Every year for the past few years, serial entrepreneur and one of CommBank’s first intrapreneurs, Sarah Nally, leaves her office, laptop, email, social media and team behind and heads to paradise for some uninterrupted headspace. Sarah is the co-founder of Nurture Her, an immersive business retreat taking place at the InterContinental Fiji, from 24 – 28 October 2018. Sarah (and others!) will be inspiring 200 top female entrepreneurs and leaders to connect, learn and recharge so they can laser in on priorities and walk away with actionable strategies. We caught up with Sarah to talk about the inspiration behind Nurture Her and what it’s all about!
Tell us a bit more about Nurture Her?
Libby Babet and I are on a mission to nurture women’s wellbeing and wonder. We want to see women in business not only survive… but thrive! We want to see women connect, grow, lift them higher so they can lift up younger women too (we say take them up in the elevator so they can send it back down to get the next generation). Nurture Her is an event we have designed to do this. We will do this annually (and probably launch smaller events next year too). Women in business say that they need:
- 1:1 coaching and mentoring
- Learning informally from network and peers
- Opportunities to participate in leadership/learning programs
They also say that they:
- Struggle to find balance between business and wellbeing
- Work hard and sometimes forget to nurture their health
- Need opportunities to combine ‘networking’ with relaxation and learning *source Women in Focus, Wired for Wonder and anecdotal feedback from pipeline
Big unique selling proposition:
- WELLBEING (Most womens retreats are either focused on business or wellbeing and this one successfully caters for both with celebrity trainers and experts on hand to nurture our attendees wellbeing throughout the entire event… not just a token yoga class)
- ATTENDEES (Highly curated audience… you’re guaranteed to meet friendtors and walk away with a few extra LinkedIn and Facebook connections
- SPEAKERS (World class speakers from around the globe… this is a super star line up and they have been curated purposefully to help inspire your thinking and drive business clarity).
Nurture Her brings together a customised networking, learning and development opportunity in paradise so you can kill all the birds with one stone. It’s a BIZCATION – how else can you justify five days in Fiji away from your business? Nurture your wellbeing with daily themed workouts and nutrition workshops. Nurture your network with 200 other likeminded attendees in a relaxed setting where you can build real meaningful relationships! Nurture your business with speakers who share their knowledge, experience and also hang around so you can connect with them and get informed mentoring. Nurture your inner self with meditation daily and an opportunity to read a book by the pool.
What was the story/inspiration of how you started it?
We teamed up with Steve Pirie (Travel Entrepreneur aka Wander) and Zac de Silva (International Business Coach of the Year) to fuse Wellbeing (Libby), Wander (Steve), Wonder (Sarah) and Business (Zac) – we do it in Fiji because it is so close to Australia but provides a suspended reality where we can genuinely nurture out attendees.
Why is it so important for people (and especially women) to take stock of their wellness and how to find clear headspace?
The women we know struggle to find balance between business and wellbeing. We work hard and sometimes forget to nurture our health. Need opportunities to combine ‘networking’ with relaxation and learning. Sarah and Libby are passionately role modelling the juggle and want others to learn how to bring little actionable changes into their lives to nurture their wellbeing, wonder, wander and business.
Who do you have as some of your key speakers at the event in October?
We have an amazing line up of speakers you can check out here.
What are some of the key strategies you have employed that help those that are working in corporates to improve their mindfulness and wellbeing?
We love bite size “skill pills” (as featured on our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkxOW90eCqy58G-7W6zJ8hw. Small bite size things that individuals and leaders can do to improve wellbeing, productivity, innovation and creativity. From things like colouring in, breathing, walking meetings to reiki, meditation, float tanks – we are obsessed with experimenting with all sorts of easy activities that make impacts. For busy workers, Libby and my favourites are little movement snacks and mindfulness colouring.
Before discovering flexibility and balance, what did a normal work day look like for you?
I used to get to work around 8/8.30am and would often stay until 6.30pm sometimes much later! I was a total corporate slave! I craved flexibility and freedom but I feared my reputation and worried people would think that I wasn’t working hard enough if I wasn’t at my desk. I remember being inspired when our email client became available remotely and working from home one day. I got so much done, I wondered why I was so productive? I realised that my day was full of disruption and interruptions. My manager noticed how happy it made me and how productive I was (I was already pretty productive, but this was even more awesome), so we spoke about what might work and then applied for flexibility formally. That was over 10 years ago now, I have been experimenting with flexibility, remote working, being office agnostic… pushing the envelope ever since!
When was it that you decided things needed to change? Was it a health scare/shift of mindset?
I had a TIA (transient ischemic attack) and seriously reviewed my work/life balance after this. My neurologist was really forward thinking and open minded and suggested I try hypnosis and meditation. I loved it so much I became a qualified hypnotherapist and have been meditating for 7 years now.
Can flexibility improve workplace culture and is it for everyone?
I think flexibility is key for every business, but there is no broad stroke that can be applied, it needs to be individual and determined by the employee and employer to make sure everyone’s needs are met. That is the key to successful flexibility – that there is equality in needs being met. For example if an employee enjoys radical flexibility but does not produce desired outcomes… then this isn’t good for culture, or business! Flexibility is awesome for culture when everyone is clear, accountable and making sure all parties are flexible and not fixed.
Visit www.nurtureher.com for more information.
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