Hi everyone,

Every January, most of us do the same thing. We write down the big idea. The business we want to start, the hobby we've been circling for two years, the version of our work we keep saying we'll get to "when things calm down."

And then February comes, and it's still just a note in your phone.

It's not usually a good-idea problem. It's an action problem. No structure, no feedback, no one in your corner asking how it's going. That's the part I wanted to build a retreat around, not another week of inspiration, but five days that finally turn the thing in your head into something real.

I'm using "entrepreneurial" loosely here, on purpose. This isn't only for people launching a company. It's for anyone ready to take real, proactive initiative on something, a business, yes, but also a hobby you want to get serious about, a project you've been meaning to start, a version of your work you haven't given yourself permission to try yet. If you've got the idea and you're ready to finally move on it, this is for you.

NICARAGUA FOR BIG THINKERS AND DOERS

January 15–19, 2027 | From $3,600 | 5 SPOTS LEFT

Five days built around the idea you're ready to start. Mornings open with a session, nothing else competing for your attention. We take the business model work out onto the islands of Las Isletas for the day. A session on creative resistance gets followed by a sound bath. And the week doesn't end with a notebook full of good intentions, it ends with you naming one concrete next step out loud, to the group that spent the week helping you get there.

This isn't a passive retreat. It's a working week.
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why i am leading this one myself

I've led two creative retreats for our travelers in Colombia, and workshops for some of the best minds in travel. I've spent years facilitating this kind of work, first with social entrepreneurs building businesses at the base of their communities, then through workshops the U.S. Department of Commerce asked me to lead for women entrepreneurs across Central Asia. These days I also sit on the Advisory Board to the President of the Tory Burch Foundation, where I support hundreds of women entrepreneurs building real momentum and taking big swings on their own ideas. I'm around that energy constantly, and I wanted to bring some of it into this week for our community.

I know a lot of you, I'm on the road with many of you constantly, and I know so many of you are carrying genuinely interesting ideas. You just need the infrastructure and support to get it moving.

WHY NICARAGUA

I go back to Granada often. It's where I go to ground myself, recharge, and get unstuck when I'm stuck. There's a real energy to the community there, and enough nature around it, the lake, the islands, the volcano, to pull you out of your own head when you need it. I wanted this retreat to happen somewhere that's done that for me before.

I'll admit it, I love my woo-woo stuff, and Nicaragua makes that easy. The lake at sunset, the volcanoes, plastic chairs and a cold drink watching the fishermen come in. But manifesting can only take an idea so far. This week isn't about sitting with a vision board, it's about leaving with an actual plan and the first steps already taken.

We'll be taking over Tribal Hotel and Casa Violeta for the week. If you don't already know it, Casa Violeta is our home in Granada, our guesthouse, and the same house we rent out on Airbnb. We'll be welcoming you into it.

need a little sign or push that this retreat is for you?

A podcast episode landed in my feed this week while I was writing this, and the timing felt right. It's a conversation between entrepreneur Emma Grede and Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks, one of the leading researchers on happiness, about what actually makes a life feel meaningful, and why the things we chase so often leave us empty once we get them.

Brooks lays out the two questions he uses with his own students to diagnose whether someone's lost their sense of meaning, why our brains struggle when life gets too comfortable, and a simple exercise that shows whether how you spend your time actually matches what you say you value. If this is that extra sign you've been waiting for, this is worth the listen.

→ LISTEN HERE​

As always, if you have any questions and/or want to talk through if this is the right fit, reply to this email and I will get back to you.

— xx, Katalina

HOUSE KEEPING

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