We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lianna Willoughby a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lianna , appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

It didn’t start as a fully formed business—it started as a feeling I couldn’t ignore.
I was living and working in New York City, in a fast-paced, always-on environment. I loved what I was doing, but I could feel how constant stimulation—screens, schedules, just the pace of it all—was pulling me away from a more grounded way of being..
I kept craving something I didn’t really have language for yet. Space. Quiet. Nature. A different pace.
When I came across the property that would become Retreat East, it wasn’t a perfectly logical decision—it felt more like recognition. The land had this calm, expansive quality that made me pause and think, there’s something here.
At first, the idea was simple: create a place where people could step away and reconnect to the earth and themselves.
But once I started hosting, I realized pretty quickly that not all time in nature creates the same experience. What actually makes the difference is the combination of the environment, the people, and the intention behind why they’re there.
That’s really what shaped where we are now.
Today, I work closely with retreat leaders—somatic practitioners, energy healers, leadership facilitators, nature therapists—who are doing meaningful work and need the right kind of space to hold it. Everything is intentionally small, typically 3 to 8 people, because when you create space for deeper work, it is more personal and more impactful.
At the same time, something else started to happen. People weren’t just coming to rest—they were coming because they needed space to think and create. So we began hosting more creative immersions during the week, especially for writing. It’s less about productivity and more about having access to your own ideas again.
I don’t think I was solving a completely new problem, but I was responding to something real—the need to step out of the noise and into something more intentional.
What made me feel like this could actually work wasn’t a traditional business case, it was more intuition. It was seeing how people shifted when they were here. You could feel it. So I went with that.
And what continues to excite me now is refining that—being more thoughtful about who we host, what we host, and how the experience actually feels.
Because when that all clicks, it’s not just a nice place to stay. It’s an experience people take with them when they leave.

Lianna , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I often describe myself as a multi-passionate entrepreneur.

Right now, that shows up across a few core roles: founder of Retreat East Co (the Catskills retreat property) and Willoughby Well (energy healer and guide supporting nervous system capacity for women and mothers), and mom of two spirited boys—which, has shaped how I think about business and self-growth more than anything else.

My background is in research, strategy, and storytelling. For nearly two decades, I’ve worked alongside founders and brands, helping them understand people more deeply and translate that into clear direction and action. At the core, I’ve always been drawn to how people think, feel, and move through the world—and how environments and experiences shape that.

Earlier in my career, I was also drawn to creative work, particularly film and storytelling. That’s a part of myself I’m actively returning to now—creating more space for creativity and following opportunities that allow me to be in that flow again.

Retreat East grew out of a personal need to reconnect with nature. It’s where I bring people, place, and experience together in a very real, tangible way. Willoughby Well is another extension—focused more on the individual. Through Jin Shin Jyutsu and strategy, I work with people (often women in seasons of growth or transition) who want to feel better in their bodies and more aligned in how they’re living and working. A lot of that centers around the nervous system—understanding how much it drives how we feel day to day, and how to support it in a way that’s actually sustainable and fun.

Across all of it, I’m not offering one single product—I’m creating experiences, containers, and support systems that help people shift. That might look like an intimate retreat, a creative immersion, a one-on-one healing session, or helping a founder bring more clarity and structure to their business.

The common thread is helping people move out of overwhelm or disconnection and into something more clear, grounded, and intentional.

I think what sets me apart is that I sit between worlds that don’t always talk to each other—strategy and intuition, structure and energy, business and wellness. I’m very practical by nature, but I also understand the more subtle, human side of how people actually function.

So the work isn’t just about ideas—it’s about making things real, in a way that actually works in someone’s life or business.

What I’m most proud of is building something that feels aligned across all of it, while also allowing space for what’s next—including returning to creative projects in a more intentional way.

Whether someone comes to a retreat, works with me one-on-one, or engages with the content, the goal is the same: to help them come back to themselves—and from there, move forward with more clarity, intention and ease.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Honestly, the best source of new clients has been the experience itself.
When something is done well—when people genuinely feel a shift or have a meaningful experience—they come back, and they tell others. That kind of organic growth has been core to both Retreat East and Willoughby Well.
Repeat clients are a huge part of the business, but it’s not just about retention—it’s about relationship. Staying connected, continuing to offer value, and creating reasons for people to return in different ways, whether that’s a retreat, a creative immersion, or one-on-one work.
I’ve found that when you focus on the quality of the experience and how it actually feels for people, the growth becomes much more natural and sustainable.
So a big part of the work is really about cultivating that audience over time, not just acquiring new people once.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I launched Retreat East toward the end of COVID, at a time when people were craving exactly what we offered—space, nature, connection. And in those early moments, it worked.
But what followed was a steady year-over-year decline in revenue as the world reopened and people’s habits shifted again. That was a real turning point.
It would have been easy to look at that and think, maybe this just isn’t working the way it used to. But for me, it forced a deeper question: not just how to grow, but who is this really for now and how do I want to show up?
That’s what pushed the evolution.
Instead of trying to recreate what worked before, I started getting much more intentional—about the types of experiences we host, the people we’re serving, and the role I play in it. That’s where the shift toward smaller, more curated retreats and creative immersions came from, along with how I think about Willoughby Well.
Resilience, for me, hasn’t been about pushing harder. It’s been about being willing to adapt, to let go of what’s not working anymore, and to keep refining until something clicks again.
There’s always a moment where you could stop. Where you could say, this isn’t as easy as it once was.
But I think what defines an entrepreneur is the willingness to stay in it—to keep listening, adjusting, and finding new ways forward, even if they don’t look like what you originally imagined.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.retreateast.co www.willoughby-well.com
• Instagram: @willoughbywell @retreateast_co

Image Credits

for my picture only, Meredith Mctigue