Take Off the Mask
From “Fine” to Free: A 4-Hour Retreat for High Achieving Women
Who Are Tired of Holding It All Together
Friday, May 1, 2026 | 10 AM to 2 PM ET | Peachtree Corners, GA
This retreat is for you if…
→ Life looks good on paper, yet something inside feels quietly unsettled
→ There is a longing for deeper connection, conversations that go beyond logistics, your kids, and small talk
→ Achievement has come naturally, but rest and joy feel harder to access
→ You are tired of being the strong one and are ready to be honest about what you need
→ Space to think, feel, and breathe without being responsible for anyone else sounds both unfamiliar and relieving
→ There is a desire to reconnect with creativity, curiosity, and parts of yourself that have been tucked away
→ A small voice keeps whispering, “There has to be more than just getting through the day”
Meet Your Host,
Helen Ngo
Hi, I'm Helen. Mom, business owner, sister, daughter, writer, speaker. You name it.
I spent 20 years tying my worth to productivity, perfecting the art of "I'm fine," and wearing hyper-independence like armor. I was the one who always had it together — the mom, the financial advisor, the friend who never needed anything from anyone.
Until therapy cracked that whole thing open and I realized I'd been performing a version of myself for so long I'd forgotten who was underneath.
This retreat exists because of what I learned on the other side of that. Not from a textbook — from living it. The thing that actually brought me back to myself — discovering what lights me up, brings me joy, and be fully present — wasn't a strategy or a framework.
It was connection.
That one, singular honest relationship with my therapist reminded me I wasn't invisible nor lost. That experience changed everything for me, and it's the reason I build spaces like this now — rooms where women don't have to hold it all together to belong.
I created From "Fine" to Free because I know what it costs to keep performing. And I know that the women who look like they need this the least are usually the ones who need it the most.
This isn't about me telling you what to do. It's about creating four hours where you can put it all down, get honest with yourself, and be in a room with women who won't let you fake it.
There Is a Particular Kind of Exhaustion
The kind that begins before the sun is up.
At 5:30 AM the mind is already scanning. Deadlines. Logistics. What did not get done yesterday.
What must get done today. Planning happens in the shower. In the carpool line.
While answering emails between school pickup and dinner.
Podcasts play during workouts but barely register. Messages are returned from bathrooms because that is the only quiet space available. Dinner becomes whatever is fastest. Self care gets penciled in six months out, somewhere between school closings and work travel.
On the outside, you life looks full. Busy. Impressive even.
Inside, something feels muted.
Not broken. Not dramatic. Just disconnected.
The Women in the Room
Business Owners. Executives. Mothers. Partners. Caretakers.
Women who built the career, raised the kids, and checked every box. Then, wondered why none of it felt like enough.
Women everyone leans on who can't remember the last time someone asked how they're actually doing.
Women who are so good at holding it together that no one thinks to check if they're falling apart.
The Performance of “Fine”
You built your worth on being the capable one.
The reliable one. The one who handles it.
And it worked until it became the only version of you anyone expects.
You can't remember the last hobby that wasn't productive, the last decision you made just because you wanted to, or the last time someone said "how are you" and you gave an honest answer.
The problem isn't your schedule. It's that you disappeared inside of it, the “doing it all.”
It doesn’t have to stay this way.
WHAT TO EXPECT
DURING THE RETREAT
Four hours. No laptops. No fixing. Just you.
4-Hour Guided Retreat Experience
This isn't a conference, a lecture, or a spa day.
You'll move through guided exercises designed to get you out of your head and back into your body — a creative activity built to break your perfectionist tendencies, honest conversation that goes deeper than "what do you do," and self-reclamation work to help you rediscover what you actually enjoy (not what you're supposed to enjoy).
You won't be sitting in a circle holding crystals. You'll be using the same drive and focus you bring to everything else but for the first time, you'll be pointing it at yourself.
Printed Reflection & Strategy Workbook
A structured workbook you’ll complete during the retreat with prompts to name what you’ve been carrying, identify the habits that keep you in “performance mode,” and map out what reclaiming your space actually looks like in your day-to-day. Not a blank journal. A tool you’ll keep coming back to.
Reclamation Essentials Kit
A hand-selected set of tools waiting at your seat when you arrive, everything you need for the creative and reflective work ahead. Consider it your signal: for the next four hours, nothing is required of you except to be fully present.
AFTER THE RETREAT
This is where most retreats end. Ours doesn’t.
30-Day Accountability Circle
Weekly check-ins for one month through a private group thread. Short, honest, low-pressure. A place to say “I put my phone in another room this week” or “I said no to something and the world didn’t end.” When the old patterns try to pull you back, this keeps you grounded.
Group Reunion: 1 Month Post-Retreat
60-minute virtual session where the full group comes back together. Revisit your workbook. Share what you've reclaimed. Name what you let go of. Be around women who won't let you slip back into "I'm fine." Talk through what's surfacing, what's shifting, and what's harder than you expected. This isn't a webinar — it's a candid conversation with women who were in the room with you, led by Helen, someone who knows what you walked through.
Digital Reflection + Progress Tracker
A digital version of your workbook plus a simple tracker to check in with yourself at 30, 60, and 90 days. Designed to take five minutes because you don’t need another obligation. You need a mirror.
Private Alumni Community
Ongoing access to a private group for retreat alumni. Not a networking group. A space for women who’ve done this work — raising kids, running businesses, leading teams — to stay honest with each other long after the retreat ends.
The strongest thing I ever did was stop pretending I was fine.
— Helen Ngo
RETREAT DETAILS
Friday, May 1, 2026 | 10 AM to 2 PM ET
Four hours to stop being the one who holds everything together. Leave with the tools, the clarity, and the support system to start doing what you've been putting off for yourself.
AGENDA
10:00 AM — Arrive + Settle In Coffee, light bites, and your Reclamation Essentials waiting at your seat.
10:20 AM — Welcome + Opening Why we're here, what to expect, and what to leave at the door.
10:40 AM — The Honest Check-In A guided group conversation to drop the "I'm fine.”
11:10 AM — Creative Writing A guided journaling exercise to put words to what you've been carrying.
11:40 AM — Speed Connecting Paired conversations with questions that skip the small talk and get to what actually matters.
12:10 PM — Lunch A real break. Eat, breathe, talk to someone new or don't talk at all :-)
12:45 PM — Paint + Release A hands-on creative exercise designed to silence your inner perfectionist.
1:30 PM — Closing Circle Final conversation: what you're taking with you, what you're leaving behind, and what's next.
2:00 PM — End/Open Networking
REGISTER TO ATTEND
Capacity: Limited to 16 women
Ready to take off the mask?
This is your permission slip.
To rest. To grieve. To rebuild. To finally put yourself first.
$450
$350 (Save $100)
$450
Regular price starts Apr 6
Second Story at Broadstone
A private, fully appointed luxury space in Peachtree Corners, just minutes from metro Atlanta.
Quiet enough to hear yourself think.
No distractions.
