Pause — A retreat for women of color executives and leaders who are ready to unlock and release their dreams

Day in and day out you put everyone first - job, kids, spouse, family, friends, and despite the achievements you find yourself wanting more, or wanting to pause and re-examine. Right?

— You have always strived for more.

— You have proven your value.

— You have checked off your major life goals.

— You have led and supported others.

— Yet, you feel unsettled. 

— You have always had to work twice as hard.

— You are overworked.

— You are burned out. 

— You feel overwhelmed by the endless to-do lists. 

— You struggle to prioritize your own well-being.

— You’ve been taught to minimize your struggles, to put on a brave face, and to tough it out.

— You are a perfectionist because your mistakes will be used against you.

— You keep pouring from an empty cup.

— Grind and hustle culture have lost its allure or significance to you.

— You find yourself wondering, “is this all there is?”

— You are not fully satisfied.

— You are looking for guideposts for your next decision or move.

If these resonate with you, we have created a retreat — just for you!

Here’s the thing – The effort of navigating workplaces that weren’t designed with us in mind is draining. Additionally, we often lack the resources and time needed to manage our lives outside of work. And then there is that inner critic who is often harsher to us than we would ever be with those we love. 

Our success and rise are often faced with increased scrutiny and pushback, sometimes forcing us to not step into our greatness or “play big.” Our success, unsurprisingly, comes at a great cost and we’re left wondering, “How much longer do I have to live in a constant state of doing?” 

The truth is the higher up we get in majority organizations, the lonelier we can become. Yet the invitation to go on a retreat to take time for yourself to unlock, release, and thrive elicits hesitation.

Here’s the thing. You may feel excited about the idea of going on a retreat, yet, your logical brain is telling you “no way.” 

• “I am too busy right now. How will I ever be able to take time away from work?”
• “I cannot add a single thing to my endless to-do list.”
• “Who will watch the kids?”
• “Will I have to catch up on work if I go on this retreat?”
• “Spending money on a retreat for myself is a luxury I cannot afford.
• “I already have so much. I should just be grateful.”
• “I am already successful. I don’t need this retreat.”

You may also feel hesitant because you believe that you should be able to manage your life on your own. After all, “my mother didn’t need a retreat.”

You may also feel resistant to being vulnerable and the idea of connecting with others and sharing your dreams, struggles, and challenges. You may also feel shame desiring “more” despite all you have achieved and have.

We see you. We hear you. We have been there. 

• We know how hard it is to pause, carve out time from your already full calendar, go on a retreat, and focus on yourself.
• We know how hard it is to pause, to reflect on your life, and to intentionally choose your next move, rather than allow the momentum of busyness to make your decisions for you.
• We know how hard it is to pause, to do something perhaps for the first time, to do something unfamiliar. 
• We know what it means to manage budgets and finances and make hard decisions including whether to prioritize our own self-care and growth.
• AND, here’s what we know. This retreat is just the thing you need to pause the cycle of overwhelm and feeling locked. You deserve to navigate toward wholehearted and fierce living. If we do not pause and reflect, we will continue being carried along instead of intentionally carving our path. What we want on the other side is possible.

This is why we created this retreat, just for you, only for women of color, who are senior executives, senior-level professionals, law firm partners, and general counsel.

This is a one-of-a-kind retreat, combining the best of two worlds — mindfulness and meditation retreats combined with executive leadership retreats focused on authenticity, courage, power, belonging, and thriving all while centering the truth and experiences of women of color.

During our time together in retreat, we’ll:

• Pause. Practice mindfulness and meditation to calm our nervous system so that we can connect with our inner wisdom, experience, and brilliance
  • Understand and address the impact of the systemic, organizational, and cultural barriers that are unique to us
  • Look at our habit of overwork (and underlying beliefs driving) and the toxic thought patterns that keep us from listening to our bodies and our needs.
  • Pause and focus on your own joy, rest, development, and pleasure 

• Rewind. Look at our career, and examine the habits, beliefs, and conditions which have gotten us to where we are as well as examine our desires, opportunities, and overall health
  • Reflect on past experiences, underlying beliefs, and their sources
  • Dig deep into the narratives that shape our lives and how we can redeem the downturns and write a new story.
  • Examine the unique challenges and complications when women of color achieve their goals of “making it” in the workplace. 

• Play. Give ourselves the space to imagine our future, and permission to claim our dreams and begin moving forward
  • Step into healing, and emerge with new mindsets.
  • Practice taking space.
  • Build community and connection
  • Cultivate self-compassion and self-love as a way to combat the experience of being the lonely only or the lonely few in our organization.
  • Be energized and have clarity on  YOUR next steps 
  • Challenge the idea that we cannot be vulnerable or truly authentic 

• Forward. Take with you a set of tools and practices to live with joy, authenticity, clarity and be a more effective and confident leader and person. How can you show up differently as a leader, parent, child, teammate, spouse, partner, friend, and most importantly yourself? What do you need? What do you have to let go of? 
  • Practice using effective empathetic tools, modeling authenticity, and connecting to who we truly are and how we want to show up in your day-to-day moving forward.
  • Utilize practices for somatic healing and responding to triggers, -isms, stress
  • Apply systems for effective boundaries and gaining clarity in decision making
  • Fill your cup before pouring.

• Kori and Jeena have worked with hundreds of senior level women who have experienced discontent despite achieving outward success, needed to move to the next level in their careers, and achieved increased effectiveness in communication and leadership. 
• The retreat provides the equivalent of 16 hours of group coaching, facilitated work, and teaching worth over $13,000.
• This immersive experience will set you up to hit “play” on your next steps immediately after the retreat ends instead of after 8 months of one-on-one coaching.
• You can break your payments into installments
• Alignment, re-centering, and clarity comes with pausing and will lead to more effectiveness and joy
• You are worth the investment

• A curated experience that creates a safe and brave container for sharing.
• A focus on intersectionality and centering the voices of women of color and our experiences.
• Sessions led by experienced facilitators, coaches and consultants with expertise in mindfulness and meditation, authenticity, courage and belonging, intercultural fluency, and a CliftonStrengths certified and Certified Dare to LeadTM Facilitator. 
• Workshops, facilitated discussions, and group coaching in a relaxed atmosphere and style focused on personal and professional development as well as wellbeing.
• Social activities highlighting the beauty of Chicago with all its amazing restaurants, architecture, museums, neighborhoods, and arts and culture offerings.

Kori is a people inclusion strategist, advocate, speaker,  writer, status quo disruptor, truthteller, child of God,  wife, and mother of two curly-haired, wise, energetic,  fierce, spitfire daughters. Her family is multi-ethnic,  multi-racial, multi-religious, and spans multiple nationalities. 

She brings a fierce love of community and belonging that transcends differences to her work,  ministry, and life. She loves to sing, cook, entertain,  dance in the hallways at work, and read when she is not equipping leaders to be inclusive, interrupt bias, and disrupt the status quo. 

At her day job she focuses on developing and implementing strategies for individual career and diversity and inclusion success and helps organizations build bridges across differences and improve inclusion. When she is not "working" she focuses her voice and talent on issues of gender equity and rights, inclusion, and human and civil rights,  serving in her church and community, and cherishing her phenomenal tribe and community. She is energized by helping people live their best lives. 

Kori is an attorney, Certified Dare to Lead Facilitator, Certified Gallup CliftonStrengths and a qualified IDI (the Intercultural Development Inventory, the leading assessment tool measuring individual and organizational cultural competence) administrator. She is an Enneagram 1 (improver), and Conscious Reformer on the Insight Profiles Discovery wheel (blue). Kori's Gallup CliftonStrengths top 5 are: connectedness, achiever, learner, responsibility, and context. Learn more about her at koricarew.com

Jeena Cho is a mom to a very active 3-year-old, a child immigrant, a lawyer, a mindfulness consultant, coach, and co-author of the best-selling ABA book, The Anxious  Lawyer, An 8-Week Guide to a Joyful and Satisfying Law Practice Through Mindfulness and Meditation.

She offers a unique perspective and insight as an attorney with over 15 years of law practice, who brings personal experience as an immigrant, a Korean-American, and a mom to the table. Her work is steeped in science- and research-based expertise in mindfulness,  positive psychology, somatic practices, cognitive behavioral tools, and coaching. Learn more about her jeenacho.com 

The Guesthouse Hotel, 4872 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60640 - one-, two-, or three-bedroom luxurious suites in a boutique hotel with spacious kitchen, dining area, and living room

Wednesday, June 21 at 6:00 pm - Sunday, June 25, 2023, at 11:30 am

Agenda:

June 21, 2023, Wednesday

• Arrive in Chicago, IL. 
• 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM, Optional cocktail networking kickoff reception.

June 22, 2023, Thursday

• Morning wellness activity
• Breakfast (provided)
• Morning session 
• Lunch  (provided)
• Afternoon session
• Dinner (on your own)

June 23, 2023, Friday

• Morning wellness activity
• Breakfast (provided)
• Morning session 
• Lunch  (provided)
• Afternoon session
• afternoon/evening optional social activity
• Dinner (on your own)

June 24, 2023, Saturday

• Morning wellness activity
• Breakfast (provided)
• Morning session 
• Lunch working session  (provided)
• Afternoon + Evening free with optional activities such as dinner at a James Beard restaurant

June 25, 2023, Sunday

• Morning wellness activity
• Closing session 
• Adjourn at 11:30 am CT