We recently connected with Stephanie Diaz and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Stephanie , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
Back in 2018 I decided that I wanted to host a wellness retreat; I didn’t quite know what it would look like, but I knew that I wanted it to be something that emphasized different movement modalities and focused on being a women’s only experience. I had never hosted a retreat and had only been on one retreat myself, so I truly had no idea what to expect or what was required of me to put on a retreat experience. I spent months researching different locations for retreats and retreat offerings, and, let me tell you, it was overwhelming as I felt not only inexperienced in the retreat space, but also unqualified to host a retreat. Those first few months of research were filled with “Why should I do this?” and “Why do I think I can do this?” questions. It wasn’t even that I felt like an imposter; I just felt like I was unworthy of wanting to do something that excited me so much.
I found a location that I loved in Tennessee and booked the retreat space for the summer of 2020. We all know what happened in 2020 and the retreat was canceled. Instead of letting the retreat dream go during the pandemic, I decided to take myself on retreat in 2021. I went by myself to experience the retreat space and to see if the dream of hosting a retreat was one that still moved me. I reconnected with myself with the backdrop of the Great Smoky Mountains and left feeling more firm in my belief that I *had* to host this retreat.
So, I spent the rest of 2021 planning for a 2022 retreat. I listened to what others suggested about getting clear on the who and the why for this retreat. As I tried to find this clarity I realized that what I wanted to offer was unique and couldn’t be easily categorized because, as a run coach and yoga instructor, I didn’t easily categorize myself and my offerings. The feedback that I received from people interested in attending the retreat was that it was either too much or too little of something: there was either too much yoga that would turn away runners or too much running that would turn away yoga practitioners.
Still, my heart said to move forward because I didn’t need everyone to understand the benefits of this retreat experience, I just needed the people who would be interested enough to attend the retreat to understand. In 2022, I had 4 attendees signed up to attend and 2 dropped out in the month before the retreat itself. I had a choice to make: host the retreat or cancel it. Either way, I would lose money. I ended up hosting the retreat because I knew and felt the transformative power of this retreat experience and I also knew that I would always doubt myself as a host if I never challenged myself to actually be a host. The retreat was everything I envisioned with yoga, participation in a local 5K race, and a hike in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I may have lost money, but what I gained in confidence is priceless.
I took the lessons from 2022 and put them into practice for 2023. I started sharing about the retreat early, I created videos describing the different elements of the retreat, I created a training plan for those new to running, and I created more opportunities for attendees to connect with me and each other before the retreat itself. I found ways to insert me and my passions into the messaging for the retreat, finally being ok with the reality that this retreat experience wasn’t meant for everyone because I would never please everyone and because it IS ok to have a niche experience. The result was that in 2023 I had 7 women attend the retreat.
So, I went from 1 woman (me) in 2021 to 3 women (2 women and me) in 2022 to 8 women (7 women and me) in 2023. That’s a level of growth I couldn’t have imagined for myself as the creator of this retreat. Each year that I host and experience this retreat is another year of lessons and learning how to create space for women to be whole in their bodies through movement and celebrated as women who move through the world. Don’t get me wrong, there are still doubts and whisperings of “Why do I think I can do this?”, but now the answer is “Because I can” and “Why shouldn’t *I* be the one to do this?” These retreats have led to book clubs and to connections that are longer-living than the 4 days we spent together in the mountain. All because I had a dream, was brave enough to see it come to life, and courageous enough to set the stage for it to be experienced by others.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Here’s my official bio!
RUN + YOGA
Stephanie Diaz is an RRCA (Road Runner’s Club of America) and McMillan Running certified running coach with over 10 years of running experience. In 2023, Stephanie joined Team Sugar Runs as a run coach. Stephanie believes that to be a runner is to believe in your possibility as a human through movement. Her favorite running distance is the half marathon (13.1 miles/21 kilometers). Additionally, Stephanie is a yoga teacher with advanced certifications in yoga for athletes, Yoga For All, and Empowered Wisdom Yoga Nidra.
UPLIFT + INSPIRE
Stephanie hosts the Runner’s Round Table podcast, a female-centered podcast that features conversations with female run coaches and runners. While each season has a different theme, the root of these conversations is a curiosity about our love for running, sharing people’s running stories, and exploring ways to make running more inclusive.
REST + RETREAT
Through Cor•rer Retreats, Stephanie offers women’s-only multi-day wellness experiences rooted in exploring different movement modalities and being in community with other women. The Great Smoky Mountains Experience is the signature, annual retreat held every September. Retreat experiences are open to athletes and movers of all backgrounds and are about exploring the fullness and wholeness of being an active human.
To learn more about Stephanie and her offerings, explore the website and follow her on instagram @thecookierunner.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Instagram has been huge to my presence in the greater running space. I actually first joined Instagram in 2012 to share my health and wellness journey as I started running and practicing yoga. In those early days, yoga was more prominent and I shared more bits and pieces of my practice. Then, things shifted toward being more runner-focused and it has been through the sharing of my experience with running, that I have been able to connect with the women who have come to my retreat and have been guests on my Runner’s Round Table podcast. I don’t hide from sharing the struggles I have with running and I believe that has helped people relate to me more as a runner and run coach. I laugh each time I hear a sigh of relief from someone when I tell them that I often question whether I even like running because it’s so hard.
It has also been through the honest sharing of my running experiences that I have been able to partner and collaborate with some awesome brand. The “Why me?” question comes up often here, but I tell myself it’s because I strive to share truth genuinely and not a curated front. Being a runner is hard. Being a runner who is a woman is hard. Being a runner who is a woman who is a mother is hard. I’m trying to figure it out as I go and I hope that others see me and are inspired to show up for themselves too.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The biggest lesson that I’ve heard to unlearn is that I am unworthy of having my own business and being the creator of my offerings. I’ve also had to unlearn the mentality that having my own business means I am constantly hustling and constantly in competition with other women who are doing something similar to me. Part of this has to do with growing up in a household where entrepreneurship was unheard of (I used to always joke that I didn’t want to own my own business!) so I had no model for how to own a business. Part it is also the fact that I didn’t even know it was possible to have a career in fitness and wellness. I went to college and thought that success was working an office job that I didn’t really want to do, but had to do because that’s what paid the bills. Part of it is also the overall culture that pits women against women and makes us think that resources are limited. It’s taken a while for me to be ok with knowing that I am not the person for everyone (just like not everyone is for me). As I’ve grown my business, it has been through the support of other female entrepreneurs, completing shattering the idea that women are competition.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thecookierunner.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecookierunner/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@correrretreats
- Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/runners-round-table/id1630566677 https://www.instagram.com/cor.rer_retreats/
Image Credits
Matt Roy, Leah Joy Love, Stephanie Pascual