Fill up your wine or tea, and join Kerri King and Jennifer Santos for DWN Chats! We may not be able to network in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we can still connect and learn from all the fabulous women in the community.
It’s been just over one week since 100 women from across Durham Region—ready to take their personal and professional lives to the next level—gathered at the first-ever Durham Women’s Network (DWN) retreat, re:Create 2020.
We carved out time from our busy schedules to re:Set, re:Charge, re:Evaluate, re:Discover, re:Imagine, re:Organize, re:Design and re:Invent ourselves and our lives for 2020—a new year and a new decade!
Whether or not you were able to make it to the premiere DWN retreat, let’s revisit the magical day with these with beautifully captured moments—courtesy of our amazing photographers, Denise Wilkins of Lifeart Designs and Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.
***
The wonderful Kerri King and Jennifer Santos, co-creators of the Durham Women’s Network, welcomed us to re:Create 2020—and genuinely thanked us for making the choice to invest in ourselves, take charge of our lives, and develop our best selves; reassuring us that we’re not alone in our path to creating the life of our dreams.
With a network of powerful women around us, we can’t fail!
Photo by: Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.
Jamie Kozlinsky of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation led us through a smudging ceremony to purify us and our space for the day.
Photo by: Denise Wilkins of Lifeart Designs.
Dr. Ana Candia, a Naturopathic Doctor practising at Family Chiropractic and Homeopathic Centre in Ajax, shared how we can take control of our lives and health by looking at the root causes and simple solutions to the overwhelm that ails us.
Photo by: Denise Wilkins of Lifeart Designs.
Natasha Nesrine, Life Coach and Found of the Better Life Project, guided us through the gorgeous re:Create 2020 workbook and spoke about how we can use it to clarify our goals for the year ahead.
Photo by: Denise Wilkins of Lifeart Designs.
The gorgeous flower centerpieces at each table, created by Ania Doiron of Ania’s Flowers & Events, were a subtle reminder thought the day that all great ideas start as a small seed and can grow and blossom into something absolutely beautiful.
Photo by: Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.
We took the time to give our bodies the love they deserve though an energizing yoga session with Carol Baxter, Owner of Glow Yoga Wellness Studios in Whitby and Author of The Confidence Project.
Photo by: Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.
Celina Caesar-Chavannes—Former Member of Parliament for the Whitby riding, business woman, and true Canadian Icon—brought us an epic speech about being a bold woman! We laughed, we teared up, but most of all, we were inspired to go big, or go home. Check out Celina’s Top 10 List or watch the full 15 minute video!
Photo by: Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.
Dr. Karen Beal, Chiropractor at Family Chiropractic and Homeopathic Centre in Ajax, shared some ways to reconnect with our body and heart—and how to hear their subtle messages that help us to flow into more balance and health.
Photo by: Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.
Jade Schofield, Environmentalist and Sustainability Expert, gave us practical and compelling advice on how we can use sustainability minded thinking to live our best lives.
Photo by: Denise Wilkins of Lifeart Designs.
Effy Nicopoulos, Owner of Organize That and KonMari Certified Consultant, led us through a Joy Mapping exercise, and left us with a thought-provoking quote from famous Japanese organizing consultant and author, Marie Kondo: “The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don’t.”
Photo by:Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.
Kelly Melanson, CPA, CMA, Owner of Kelly Melanson Professional Corporation, led us though an exercise on financial freedom—and shared the importance of getting on track and developing a road map that will show us how the choices we make today will affect our future.
Photo by: Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.
Jessica Nowak, Environmental Change Maker and face behind the Instagram account @WorthTheFuss, took us through an exercise about thinking, working and living outside the box—and how that involves getting outside of our comfort zones.
Photo by: Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.
Rock and roll queen, Kate Boothman, enchanted us with a special and intimate performance.
Photo by: Denise Wilkins of Lifeart Designs.
We enjoyed a fabulous healthy lunch catered by the Royal Ashburn Golf Club and networked with our old and new-found gal pals.
Photo by: Denise Wilkins of Lifeart Designs.
Throughout the day, the super talented Pamela Price of Priceless Beauty in Pickering (who was voted Makeup Specialist of the Year in The Toronto Hair & Beauty Awards 2019) got us glammed up for headshots by Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.
Photo by: Denise Wilkins of Lifeart Designs.
Our Keynote Speaker, the brilliant Crystal Andrus Morissette, Women’s Empowerment Coach, best-selling author and Founder of the S.W.A.T. (Simply Woman Accredited Trainer) Institute, shared with us the importance of empowering ourselves. Crystal’s talk was just the reminder we needed about the powerful affirmation of woman energy and the ability found within us all.
Photo by: Denise Wilkins of Lifeart Designs.
The calm and soothing energy of Kate Carson, Owner of Mindful Creativity, helped us tap into ourselves on a deeper level and connect with our mind, body and spirit through a meditation session.
Photo by: Denise Wilkins of Lifeart Designs.
To end off our amazingly inspirational day, the lovely Natasha Nesrine of the Better Life Project helped us to loosen up and get a little silly before leading us through an exercise where we selected one goal for each quarter of 2020 that we’d like to focus on to get us closer to the life of our dreams.
Photo by :Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.
To connect with a dynamic network of more than 4,000 women in Durham Region, join our Facebook Group. You can also follow us on our new Instagram and Twitter, and Subscribe to The #Connected Vodcast on YouTube.
Photo by: Josie Cipriano of Josie Cipriano Portraits.