Today we’d like to introduce you to Callie Lodico.
Hi Callie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I had an altogether happy and healthy childhood until I experienced a massive stroke at the age of 10. I spent several weeks in the hospital, working to regain enough speech, swallowing, and gross motor function to transition to outpatient care.
For approximately six months, I received therapy at Children’s Hospital in downtown Richmond, where I worked with each of the therapy disciplines. During that time, my brain began to rewire around the areas that had been affected. My physical therapist, Sandy, believed in me every step of the way. With her encouragement, expertise, and unwavering belief in my potential, I worked to regain the ability to walk, run, and move freely again.
That experience became the inspiration for starting my own pediatric therapy practice.
I know firsthand what it means to have abilities, to lose them, and to fight to regain them. I also know what it feels like to be a child working toward milestones that once seemed impossible—and to have someone beside you who believes you can get there.
The greatest gift I received from that experience was an understanding of just how powerful and foundational hope can be. Hope can give a family the strength to keep going, a child the courage to keep trying, and a therapist the reminder to always see the possibility beyond the present moment.
My aspiration is to create that same sense of hope for the families I serve—to believe in their children, to walk alongside them through the challenges, and to help them discover just how much is possible.
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 began SuperKids on February 28, 2020, after leaving a decade-long career in Early Intervention. I was full of confidence, conviction, and excitement as I set out to chart my own course in the pediatric therapy world. I had a vision for the kind of practice I wanted to build and was ready to make it happen.
Then, the world came to a screeching halt.
COVID-19 arrived just weeks after I opened my doors, and almost overnight, the plans I had carefully developed were no longer relevant. I had no established referral base, no idea how families would find me, and a marketing plan that essentially went out the window. I was starting a new business at a time when the entire healthcare system was trying to figure out how to function.
Rather than give up, I adapted. I picked up jobs and contracts wherever I could, and in the spaces between them, I slowly began building SuperKids. Growth did not happen overnight. It happened one family, one referral, and one opportunity at a time.
The journey has taken me through several different settings. I started by seeing children in their homes. From there, I moved into my husband’s small office space and transformed it into a one-person pediatric clinic. Then, in 2024, I took another leap of faith and built a family-friendly clinic in Whitehall—creating the physical space that more closely reflected the vision I had for SuperKids from the beginning.
There have certainly been obstacles along the way: uncertainty, financial risk, unexpected changes, and the constant challenge of growing a business while continuing to provide exceptional care. But each challenge has taught me to be flexible, persistent, and willing to rethink how things can be done.
Through all of the changes, one thing has remained constant: my commitment to the families I serve and to improving the lives of their children.
I continue to strive to stay at the forefront of pediatric therapy, to question what is considered “standard,” and to push the envelope for what is possible. Building SuperKids has taught me that entrepreneurship isn’t about having a perfect plan. It is about having the courage to keep moving forward when the plan changes—and the conviction to never lose sight of why you started.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I founded SuperKids Therapy in 2020. We serve families in Pittsburgh with kids who are differently abled or struggling to perform everyday tasks. Currently we run two pillars of care in the SuperKids community:
1. Dynamic Movement Intervention Intensive Therapy- this is for kids from 6+ months-5 years who struggle with motor skill attainment, i.e. spina bifida, CP
2. The Balanced Breastfed Baby. This program is geared towards under 4 months and helps these kids attain biomechanical balance so they can feed with ease.
I am most proud to be developing a community room for parents to meet up either before or after therapy to have a coffee and a chat with other parent who might be understanding of the stress they are feeling.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Taking the Risk
I believe that if you don’t bet on yourself, nobody else will either.
Starting SuperKids has required me to take some pretty sizable swings. I left the security of a decade-long career to build something of my own. I invested time, money, energy, and an enormous amount of faith into a vision before I knew exactly where it would lead. And, of course, there were moments when it would have been much easier—and certainly more comfortable—to stay where I was.
But I believed deeply in what I was trying to create.
Taking a risk doesn’t mean you aren’t afraid. It means you are willing to move forward despite the uncertainty because you believe the possibility on the other side is worth it. For me, that possibility was creating a different kind of pediatric therapy experience—one where children receive exceptional care and families feel genuinely supported, understood, and hopeful.
There have been plenty of moments when I have had to take another leap before I could see exactly where I would land. Opening my first clinic, growing the practice, investing in a larger space, developing new programs, and continuing to put my mission out into the world have all required me to trust myself and take the next step.
I also know that I have not taken these risks alone. My husband and my family have been incredibly supportive throughout this journey. Their encouragement has given me the confidence to take chances that I may not have had the courage to take on my own. I truly could not have built SuperKids without them.
Today, I am not simply trying to build a successful business. I am trying to build something sustainable—something that will serve children and families for years to come. That requires continuing to take calculated risks, to evolve, to dream bigger, and sometimes to put an idea into the world before I know exactly how it will work.
For me, the greatest risk would be not trying.
I would rather take the chance, learn from the failures, celebrate the wins, and keep moving forward than look back and wonder what might have been possible if I had simply believed in myself enough to try.
Pricing:
- 150 price of a DMI session
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.SuperKidspt.com
- Instagram: @superkidspt
