There are moments in life that can feel strangely orchestrated — not planned, but purposeful.
This was the energy at the recent Joy 101 Retreat in Arizona— a gathering designed to bring people back to themselves. Founded with the intention of creating space for connection, healing and joy, the retreat was less about escape and more about return: return to feeling, return to truth, return to self.
At the centre of many powerful conversations, our founder Elle sat in dialogue with Hoda Kotb, Egyptian-American broadcast journalist, television personality, and author — a woman known for her ability to draw out not simply generic or scripted answers, but authenticity and honesty.
A Room Built on Vulnerability
From the outset, there was something different about this retreat. Women had arrived alone as strangers and became friends overnight. Stories were exchanged of grief, divorce, caregiving, reinvention — all were spoken of openly and with compassion.
This wasn’t a space for surface-level conversation. It was a space for truth seeking and truth telling.
When asked to define her intention for the retreat, Elle didn’t hesitate.
“Trust… trust in myself, trust in others, trust in life itself.”
Trust, Elle explains, was not something that came easily. Her early life — shaped by modelling, performance, and external validation — taught her to look outward for approval.
“I developed… this belief that what was out there… the judgment of people out there was supreme.”
For decades, her worth was measured externally. And like so many women, she became very good at performing, until it no longer served her. Elle had to reframe confidence entirely.
“I learned confidence through courage and experience… I didn’t have all the answers, but I tried things out.”
Confidence wasn’t something Elle was born with. It didn’t come first. Action did. You try. You learn. You adjust. And in that process, you begin to trust yourself.
Choosing to Feel
In 2003, Elle made a decision that would change everything. She got sober.
“I realized that I’d been using drugs and alcohol to numb my experience of life.”
“What’s the best thing about getting sober… you get your feelings back. And the worst thing… you get your feelings back.”
Without numbing, Elle had to face herself. Her life, her choices, and ultimately her truth. In doing so, she began what she describes as a deeper journey — one of connection to self, to others, and to something greater.
Redefining Identity — Again and Again
Elle’s life has not been linear. It has been iterative.
From “The Body” — a label that defined her globally — to motherhood, to wellness founder, to seeker. Each chapter required letting go of the last.
“I built a career on that… but then it came with the pressure of ‘I have to be the body.’”
What she’s done differently is not avoid reinvention — but embrace it.
“Change is inevitable… flexibility and adaptability are the superpowers of the future.”
For anyone standing at a crossroads, there is a choice: to follow the pull of the current.
“If something calls to your heart… do it… the universe shows you you’re on the right step.”
On Being Enough
One of the most resonant moments of this conversation came from a question in the audience:
Do you ever feel like you’re enough?
Elle’s answer was simple:
“We are enough just by purely being… there’s nothing you can do to make you more of who you truly are.”
In a culture that constantly asks for more — more achievement, more productivity, more perfection — this idea feels almost countercultural. That enoughness is not earned. Instead it’s claimed. And it requires unlearning the belief that external validation defines internal worth.
Rising in Love
When the conversation turned to relationships, Elle reframed another widely accepted idea.
“I don’t think we fall in love… I think we rise in love.”
Love, in her view, is not about completion. It’s about expansion.
“No person completes me… my life’s journey is to feel complete within myself.”
This shift — from dependency to wholeness — changed everything for Elle. Her relationships become a sharing of fullness, not a search for it.
Wellness as Foundation — Not Aspiration
Elle’s personal journey inevitably led to the creation of WelleCo. Not as a business opportunity — but as a solution to her own needs.
“I was so lost… I had no sense of vitality… I could feel something was off.”
After discovering she was deeply malnourished despite outward appearing health, she began to rebuild from within. That experience became the foundation for her work, and to this date, remains at the centre of WelleCo’s mission — to support people in becoming the best version of themselves. Ultimately it reflects a broader truth: with wellness, you can.
When you’re well, everything becomes possible.
Routines That Anchor the Day
For Elle, transformation isn’t found in one big moment. It’s built in daily practice. Her mornings begin with stillness — no phone, no noise.
“That quiet space… can shift everything.”
Her evenings end in reflection — revisiting moments of gratitude.
These routines aren’t complex. They are consistent. And over time, they create clarity and vitality.
If there is one thread that ran through the conversation, it’s this: you are not here to shrink. You are here to rise. In love, in purpose, in self-awareness.
“Everything is meaningful, purposeful and worthwhile.”
At Joy 101 Retreat, surrounded by women choosing themselves — many for the first time — this message landed differently. It wasn’t just spoken, it was felt. Perhaps that’s the real power of spaces like this. They remind you that the life you’re seeking isn’t somewhere else. It’s already within you. Waiting for you to trust it.