This one time, at a retreat in france...
I just got back from a retreat in the south of France. Three days at a boutique hotel and a chateau (a f***ing chateau!!!!) with a small group of women entrepreneurs. Three-course lunches that lasted hooours. Beach walks in the morning. Wine, cheese, bread, more cheese. So much laughter my face actually hurt. And oh, also, some of the deepest strategic and personal work I've done, like, ever.
And I'm still thinking about it.
I started the trip a little nervous. I'd met everyone on a few prep calls. I knew their names, their businesses, what they were working on. And I was still standing at the bathroom mirror at 7:30am on day one rehearsing how I was going to introduce myself.
You know that feeling. You haven't even left your room and you're already pre-editing yourself. Workshopping the version of you that's going to walk through that door. Trying to decide which parts of your actual self are safe to bring downstairs and which you're going to leave locked up (and you obviously trippled checked the lock) in your room with instructions to deifnitely not eat the $7 candy bar in the minibar.
And then the retreat happened…
I have been in a lot of rooms in my career. Rooms where you offer a thought and nobody has a single follow up question. Rooms where they criticize YOU, not just your idea as if your one bad idea is a personal, moral failing. Rooms where the bags under your eyes get heavier by the hour because the room is quietly siphoning the life out of you. Rooms that leave you thinking, why even bother.
This was a very different room.
We got excited about each other's ideas. We backed each other up. We challenged each other, hard, in the way that only people who actually want you to win can challenge you. We looked each other in the eye and reminded each other, again and again, that we belonged in that room. I left with more energy than I came in with. I didn't even need my usual “nap” (aka decompression doomscroll) at 3pm.
And I know, I KNOW, this is something I talk about all the time. I write about it. I have a whole book about it. I've had glimpses of it in conversations with my closest friends and over a thousand girl dinners. At an intellectual level I have understood the importance of a pack like this for years
But knowing something and feeling it deep in your bones are two very different things.
Last week was the feeling. The epitome of a vibe. And I'm not letting it go.
This is the energy I'm carrying into everything I'm building at dr.kelc. And because of it, some things are about to shift around here. I'll share more soon, but the short version: it builds on Painted Wolves, and it's about building a pack of women who are designing a better, more joyful world, together.
It's for women in corporate, in medicine, in science, in engineering, in law, in every still-male dominated field where the rules were written for someone who doesn't look like us. Women who want the title and the money. Not because the title and the money are the point. But because of what they actually buy you:
✨The authority to finally action the ideas you've been sitting on for years.
✨The decision-making power to fix the broken systems you've been shouting about for two years running.
✨ The clout to push through the changes that would actually make Mondays bearable for the people on your team.
✨ The budget to get the people around you the resources they actually need to do the job well.
✨The room to bring a little joy back into the day-to-day, because god knows in this economy?! Somebody has to!!
And yeah. Also. Brunch where you order the thing you want without running the math. Disneyland with your kids without worrying as you swipe your card to buy the ridiculously overpriced souvenir. The trip to Asia you've been putting off until you feel a little more comfortable with your bank balance. That part too.
We want the title and we want the authority because we know what we'd do with it. We know what kind of teams we'd build, what kind of culture we'd create, what kind of care we'd put into the work. And we know that a pack of women leading like this, in enough rooms, for long enough, is how the world actually starts to turn toward something better.
More on all of that very soon…
In the meantime, I want to tell you about the first thing!!!!!! I'm SO excited to tell you this!!! eeeeeeee.
If you've read Painted Wolves, you know the argument: the world has been shaped by lion-style leadership for a long time, and the science says women lead differently. More prepared. More collective. More willing to learn. More focused on the actual issue instead of on power for its own sake. And every time we hand a woman the title and the authority she's earned, we don't just give one woman a better career. We grow the kind of leadership the world is hurting for.
The Summer Pack is where this philosophy enters the group chat IRL.
It's for any woman who wants to make a positive impact through her leadership. Whether that's at a company, in a hospital, in a lab, in a courtroom, in a classroom, in her community, in her own business. If you can see what needs to change and you're ready to be one of the women who changes it, this is for you.
Picture yourself in September. The year has turned the corner and sweater weather is approaching. You spent the summer doing the work, alongside a small group of other women doing the same. You can feel the difference. The way you walk into the meeting. The way you ask for what you need. The way you make the call instead of waiting for someone to tell you what to do.
You're not the same woman you were in June. You're braver in the moments that used to shrink you. Clearer about what you actually want. Faster to say the thing without dressing it up first. And the people around you have noticed.
And you're not figuring it out alone. You've got a pack of women in your corner, in your phone, in your real life, wanting to make a positive difference and bring this world a little more joy alongside you.
That's what the Summer Pack is for.
Three months. June 15 to September 15.
A small group of women, the Painted Wolves framework applied to your actual life, weekly check-ins with me, WhatsApp access, live events with the cohort, book clubs, weekly challenges that make the work stick instead of just sounding good on a podcast.
You can see exactly what would make this better. You're tired of getting overlooked for a louder, deeper voice in the room. You're ready for the authority to make the positive impact yourself. And you want a pack of women who get it.
This is for you.
If you're sitting with this and have questions, or just want to feel out whether the Summer Pack is the right fit for where you are right now, book a call. I'd love to talk it through with you.
Let's go girls!
xoxo
Kels
This Week's Thing:
Remember when T. Swift dropped this truth last summer on New Heights?
"You should think of your energy as if it's expensive, as if it's a luxury item. Not everyone can afford it."
Read that one more time.
Your job this week is to take stock. Who in your life right now can afford your energy? The women who get excited about your ideas. The ones who challenge you in the way only people who actually want you to win can. The ones who text back. The ones who, when you walk away from a conversation with them, leave you fuller than you were before.
Write down three names.
The ones already in your pack, whether you've named it that out loud or not.
Then send each of them a message this week. Not in the group chat. Individually. Tell them they're in your pack. Tell them why. Tell them you're glad they're there.
Your energy IS a luxury item. Be intentional about who you spend it on. The women who can afford it are the ones building right alongside you.
Want to learn more about the retreat??
You can find all of the details from this year's retreat and contact Suzanne or Nicola for deets about next year here 👇🏼