Catherine Brown
Catherine searched the world far and wide for joy after a heartbreaking divorce. From Michigan, she moved her three small children to a farm high in the Andes of Argentine Patagonia and worked as a travel writer for Lonely Planet, CNN, Luxury Latin America, Thrillist, etc. Specializing in adventure travel, she explored all seven continents by kayaking, rafting, skis, dog sledding, hiking, climbing and mountain biking only to realize that she still felt unfulfilled.
Deciding to explore internal worlds instead, she has dedicated the last 15 years to learning how to transmute suffering into joy. Her passion is intensive study of sacred medicines of the Amazon, and she has lived with and shared experiences with various indigenous communities including the Baniwa, Yanomami, Xingu and Shipibo. She completed a formation in shamanic healing from Michael Harner’s Foundation of Shamanic Studies, is an Akashic Records consultant, Reiki Master, student of martial arts and meditation under Soke Gerardo Cantore and has worked closely with Kathy Powell for twenty years on Intuitive Development. She has completed The Art of Holding Space certification course and she guides Ayahuasca ceremonies as well as transformational temazcal ceremonies.
After almost a year of living in Morocco and also guiding foreign teenagers through the country for Global Leadership Adventures, she is moving back to the US in 2024 to develop and direct Foxlily Farm, a nonprofit residential healing center for women who have been trafficked. The steadfast intention for this next chapter of her life is to help as many women as possible go from merely surviving to enthusiastically thriving.
Sarah Mayne
As a young girl, Sarah displayed an unquenchable curiosity that has defined nearly all her choices in life. In her early adult years, she traveled much of the United States, immersed herself in adventures and explored with wild abandon. She was an avid skydiver with 300+ jumps, holds a scuba diving license, advanced open water and nitrox certifications. She fell in love with Raqs Sharqi (belly dance) and opened ShimmyUSA in 2003, directed multiple performance troupes and has produced more than 1000 shows. She opened Ambrosia Theater in 2014 as the home base for her dance productions and multicultural events.
The dance community Sarah created is a haven for women, many who came to heal something inside them, often not even knowing what that was. In 2020, Sarah realized she herself was burnt out from running three businesses and needed to recharge and reset her intentions, moving her large brick and mortar studio business to her home, to create a more intimate environment focusing less on shows and more on deep connection.
As a survivor of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, Sarah has worked profoundly on healing her own traumas so that she can better hold space for others. As a dance instructor, she understands how trauma can house itself in the body. She is the mother of two outstanding young women and the wife of a gentle, loving husband. While her past holds the story of trauma and grief, she is embracing joy as a way of life and moving forward to share this expression of gratitude with her loved ones and community.