👋 Welcome back, aspiring corporate escapees, and entrepreneurs!

This month, I made one of my dreams come true!

Something I'd wanted for years but never had the guts to do.

I took my first solo trip, ten days in Lisbon... alone, on purpose. It was part solo reset, part company offsite.

Confession: before this trip I'd never even been to a sit down restaurant alone.

There were moments of pure terror and moments of total zen, sometimes the same afternoon.

Between the long walks and the cafecitos, I kept thinking about you.

Because entrepreneurship is one long exercise in doing the things that scare you. Leaving the title, charging your worth, and putting your face and your name out there with no Fortune 100 logo to hide behind. Saying "this is what I do" before you fully believe it yourself.

So today, let's talk about it. What my solo trip taught me about courage, community, and building a brand that's unmistakably yours.

-Lu

🌅 The permission I didn't know I needed

I didn't go to Lisbon to find myself. I went to give my business something I hadn't in over a year.. room to think.

Every company I worked for pulled its leaders away once a year to do exactly that, and it was time for Thread Studio's offsite. So I booked it. Ten days, just me.

The hardest part wasn't being alone. It was letting myself slow down. The first few days I kept grading the trip by how productive it felt, even alone in a city I love.

Halfway through, I had to write myself a note.

Girl, stop. This trip is supposed to calm your nervous system.

So I did. I took the long walks. I ate the incredible food. I took myself to fancy dinners alone for the first time in my life, and loved it. Somewhere in the slowing down, I remembered I actually really like my own company.

That's the permission most of us never give ourselves. To rest without earning it. To trust that clarity comes in the quiet, not the grind.

That pressure to earn your rest, to make every hour count.. it doesn't leave when you become a corporate escapee. You carry it until you give yourself permission to put it down.

Once I did, the creative juices finally started flowing.

☕ The power of community

There's one more thing I did in Lisbon that scared me, and it turned out to matter most.

It's funny how our brains can ruin a perfectly good idea. 😂 About two hours before I hosted a cafecito meetup for women building businesses of their own, mine was working overtime.

I didn't know a single person who had signed up. What if no one comes?

Fast forward two hours.. our group squeezed around a long table, talking like we'd known each other for years. A Chief of Staff, a psychologist, a nutritionist, a language coach, a fitness trainer, a business coach.

It didn’t matter where someone was in their journey. The woman dreaming about entrepreneurship had doubts.. so did the woman working on her personal brand.. and the woman who’d already built the business. Different stories, same little voice.

But something shifted in that room. We started cheering each other on. Trading advice, celebrating the scary things we'd each done to get there. We left as friends, and the WhatsApp group we started that night is still going.

Corporate Escapee Club Meetup: Lisbon

Before everyone left, I shared something I've had to remind myself of all year. Nobody is watching as closely as you think. The leap is only as scary as we make it. Own your story, and embrace the cringe!

That was the moment I knew what I wanted to build.

A room where ambitious people stop trying to figure it all out alone.

📖 For the chapter you're in

Whether you're preparing to leave corporate or you've already built a business and are ready for a clearer story, this room was built for your next chapter.

You didn't escape corporate to lose your identity. You escaped to reclaim it. For years the title used to tell people who you were. Now you get to decide.

Here's what I wish someone had told me sooner.. you don't need more.

You built the network over 15+ years. You've got the dreams, the million ideas, and the hundred open tabs. What makes you irreplaceable is everything you've already lived.. the career plot twists and your rich cultural roots.

You don't need to invent a brand. You need to pull the thread on the expertise you already have.

Because when you know what you want to be known for, every decision gets easier. What to post. What to build. What opportunities to say yes to. Even how to introduce yourself.

🧵 From overwhelmed to a full brand story

Most people try to build a business from the outside in. We build yours from the inside out.

This isn't a workshop about "finding your why." Over five weeks, you build the full brand foundation.. the same architecture I build with my private clients, in a room of people making the same leap.

You walk out with:

Your Thread & Positioning — the throughline that turns everything you've done into one clear, memorable brand.

A Story Bank — signature stories ready for networking, speaking, interviews, podcasts, sales calls, and social media.

A Brand Blueprint — your messaging, content pillars, audience, and visibility plan, all in one place.

A Content System — the same tools and frameworks I use 1:1, so you keep building long after we wrap.

A Community — people who know your story, challenge your thinking, and keep cheering you on.

Plus live workshops, hot seat coaching, curated guest speakers, and office hours along the way.

You walk in confused about how to explain what you do. You walk out clear, confident, and visible, with the tools and strategy to own every chapter of your story.. online and in person.

We start September 21.

Join the waitlist 🧵

🗓️ Upcoming Events

Loose Threads to Strong Stories: Personal Brand Workshop

📅 Wednesday, August 19 | 10:30AM - 11:30 AM CT

📍Zoom

Join me for a free virtual workshop where we'll untangle why your brand feels scattered even after years of building real expertise. We'll bust the biggest myths that keep corporate escapees and entrepreneurs from standing out, work through how to connect your experience, strengths, and vision into one cohesive brand, and cover the first steps to building the kind of authority that makes people remember what you do and trust you enough to say yes. Because sometimes the hardest story to tell is your own.

Save your seat today ->