This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit anneboydrioux.substack.com

Welcome back to the Audacious Creative Lives Conversation Series! I started this series to share with you some of the amazing women who have inspired me on my journey.

Michelle Titus is one of the most inspiring people I met on my travels when I left my old life. She is the founder of Cummari in Sicily. As she explains on her website: “Cummari® is a space for women, designed by women. It is the first year-round coliving and retreat house of its kind in Europe.” There really is no other place like it! Michelle had a bold vision to create something new, and it’s amazing to see how it’s grown into a world-wide community of women!

I went Cummari in January 2023 because the journey I was on to reimagine my life felt rather lonely. Michelle inspired me to think about ways to connect with other women in my new life. That was three years ago. Since then, I’ve made met so many amazing women through the Cummari community, I’ve co-hosted a retreat with Michelle in Sicily, and I’ve been a practitioner in the Women’s Almanac online community, which Michelle also created. Her example and encouragement inspired me to host my own writer’s retreat for women in the UK last fall.

In the first part of our discussion, available to all, we talk about the Women’s Almanac, which is now enrolling for its second year. It fosters deep growth in community through seasonal-inspired gatherings and teachings from a wide range of fields, presented by practitioners who have all been connected to Cummari in some way (either stayed at the house in Sicily, attended a retreat hosted by Cummari, or taken one of the courses Michelle has developed). The practitioners’ passions span somatic healing, trauma-informed therapy, astrology, sex therapy, manifestation coaching, business and work alignment, and matriarchal history.

In the second part of our conversation, for paid subscribers, Michelle shares her personal journey from a high-stress corporate lifestyle to building a supportive haven for women in Sicily. She tells about her previous life, in which she co-created a million-dollar business, but which was killing her soul and harming her body. And she describes how she was able to tune out all the noise and find her own inner voice that pointed her towards what she really wanted—to create a supportive community for women. She also describes the risks she has taken in creating Cummari, including closing the house down for a while to relocate it to the sea, and how she has expanded it to host retreats and create online spaces, such as the Women’s Almanac.

We also touch on the significance of ancient matriarchal wisdom and how these teachings inspire us to imagine—and create—new ways of living and connecting with each other. We talk about the transformational power of women’s gatherings and how much women need hope, support, and community in order to transform their lives—and the world.

I hope you enjoy our conversation!

You can learn more about Michelle here: https://www.cummari.com/about#michelle

You can learn more about the Women’s Almanac here: https://www.womensalmanac.com/

You can learn more about Cummari here: https://www.cummari.com/

PART ONE—Cummari and the Women’s Almanac

00:00 Introduction to the Audacious Creative Lives Conversation Series

00:39 The Women’s Almanac: A Year of Connection and Growth

02:07 Living in Sicily: Inspiration for the Women’s Almanac from the Land and People

04:54 The Power of Diverse Perspectives and Practitioners in the Almanac

08:57 Personal Transformations and Healing Journeys in the Almanac

11:18 The Birth of Cummari: A Haven for Women

12:32 Cummari: An Ancient Word and Modern Community

14:23 Creating a Space for Comfort and Inspiration

15:19 Starting a New Life or Traveling Can Be Lonely—Cummari Makes It Less So

15:57 Anne Inspired by the Zingarelle Women of Sicily—Who Have More Than One Home

17:33 More Information About the Women’s Alamanc

PART TWO--Michelle’s Personal Journey and the Power of Women’s Community

18:24 Corporate Success in the Patriarchy and How It Broke Michelle

24:17 Finding Her Inner Voice Again

26:42 Finding Inspiration in More Holistic Living

27:37 Opening Cummari Was Scary but She Was Determined to Create a Safe Space for Women

28:26 The Multi-Generational Community of Cummari

29:30 Taking a Big Risk—Transitioning to a New Space

31:55 The Two-Year Gap and the Birth of the Almanac

33:05 Staying Connected and Building a Global Community of Women

35:24 The Importance of Matriarchal History

37:30 Not Only a Profit-Driven Model, Grounded in Support and Connection

38:19 Inspired by Michelle, Now Anne is Inviting Women to Come and Hosting Retreats

42:49 The Fears Women Have About Travel and Coming Together

46:13 The Importance of Bringing Women Together to Create Change

47:13 There’s Fighting and Then There’s Building

49:10 The Power of Hope and Community

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit anneboydrioux.substack.com

In this deep, moving conversation, I speak with my dear friend Jen Hyatt, a writer, performer, and activist from Edinburgh, about her experimental novel Mistress Pieces. Her book is a raw and poetic exploration of psychosis, love, and transformation. Jen describes writing 400,000 words during a psychotic breakdown in 2007, and how those fragments became…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit anneboydrioux.substack.com

A couple of weeks ago I had an amazing conversation with my friend

Cynthia Morris, and I can’t wait to share it with you. I wanted to interview her because she is one of the truly audacious women who have inspired me on my path. She is the most creative person I know, leading sketchbook trips around Lisbon and Paris, coaching writers and artists, making art herself, and being a published author.

In the first part of our discussion, we go deep, talking about her latest novel, Her Lisbon Colors, which follows a character who embarks on a journey of self-discovery and reinvention in Portugal that involves both romance and art, specifically keeping an amazing sketchbook. And it has an eye-popping cover that I just love:

We also discuss in the first part:

--the importance (and difficulty) of figuring out what is really important to us

--the role creativity has played in our journeys

--how women often feel they are being selfish when they commit their time and energy to creativity

--the inner work (and obstacles) of writing a book, which can be just as difficult as the outer work

--how Quantum Energy Coaching (QEC) has helped us both in our creative lives

--the (often negative) beliefs we hold around writing and their effect on us.

In the second part, beyond the paywall we go even deeper.

--Cynthia shares more about her journey self-publishing her novel,

--we get more personal about challenges we’ve faced as creatives,

--we discuss in more depth the role QEC has played in our healing,

--Cynthia talks about how she makes a living as a creative person and coach, something that I deeply admire her for (she has truly made creativity her life), and

--Cynthia shares how she approaches marketing and putting herself out there, something that all creatives seem to loathe but that we need to learn to do well.

Putting the more personal part of our conversation behind a paywall is necessary, considering how much time and effort goes into producing one of these conversations. It also frees us to talk more openly. I hope you will consider upgrading to hear all of it and see the value in hearing what is going on often behind the scenes of our creative lives. ($5/month, $45/year, or $100/year with a 1:1 consultation with me).

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit anneboydrioux.substack.com

I am so happy to share something new with you: the first episode of Audacious Women, Creative Lives: The Conversation Series where I will be interviewing women doing bold, creative things.

In the first half, we will discuss their public creative ventures, how they are forging their own path, and taking risks to create something new. Then in the second part, available to paid subscribers, we will get more personal and talk about how they have reimagined their lives. (You can learn more about Audacious Women, Creative Lives, sign up, and/or upgrade here.)

This first conversation is with Diana Smith, who will be a special guest at the retreat I’m hosting in Sussex, England, Nov. 19-23. Diana M. Smith is a writer, professional leadership mentor, and book coach. For 15 years, she has run a boutique consultancy called RevelWise Creative. And she's helped leaders navigate creative thresholds and share their stories and experiences through writing.

In our conversation, we talk about our passions, what is essential, why rest is so important, and how to create space for all of it! If you ever thought that rest was something you didn’t have time for or was simply not that important, Diana will change your mind. Rest is the ground, the platform for meaningful change. She says so beautifully, “It's actually the soil that feeds and nourishes all of our best doing.”

After the paywall, we get into the nitty gritty of how and why she decided to leave the US to puruse a Master’s course in the UK, and the details of how she made that happen, including financially. We also discuss our own decision-making processes as we each chose to leave our old lives behind. (You can learn more about Audacious Women, Creative Lives, sign up, and/or upgrade here.)

As Diana says, “ we need these conversations for those of us who are thinking outside the box and feeling that we need to do something differently.”

For more information about the retreat I am hosting in the UK, Nov. 19-23, which Diana will be joining as a special guest, you can go straight to the full details here.

You can also learn more about Diana M Smith and her work on Substack or at her website.