My Experience At The Fresh Air Retreat

I am SO excited to share my experience at the Fresh Air Retreat with you! I never thought I'd have so much fun, eat so much delicious food and make so many new friendships in such a short amount of time. It was an incredible experience and I would go back in a heartbeat.

Amanda Kamppinen took all the wonderful photos included in this post!

Being a food blogger can be very isolating. We often feel like we are on our own. We are responsible for learning everything there is to know about this industry while wearing 20 different hats. On top of that, we often receive little to no feedback or praise...unless it's from our followers. Needless to say, it can quickly swallow you whole.

And THAT is exactly why I went on this retreat.

Apply For The Next One!

They are currently accepting NEW applications for the fall 2024! Apply HERE!

The Amazing Hosts

The Fresh Air Retreat is like a professional "getaway" that revitalizes and remotivates bloggers in so many ways. It was created by food bloggers Liz Della Croce and Lauren Grier to be an exclusive and immersive experience for other food bloggers who want to level up their business while relaxing, learning, and making new connections.

In other words, it was a professional development "vacation" that I'll never forget.

this idea!

The Incredible Chef

The retreat comes with a personal chef, Chef Trimell, who is on his game 24/7. Whenever I attend any food blogger event, conference or retreat, the food expectations are always high and I have to say, Chef Trimell did NOT disappoint.

Not only did he delivery exceptionally delicious food, but he went above and beyond with the options, sides, toppings, sauces, etc. I personally eat GF & DF 95% of the time so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to experience the food the way I would have hoped. But Chef made sure to offer plenty of DF & GF options for anyone interested. I was blown away.

The Perfect House

The retreat was held in a Miami suburb at this incredible Airbnb. It felt like we were staying at a resort. The home was located on the water with beautiful views. It also had a pool, fire pit, ping pong tale, pool table, mini golf course and more.

The Wonderful Sponsors

At the retreat, carefully selected brands are invited to both sponsor and introduce their products to everyone at the retreat. At the 2024 Miami retreat, the sponsors were Grocer’s List, Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, Minutes Rice, Flor de Cana, and Current. This gave all of us an opportunity to learn more about the brand and potentially land a partnership with the brand in the future.

Flor de Cana

The first day of the retreat we all arrived in the late afternoon just in time for cocktails and dinner. Everything that night was sponsored by Flor De Cana, a maker of unique and delicious rum which was recently awarded Best Sustainable Rum Distillery by The Ultimate Awards 2023.

First was an introduction to the company as well as some delicious cocktails and appetizers. The first thing that was served were these amazing chicken wings and pork belly (pictured below) using Flor de Cana rum. Both were fall-apart amazing.

Afterwards, we walked over to sit by the water to taste Flor de Cana's 25 year old rum, paired with some dark chocolate to bring out its flavors. It was such a wonderful experience and helped me better understand what a quality rum is supposed to taste like.

For dessert, chef prepared bananas foster again, using Flor de Cana rum. It isone of my all time favorite desserts and a great way to use rum at home! (I'd definitely serving this at my next get-together, fire and all!)

Grocer's List

During the retreat, we had the opportunity to sit down with Ben Jabbawy, founder of Grocers List, to learn more about his software and how it can help bloggers/influencers increase growth and monetization efforts.

He was super helpful and answered all of our questions as well as welcomed ideas to help improve the platform. We all are now using it on our Instagram channels!

Minute Rice

Minutes Rice, was another awesome sponsor of the Fresh Air Retreat. If you hate cooking rice at home because you don't have the time, I suggest grabbing their Minute Rice Cups!

They are so tasty, easy and best of all, can be ready in just 60 secs! You can choose from a variety of flavors, like Chicken & Herb, Cilantro & Lime, Jalapeño and more which we all had fun choosing for lunch!

Chef prepared an extensive "build your own rice bowl bar" for all of us to add to our rice bowls after we selected our flavor of rice. (I chose the yellow rice!)

Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau

The next sponsor was the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. They help to encourage visitors to come explore Miami where its diversity is not just celebrated—it's embraced.

We went to grab drinks and some appetizers at The Social Club on Collins Ave before heading to dinner.

The Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau then treated us to an exquisite 9 course dinner at Sérêvène, which is located on South Beach in Miami. We indulged in so many delicious flavors and preparations of food that were so inspiring to myself being a recipe creator.

I was fortunate enough to be able to ask Chef Pawan about one of the dishes that I later, re-created at home. It was their Shrimp Bulgogi appetizer that I think I nailed! (Make sure to check out the recipe.)

Current

The final sponsor was Current, an innovated grill company that produces outdoor electric grills! If you've never tried grilling on an electric grill, I urge you to try. It's so much cleaner and controlled than gas or charcoal grilling.

Plus, you can connect it to your wifi so you can monitor and control the grill from anywhere. How awesome is that?!

At the retreat, I was able to test it out for myself and have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to work it!

Other Retreat Activities

I want to talk about some other things we did at the retreat that we're food or drink-related!

Liz and Lauren put together a very practical and efficient intinerary each day of the retreat. They sent this out to us a week prior with information on who was attending as well as travel plans and a breakdown of what to expect each day. (This made packing very easy!!) 🙂

They made sure we stuck to the timeline which I appreciated but still offered enough downtime to spend by ourselves and with the other attendees.

Yoga

They set up a yoga session one of the mornings followed by some coffee and breakfast. This was completely optional! One of the attendees took a run outside while others got caught up with other things.

After yoga, while we waited for breakfast, we got a chance to catch up and get to know the other bloggers more.

Circle Chats

We had a few circle chats during the retreat. This one shown below was outside by the water. There we were able to relax and ask eachother any questions. The other bloggers then had 90 seconds to answer their question as well as share some tips or advice. The structure Liz created kept things moving while allowing everyone to participate. It was SO helpful!!

Jenga Questions

This was a fun opportunity to play a little Jenga while being asked questions. We had to pull a Jenga piece out before choosing a question from the bucket. The questions were created to promote talk around a particular topic related to blogging and the industry.

Pool & Relaxation Time

We had more than enough time to relax and unwind from the daily tasks of a food blogger. The weather was beautiful so pool time was a must. We sat by the pool while chatting and sipping on some champagne and cocktails.

The Ambiance

Being a food and entertaining blogger, it's no surprise that I was most impressed by the beautiful tablescapes every single night. They were all different and all so well put together. I quickly learned that Liz and Lauren were also amazing hosts! 🙂

Candles and bouquets of fresh flowers scattered the tables all selected with care.

The Friendships

I didn't expect to make such good friends being at a retreat for just three days but I did. Working from home can be isolating so getting the opportunity to connect to other like-minded women who do the same things I do every single day was special.

I realized I was not alone in a lot of things and that made me feel much more motivated.

Final Recap

If you are wondering weather or not you should apply for the Fresh Air Retreat, I strongly URGE you to do so! It was an experience I will NEVER forget. By the second day, I was already feeling re-energized and re-focused on what I wanted to accomplish when I got home.

I learned tips on growing on Facebook (it was always my biggest struggle) as well as how to better work with brands, increase engagament on Instagram, diversify revenue streams and so much more!

Before the retreat, I felt stuck. Burnt out. Like I was hitting a wall. It's a scary place to be. The retreat was an absolute blessing and EXACTLY what I needed at that point in my career. I cannot thank Liz and Lauren enough for inviting me. It was incredible.