Rakita Lillard-Brown

I attribute my success to being able to witness the transformation that happens when women are loved properly and thoroughly supported. It changes you when you see physically the difference between someone who walks in the door at the beginning of an event or a retreat versus that same person leaving - they look completely different, they move different. Even years later, I get emails or messages from past attendees who are now starting businesses, or they found the love of their life, or they've left a hard relationship, or empty nesters who feel great now and feel the space. That is what makes this worth it for me - knowing and being able to witness what happens when we are allowed the space to figure out whatever it is we need to figure out, and when we're thoroughly supported. It really does change the world, because women accomplish everything, and how much more beautiful it is when you get to the end of it and you're like, wow, I was a part of that. Even if it's just a little moment that they spent with me, that is the best feeling in the world, to feel trusted and to see it happen. I knew this all along, I knew this is who you could be, and to see it happen. On a personal level, my mother was one of those women who, when she was loved properly and supported thoroughly, was thriving, and that is a legacy that I will forever want to share as long as I can.

My best advice is honestly two-part. First, ask for help more often. Even when you think you don't need it, there's always a space and an opportunity to receive help. And then also just give yourself grace, because we're not going to always get it right. It's not always going to feel good, but I think we're so hard on ourselves and give others way more leniency than we give ourselves. So just the reminder of grace, and being comfortable with asking for help.

I'm always trying to figure out what the right sweet spot is for retreat length, because I never want time or money to be the reason that women don't get what they need or dream of. I think there's always a way for that, so we're always playing around with what the perfect length of time is for an experience. We offer annual international retreats that are usually 5 to 7 days long, but we also try to offer smaller retreats that are domestic for people who maybe can't take off a full week, or can't travel, or are not ready to travel outside of the country. So we do smaller experiences over a weekend, about 2 to 3 days, and sometimes we do day retreats.

I'm really proud of being able to find a beautiful balance between my work and personal life. I try to make it a point to incorporate all of the things that I love in what I do. I'm at this stage right now where spending as much time with family is super, super top priority for me. I literally put it on my calendar - family time - and it could be something as little as being on the phone with my sister for an hour and a half. If we didn't have it on the calendar, I don't know if it would have happened. My free time is mostly spent with my family. My sister's a new mom, and watching her baby grow up and navigate the world, and my goddaughter is growing up, and it's so fun to just sit back and watch how they figure out what's happening. I want to make it a priority to create those memories, because things happen so quickly. I don't want to forget, or I don't want to lose that vision, so that's what I've been doing in the last 2 years, really, really doubling down on that time that I spend with them.