Penelope Barr
The weekend will be hosted by Penelope Barr and Joanna Lippold, with special guests Kelly Irving and Kim Wilson.
Penelope is an author, innovator and transition coach, with 2 non-fiction books written, and two in progress. Penelope has designed her life in seasons she calls 6:3:3. She combines interim executive roles, with creating books, communities and courses and dedicated time to travel. Penelope has been a mentor and community champion in the renowned Expert Author Community for the past 4 years, supporting other writers to remove barriers, find their stride, and write. Penelope’s writing builds on a successful 25+ year global career, including living and working in 8 countries. Penelope created many ‘first’ digital products and led teams to transform and change. She now pragmatically blends the best of her corporate expertise with coaching to help people and organisations transition through the messy middle to your personal best. Penelope hosts writing retreats around the world curating programs in environments conducive to creativity.
Jo is a London-born poet, writer, performer, theatre maker and collager. She believes that everyone is creative. She is the founder of Good Cheer Leadership - a place for women to learn how to lead a life they love and a job that lets them live it. After studying drama and performance art at university, Jo found herself back in her hometown of London, embarking on a career in PR coming up with creative campaigns and collecting, connecting and sharing the dots as stories, which led her to know that everyone has a story to tell. Since moving to Australia Jo has trained as a yoga and mindfulness teacher, and facilitated How To Be More Creative Workshops with The School of Life. She tries to inject a healthy amount of warmth, humour and tender truth in all she does.
Special guests
Kelly Irving - Founder, Expert Author Community, former journalist
Unlock your book’s potential with Kelly Irving
We’re thrilled to have Kelly Irving, founder of the renowned Expert Author Community, leading a powerful session on Saturday morning at the retreat.
Kelly is a world-class book coach and editor, trusted by best-selling authors, industry leaders and changemakers to bring their ideas to life. She’s the expert at answering the question ‘Just how do I get all this ‘stuff’ from my head onto a page?’
Her customised, proven approach has led to major publishing deals, award-winning books and successful transformation of authors’ businesses, for many.
Having direct access to Kelly’s mind, time and expertise during the retreat is an unparalleled opportunity - one that will make your investment exponentially more valuable.
If you’re dreaming of writing a book, or looking for that impetus to progress your book, consider this your sign
Kim Wilson - Freelance Journalist and Writer
You’ve probably read something Kim Wilson has written in the daily newspapers, weekend editions, lifestyle or travel magazines over the past 25+ years. Kim has written it all, from hard news to opinion pieces, unique insights into celebrity and lifestyle, and features as she filed stories and created content all over the world.
Kim has transitioned her mainstream media expertise into a thriving business as a freelance writer and journalist. 5 years into this career she has an impressive roster of clients such as The Australian, Domain, Sussan Group, Escape and many leading brands.
Kim’s easy manner, engaging personality and quick wit combined with her journalistic credentials offer her clients a compelling narrative.
Kim is a Barwon Heads local, by way of Melbourne, having tree-changed during covid so can offer local knowledge amidst her global outlook.