We were lucky to catch up with Lulu Agan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lulu, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

For years, I fed people for a living.

As a Private Chef, I was really good at it because it was a huge passion. I cooked for families, executives, people who had everything, and I gave them something nourishing at the center of their days. It was respected work that paid really well and allowed me to travel the world.

But I had another dream I’d been carrying since my late twenties, a quiet, persistent knowing that I was meant to lead women into transformation. Not just feed their bodies. Feed their souls.

I had already tried to answer that call once before. At 33, I walked away from a VP offer in corporate real estate in Latin America, moved to Spain, and poured everything I had – my time, my savings, my whole heart – into building a boutique retreat center in the countryside behind the Sierra Nevada mountains. I was in complete flow. The perfect property, the grant from the tourism board, the architect, the dream property taking shape.

And then the call came. While I was away at a cookery school in the UK, the mayor informed me that new cracks had formed in the building. It was unstable. Dangerous. And by the next morning, the property was at ground zero. My dream, gone. I sat in the wreckage thinking I had made the biggest mistake of my life.

So when the opportunity to buy SwellWomen arrived in 2014, I understood the weight of what I was considering. SwellWomen had been running for a decade, a women’s surf and yoga retreat company based on Maui. It was established, it had heart, and it was available. But my mind held the full memory of what it felt like to lose everything, and the fear was loud thinking, “You’re a chef. You already tried this once and it didn’t work. This is a significant investment. What if you fail again?”
I bought it anyway.

I didn’t quit cheffing immediately. I toggled between both worlds for two years, building the new one while the old one held me financially. That felt less like fear and more like earned wisdom from the last time I’d leapt without a net.
My goal was to take SwellWomen international immediately. The company had only ever offered retreats on Maui, and I could see the potential was so much bigger than one island.

Here’s what I’ve learned about destiny: it doesn’t feel like resistance. It’s like a door that was always ready to open. When you’re in flow, when the move is right, things unfold with an ease that logic can’t explain. Barriers that looked impossible simply aren’t.

The moment I knew I was on the right path was the morning I woke up and checked my inbox. Nineteen women had booked my first Maui retreat overnight, without a massive marketing campaign, just women responding to a call they recognized as their own.

That was twelve years ago.

And if I’m honest, the woman who signed those papers in 2014 had no idea what she was really saying yes to. She thought she was buying a retreat company. What she was actually doing was stepping onto a path that would keep asking her to grow, to expand, and to follow the next nudge even when it scared her. The yes didn’t stop there. Yoga teacher training called, then empowerment & mindset coaching, then building a virtual retreat and online community in the middle of a pandemic, and most recently a full certification in Sacred Energy Healing that cracked me open in ways I didn’t expect and sent me back out into the world to hold space for people who are ready to release what’s been living in their bodies and come home to themselves.

SwellWomen grew from a single island to a global gathering across Maui, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Indonesia, Europe, etc. What started as surf and yoga has become something much harder to put in a box: a full ecosystem for women learning to trust the wave of their own lives, to stop bracing against uncertainty and start riding it. That’s what destiny does when you keep saying yes. It doesn’t give you the whole picture up front. It just shows you the next right step, and then the next, and then the next.

Right now I’m writing this from my dream Promaster campervan parked in Durango, Colorado, with my beloved partner by my side. I have more freedom and flexibility than I ever have had, but it didn’t come without risk.

It became a way of life.

If there’s one thing I want to leave with anyone standing at their own edge of what feels like a risk: the fear doesn’t go away and you can’t get it wrong.

Looking back I wouldn’t change one single decision even the rock bottom moment. Life is a playground of opportunities and even the worst case scenario is better lived than playing it safe.

Lulu, 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’m Lulu Agan, owner of SwellWomen, known as the Chief Officer of Bliss, and a Sacred Energy Healing Facilitator. The simplest way I can describe what I do is this: I create spaces where women reconnect to their truth, power, and purpose.

I do this through curated surf, yoga, and healing retreats, virtual experiences, and bespoke mentorship with a focus on holistic health, happiness, and living in alignment with one’s most powerful vibration.

Additionally, I offer Sacred Energy Healing, a trauma-informed journey that weaves together breathwork, somatic practice, Kundalini Activation, and Reiki to help humans release stored tension, emotions, and stagnant energy so they can access more joy, peace and inner freedom. I offer this both individually and in groups, online and in person, and I’m currently on the road offering this across the US collaborating with yoga studios and wellness centers along the way.

What sets my work apart is that I’ve lived every part of the path I’m guiding humans along. The corporate career that looked perfect from the outside but felt shallow. The dream that collapsed and took my savings with it. The pivots that made no logical sense but felt like a full body yes. I’m not teaching concepts — I’m sharing what I’ve learned from personal experience in hope to reduce suffering and empower humans to live out their limitless potential.

What I’m most proud of are the people who say YES to themselves. The people that are overcoming fear and limiting beliefs in order to curate a life of their wildest dreams.

If there’s one thing I want potential clients to know, it’s that you don’t need to be ready. You don’t need to be fearless or certain. You just need to feel the call and this work will meet you exactly where you are.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I feel the story I shared illustrates this more than anything. From rock bottom to a successful business that is in full alignment with my truth, power, and purpose.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Good question. The first thing that comes to mind is learning how to manage fear.

There’s an acronym I love: FEAR — False Evidence Appearing Real. And in the world we live in today, we are more wired for fear than ever. We’re consuming more information, more comparison, more noise than any generation before us. Our nervous systems are overstimulated, and our minds have become very sophisticated storytellers — spinning worst-case scenarios out of thin air, making the imagined danger feel completely real.

But here’s what I’ve found to be true: fear and rightness can live in the same moment. The presence of fear doesn’t mean don’t go. It often means you’re standing at a threshold you’re meant to cross.

When something feels scary or risky, I do two things. First, I get honest about the worst case scenario. Really honest. I sit with it and ask — if that happened, could I survive it? Could I rebuild? If the answer is yes, that fear loses a lot of its power. Second, I flip the lens entirely and ask myself: if I don’t do this, how will I feel in five or ten years? If the answer is regret — if I can feel the weight of the unlived version of this dream — that tells me everything I need to know. Regret is the compass pointing toward courage.
In my experience, the most successful people in any field aren’t the ones without fear. They’re the ones who stopped waiting for it to disappear before they moved.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.swellwomen.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swellwomen/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SwellWomen