Hidden Gems: Meet Nicole Pappo of Little Voices Speech and Language Therapy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Pappo.

Hi Nicole, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My husband Damon and I met on eharmony, and had our first date. At the time I was newly graduated from grad school. Damon asked me “what is your ultimate dream?” I said “I would love to own a speech therapy clinic one day for kids”…he responded “well I would love to own a business one day so we should work this out!” we both laughed. We kept dating and got engaged 6 months later. married 4 months later. Pregnant on the Honeymoon. When our daughter, Madison, was born he lost his job in sales. I still worked at the school district so we were good there. I was so stressed, but Damon said “lets open your clinic”. That was the beginning in Aug 2011. We have built it from scratch, literally from a piece of paper. We originally were gonna have a small office and have therapists go in home. But when one of our vendors asked if we could have a brick and mortar, Damon said “yup!”. We opened our doors on May 15, 2012. We made $400 our first month. We had one vendor and would watch the fax like new parents watching a sleeping newborn waiting for it to wake. by August 2012 we were able to hire a few more people and by August 2013, I was able to leave the district to work full time at the clinic. One thing that I can be proud of is we have employees whom have remained with us for 9, 10 and even 13 years (since the month we opened). We appreciate them all and without them we wouldn’t have the reputation we do today if it wasn’t for them.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I have to give Damon a lot of credit because he was able to do all the parts of the business that I was not able to do. He acquired our contracts and vendors. Once that was done the only challenges would be when covid hit and having to learn to do teletherapy in two days. Training an entire staff was the blind leading the blind. But we figured it out. Most parents said we were the only ones who reached out during that time. It was so improtant for me to make sure parents felt supported at that time. I guess trying to balance being a business owner, wife and mom are challenges as well.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Little Voices Speech and Language Therapy?
We specialize in helping children with speech and language delays, especially early intervention. We also do therapy for children with Autism, and other developmental delays. I believe in empowering parents so they may help their children when they arent in therapy. Especially our Latino and Spanish speaking parents. We offer bilingual therapy as well so there is not another layer of miscommunication in the family. We also value ourselves in getting the know the families and their needs on a deeper level so they feel supported.

How do you think about luck?
Luck of meeting my husband and getting matched on Eharmony. Luck of getting into grad school when I did. Also the luck of having awesome employees and therapists.