why I stayed. And we are just getting started.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth? Not even a little.
The first thing is the language. And I do not mean I struggled a little. I mean it took me years to get to a place where I felt truly fluent. Years of nodding along in conversations hoping nobody asked me a follow-up question. Years of replaying what I said in my head after every interaction wondering if it came out right. I still have an accent always will and I have made peace with that. What I have not fully made peace with is the word “vegetable.” Or “squirrel.”. English is a beautiful language and also completely unhinged.
But the language was honestly the easy part compared to everything else.
Changing career paths was hard. I spent years studying environmental engineering. That was my identity, my plan, my answer every time someone asked “so what do you do?” Letting go of that version of myself and accepting that life was pulling me somewhere I hadn’t mapped out that took time. It felt like failure for a while before it started feeling like freedom.
And then there is the fear. Opening a business is terrifying on a good day. Opening one in a country that is not where you grew up, without family nearby, without a built-in safety net that is another level. There were so many moments where the logical thing would have been to stop. I went for it anyway. Not because I was brave, but because I wanted it more than I was afraid of it.
The thing nobody tells you, though, is what you gain. I came here planning to leave. Instead I built a life. Friends became family. A stranger became my husband. A lonely afternoon with a baby and nowhere to go became a business. I would not trade any of it, not even squirrel.
As you know, we’re big fans of Little Leaps Play Cafe. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Little Leaps Play Café is an indoor play and café space for children ages 0–6 and their caregivers, located in Leander, Texas. But if I am being honest, the play space is almost beside the point. What we are really building is community.
Everything at Little Leaps was designed with intention. The space is small on purpose intimate enough that you never lose sight of your toddler, calm enough that you can actually relax, and human enough that you might leave with a new friend. We are not trying to be the biggest or the loudest. We are trying to be the place that feels like home.
We are known for our warm atmosphere, our bilingual programming — including Spanish Story Time and Music & Movement classes for little ones — and our Colombian coffee, which I take very personally. We host birthday parties, creative family sessions, and a growing lineup of programming designed to give kids something meaningful to do and give parents a reason to put down their phones and be present.
What sets us apart is that we were built by a mom who needed this place and could not find it. Every decision the layout, the programming, the way we greet families at the door comes from that. We are a Latina-owned small business, and our community reflects the beautiful mix of families that make up this part of Texas.
What I am most proud of has nothing to do with the business itself. It is the mom who came in alone on a Tuesday and left with someone’s number in her phone. It is the dad who finally found somewhere he actually enjoys taking his daughter on Saturday mornings. It is the feeling in the room during story time when ten little ones are completely locked in and their caregivers are smiling.
That is the brand. That is what we are building. And we are just getting started.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
There is no version of this story where I do not start with my husband. He has been my steadiest supporter from the moment this idea was just a thought I could not stop having. Building a business is hard. Building one while raising a family, far from home, with all the uncertainty that comes with that it takes a partner who believes in you even on the days you are not sure you believe in yourself. He has been that person, without hesitation, every single day. None of this exists without him.
And my son. He is my motor. My reason. My everything. He is the reason I started looking for this place, the reason I refused to give up when it got hard, and the reason I walk through those doors every morning with something to prove. He will grow up knowing his mom went for it. That matters more to me than anything.
On the business side, I have to give enormous credit to Shannon Black from SCORE. Shannon was with me from the very beginning before Little Leaps had a name, before it had a location, before it had anything. SCORE pairs small business owners with experienced mentors who volunteer their time, and Shannon gave me hers generously. She helped me think through the business, navigate the hard decisions, and keep moving forward when I did not know what the next step looked like. Having someone in your corner who has seen it all and still shows up for you that changes everything.
I am grateful every day for all three of them.
Pricing:
- Open Play $19
- membership $80
Contact Info:
- Website: https://littleleapsplaycafe.com
- Instagram: littleleapsplaycafe
