We knew we could rely on the January weather in Miami so that’s where we invited our Numero Uno’s to join us for our first Director Retreat.
Several months of planning had gone into this: just the right hotel, menus, meeting rooms, gifts, and surprises, so to find Miami under a tornado watch was a bit off the program, as was the suspicious carpet in the bedrooms… and when one of our Directors found herself sleeping next to the bar, and mentioned her concern about the noise, the receptionist said “Don’t worry about that” and handed over a pair of ear plugs.
“Oh no,” I cried to Jeanette, my friend and colleague, “I wanted everything to be perfect for them.” “It will be. We are all together and that’s what that matters,” she replied.
And she was right.
Spa treatments at The Standard (with lots of signs saying “Please use your spa voice,” which was a bit concerning, as we have a tribe of women with big characters and big voices), dinner at the famous Joe’s Stone Crab, which descended into mayhem as we threw sugar packets at one another, cocktails in the private members’ bar of Casa Tua and dinner in their lantern lit garden afterwards, amongst candles and roses, good wine and burrata cheese, flown in freshly from Italy that day.
Some sensible women wandered back to their beds so on the Sunday morning they could enjoy brunch and some time by the pool. Some silly women went back to the bar and danced till two, ordering “Good Life” cocktails. Oh how funny we all thought we were, “May I order a Good Life” we said repeatedly to the dazzling bartender. (It was only when I woke the next morning I realized that you really could have too much of a Good Life.)
For the most part of Saturday we sat together and the Numero Uno’s listened as Jeanette and Nicholas, our CEO, spoke about the company’s growth and the vision for 2016, and I revealed the new Spring collection.
Later I found a note slipped under my door, on the yucky carpet, it was from one of the directors. She wrote that she had no idea that in joining this company she would not only find an amazing opportunity but also an amazing group of women who would become her “beacon of hope.”
I’m still on a high from the weekend with amazing women! Connections were made, ideas were shared, and our passion for this company is evident. We shared stories of our lives, laughed, danced and felt honored to do it all with our partner, India. Thank you for a powerful weekend filled with laughter, elegance and inspiration! xo