Smith JeromeContactFounder · Builder · Operator
The business of building beautiful things.
Lin Smith Jerome creates brands people feel—across hospitality, education and the ideas shaping her next chapter.
Discover her story
No. 01 / Perspective
“I have always believed that the most powerful brands do more than sell something. They create a world people want to step into.”
More than one title.
One distinct point of view.
What guides the work
See what others overlook.
Turn the idea into an experience.
Know when the next chapter is calling.
Lin Smith Jerome is an entrepreneur, operator and brand builder known for transforming ideas into experiences people remember. As co-founder of Refined Restaurant Group, she helped shape the vision, design, storytelling and growth behind hospitality brands including Café Lola—named in honor of her mother, Lola—Saint Honoré Doughnuts & Beignets and 3 Little Chicks, a concept inspired by the founders’ three daughters.
Today, Lin’s work is expanding beyond hospitality. Alongside her husband, Steve, she co-founded Gallop, a real-world learning platform inspired by their daughter, Margaux, and designed to strengthen children’s critical thinking through entrepreneurship, investing and practical application.
Family is woven through every chapter of Lin’s work. Across each venture, she brings creative instinct, strategic thinking and operational discipline—and a belief that the most meaningful ideas often begin with the people closest to us.
Read Lin’s full story
Selected Work · Hospitality
From vision to
experience.
A portfolio of high-concept brands brought to life through design, vision, strategy, storytelling, operational discipline and instinct.
01Hospitality · Co-Founder
Café Lola
A modern café experience where design, celebration and everyday ritual meet.
02Hospitality · Co-Founder
Saint Honoré
Couture doughnuts, beignets and an unmistakable point of view—created for culture as much as craving.
03Hospitality · Co-Founder
3 Little Chicks
A fresh, family-minded concept created for the founders’ three daughters—the original three little chicks.
Lin and Steve Jerome have spent years creating and growing a portfolio of distinctive hospitality brands. Their complementary strengths—Lin’s eye for design, experience and storytelling, and Steve’s deep hospitality and operational background—have shaped the ventures they brought to life together.
Inside GallopA student home base designed to make progress visible.
Created by entrepreneurs · For future thinkers
Gallop meets children at their true level across five core subjects, then takes the next step: it asks them to reason, decide and apply what they know. The goal is not simply to get the answer. It is to understand how to think.
Learn to think critically.
Guided lessons teach the idea, ask children to work through it and re-teach it a different way when it does not click.
Put knowledge to work.
Children run a lemonade stand or bakery, set prices, manage costs and see how everyday math becomes a real business.
Practice real decisions.
Investing challenges, money skills and career exploration strengthen judgment, patience and a wider view of what is possible.
“We created Gallop so our daughter could be ahead in school—and ready for life.”
Explore Gallop Learning Academy
The founders behind Gallop
Created together.
For Margaux.
Long before Gallop, Lin and Steve were partners in life and business. After more than two decades together, they created the learning experience they wanted for their daughter, Margaux.
Lin shaped the vision, brand and parent experience. Steve developed the platform and now leads its day-to-day growth. Gallop brings together what has always defined their work: curiosity, resilience, critical thinking and the confidence to turn an idea into something real.
Ideas · Life · Leadership
The Lin Edit
Notes from the intersection of ambition, beauty and real life.
The Founder’s Note
The lessons no one sees behind the finished brand
Read articleAt the Table
Why the most memorable brands begin with a feeling
Read articleThe Next Chapter
Built for the world ahead
Read article“The work evolves.
The standard does not.”