For years Janine Hall climbed the corporate ladder, working in senior marketing roles in Auckland, New Zealand; London; Tokyo; and Sydney. It was during her time in Australia that she began to feel herself losing her sparkle. “The gloss wore off, and somewhere along the way I said goodbye to my dream.”
So she decided to take a few weeks off and spend a solitary vacation in Bali, where she tried yoga for the first time, indulged in massage treatments, ate delicious food and took a lot of time to reflect. She felt re-energized, lighter and more like herself than she had in years. One day after a yoga and meditation class, on the back of a piece of paper, she jotted down the idea for a new direction in life and a new business. She imagined helping others find peace and purpose in the same way she had. She called it Escape Haven.
“At the heart of it, I wanted to share this process of transformation with others,” Hall says. “The art of being able to step outside the busy lives, put down the labels, the roles, the masks, the multitasking—that, as women, we are so good at doing—and just be.” Ten years after Hall’s trip to Bali, Escape Haven, a women’s health resort, operates in two locations on the Indonesian island as well as two locations in Australia and pop-up retreats in Portugal and Morocco. By the end of 2015, she plans to offer Escape Haven’s first co-ed retreat in Sri Lanka.
“It’s seeing this transformation [in others] that makes me incredibly happy,” she says. “When you operate from a place of passion, you will work harder and go further than anyone in a 9-to-5 role. That’s the sort of tenacity—and craziness—you need to run your own business and risk everything for it.”
Discovering her “why” and leading a life of purpose are just two lessons Hall says she’s learned from the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO). She joined EO after being introduced to it by some friends while living in New Zealand. “I’ve loved meeting the EO tribe in exotic locations around the world. It’s great to be connected, especially being in a remote location.”
