Queen Bee Women's Leadership Masterclass in Ibiza (11/11-11/17): All the Deets

How the hell did I end up in Ibiza for a women's leadership masterclass in Ibiza??!

This is how:

This summer, I went to Providence, RI with a close friend of mine, who brought along her friend / roommate for the summer, Susanna. Within a few minutes of meeting Susanna, I learned that she was getting her PhD in "founder leadership" (I'm obsessed with startups), teaches yoga on the beach in Barcelona (sounds like a dream), and was hosting a women's leadership / yoga retreat in Ibiza. All this, plus her overall vibes, made me immediately IN. I also decided I'd figure out how to use my professional development stipend I get from my company to pay for it. Another reason I pulled the trigger so fast is that a week before meeting Susanna I had started journaling as a goal: "I own a sought after wellness retreat". I truly believe I manifested her into my life because her retreat would also be research for me and my goals.

So what exactly was this "women's leadership masterclass"? Here's how I described it in my feedback form: 

“Think ‘Eat Pray Love’ + ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants’ + ‘Wine Country’, all in one. QBR is a week long women’s leadership retreat that looks at leadership from a more personal and spiritual angle. It helps you think about, understand and work on your Self so you can in turn lead others better. Susanna, the host, has a true gift and ability to create a safe space for women to feel comfortable to be vulnerable and share their stories and experiences. The retreat is more than just a leadership and yoga retreat — it combines meditation, yoga, lively discussions, laughter, horoscopes, delicious food, vulnerability, new friendships, and beauty, into a week filled with high vibes, ease and flow.”

QUEEN BEE RETREAT: THE DETAILS

The location:

• It was hosted at a beautiful villa that we had all to ourselves. We each had our own little house, there was a huge outdoor area with a pool (too cold to swim), multiple decks, lounges, and roof where we did our morning mediations. The owner is going to be renovating the villa so it's going to be even more beautiful soon.
• It was during Ibiza's off season, so the rest of the island was pretty dead, but that was fine with us. We spent 90% of the time in the villa.

The women: 

There were supposed to be 10 women total but we ended up with 6, which turned out to be the perfect size group. You have to apply to the masterclass, and Susanna did an amazing job curating the group of women to ensure the best experience for all. I seriously left the week feeling like I'd known these girls for longer, and can't wait to see them again.

• Susanna (@yogawithsusanna and @queenbeeretreats), the creator of Queen Bee Retreats / host for the whole week (read more about this wonderful human here). 
• Jelisa (@jelisadifo), the retreat planner, but also an active participant in the retreat (read more about her here). Such a beautiful person with an incredible singing voice and soothing regular voice. She also did my chakra reading which was 🤯. 
• Allison (@allisondiliegro), currently a digital content strategist / freelance writer who moved to Berlin this year after a couple years traveling the world as a travel writer. This inspiring woman has also done four vipassana meditation retreats (10-day SILENT meditations), and enlightened me with some meditation tips because I'm a newb. Sign up for her travel newsletter Opla here. Also a fellow American! 🇺🇸
• Basia (@basiaciochon and @basiaciochonphoto), currently a developer, UX/UI designer AND photographer, who decided a couple years ago to pivot careers, take a sabbatical where she did a developer bootcamp, and move to Barcelona from Toronto.
• Suhan (@makeupbysuhan), a makeup artist at the top TV network in Toronto, who decided she wanted to move to Barcelona, got a 1-year sabbatical approved, and moved! Unfortunately we weren't able to get any makeup tutorials from her that week, but she did make us laugh A LOT (she used to also do stand-up comedy). Follow her at .

 Side note: I need to figure out how to get a sabbatical approved.

All these women, no doubt, are going to do even bigger things than they already are. I can't wait to follow along their journeys and see what happens!!!

The schedule: 

Susanna created a schedule for the week but she was also flexible with what felt right that day. Everything took the perfect amount of time. We truly didn't have to worry about ANYTHING for an entire week. She took care of the drivers, the airport pickup/drop offs, the food, activities, etc. *The below schedule is approximate, you get the gist.

• 9AM: We started each day with an optional 1-hr meditation that Susanna guided us through. It took place outside if it was warm enough. They provided yoga mats, blankets, and bolsters to make sure we were cozy.
• 10-11AM: Breakfast
• 11-11:30am: Break
• 11:30am-1:30pm: Class
• 1:30pm - 2:30pm: Lunch
• 2:30pm-4pm: Break
• 4pm-5pm: Yoga 
• 5pm-6pm: Break
• 6pm-7pm: Dinner
• 7pm on: Free time! We spent most of this time watching shows and movies. Most girls when to bed around 10pm. I stayed up later and finished two seasons of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel 😳.

We had a couple activities that changed up the schedule some days. We went into town one afternoon, went to the beach to hang out with Es Vedra island and soak up all that special energy, did a full moon ceremony one night, and had a private Bossa Nova concert in our villa where we may have scared off the musician Edu with all our feminine energy coming at him.

The classes:

I LOVED our classes. Each class, Susanna led us through a discussion on different topics (e.g. masculine vs feminine energy, low vs high vibrational energy, spiritual bypassing, what it means to be a leader, fears, boundaries, and more), every day building on the next. It wasn't her teaching us. It was her introducing concepts to us, and holding the space FOR us to discuss them and how they apply to our lives. There were some serious revelations that happened, especially on my end. I also loved how despite growing up in completely different places with different family backgrounds, we have so much in common and struggle with similar issues.

The classes also took place in the living room, on couches with blankets, in basically our pajamas. We had tea and coffee, and we were COMFORTABLE. It was just a perfect environment to soak in all the concepts, which you don't get a at typical "leadership" training.

The food:

We were SO incredibly spoiled with a private chef Josefina (read her bio here). She cooked us 3 meals a day - all super delicious, nutritious, and beautiful. She herself is also beautiful, stylish, and overall wonderful, so we were all 😍around her. I don't even speak Spanish and I was mesmerized by her when she spoke. She catered all our meals to our food preferences / allergies / sensitivities. Most of the girls were vegetarian or pescatarian, so the whole week was veg + fish. Follow Josefina at @josefina_chef.

We also enjoyed each meal together, ate slowly, savored all the flavors, and got to know each other. We had conversations that ranged from Beyoncé and JLo to growing up with immigrant parents.

The food and meals were definitely a highlight of the week.

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Overall, I'm so grateful to have been a part of this experience and to have met these wonderful women. Susanna is building something seriously magical with Queen Bee Retreats. As she describes on her site:

"Our offering is based on the idea that women are here to heal each other and we are built for community. We believe that beauty is a virtue and we organize our curated leadership yoga retreats in places that inspire us. All groups are small with individualized attention and we carefully select participants to ensure optimal group synergy and abundance. 

The magic is in the alchemy we create together."