In March 2025 Murawin’s CEO Carol Vale and Collaborations Managing Director Michelle Howard are hosting a special intercultural on-Country retreat for women moving into the next chapter of life.

The retreat will provide an immersive experience for women who’ve dedicated decades to work & family, & are now seeking a meaningful, transformative experience to shape their future. Whether you are looking to advance your executive career or transition towards retirement the Guwiyal Retreat will help you reignite your passion & purpose, step into your wisdom & honour your voice.

We sat down with both Carol and Michelle to discuss the retreat, what they hope participants will get out of it and the personal inspiration behind it.

CONNECT

Interviewer

Firstly, what is the retreat all about and what can people expect if they  attend? 

Carol

The idea of the retreat came about because a conversation that Michelle and I had about us both being at a transition point in our life…

Michelle

And, I guess because we both think that you get to different points in your life where it’s helpful to reflect on who you are and where you’ve got to. And particularly as women of a certain age – what you’ve contributed and what you want to contribute moving forward into the next stage of your life.

Michelle

We’ve been thinking a lot about those questions, and we wanted to create an experience that would offer that exploratory experience in a beautiful place for other women. 

Carol

We wanted to have conversations on Country, in circle with women in a similar time within their careers and just come together and explore those gifts and how can we best service society and each other moving forward into this next part of our lives. 

Carol

And then, it’s also about that replenishing, rejuvenating piece. As an Indigenous woman, I wanted to do this in my Country. Being on Country with each other and just being rejuvenated by what Country has to offer and really reconnect with the matriarchal stories and stories of place. It’s about being replenished, you know, not necessarily being pampered, but just, connecting with things that that fill us.

REFLECT

Interviewer

How did you both meet and start working together? 

Carol

We’re both part of the Australian Facilitators Network and so we probably knew of each other, but we actually met at a conference in Alice Springs.

Michelle

Yes, literally meeting in the red dirt and I think we connected because we are both very curious people. At this conference, they had a space in the programme that needed to be filled. We had never worked together before, but we decided we would just do something to fill that space, and it was the first time that we facilitated together, and it just worked so beautifully and from there we have built this relationship where we continue to take risks together.

Carol

It’s a special friendship because in one hand, we are so different, but on the other hand, there’s common things that bring us together.

Michelle

It’s a friendship built on our respect for our different knowledge and our willingness to take that knowledge to new and exciting places.

Interviewer

You mention there “respect for different knowledge”. Can you talk a bit about that and how it feeds into your work together?

REIGNITE

Interviewer

What are you hoping the women who attend this will leave with?

Michelle

A greater sense of what it is that they truly connect with and what they want to offer or explore in the next stage of life.
That might be creative, that might be something that is for purpose, but it’s about our sense of ourselves and how we connect that into the world. And as an on-Country retreat, how we connect with Country, whether we are Indigenous or not, what’s the role of Country? What can we learn from Country and how can we bring more of that understanding of Country into who we are and how we step forward. 

Carol

So, for me, there’s really three things.

Michelle

It’s exciting because it’s going to be a group of really interesting, purposeful women and those connections will be lovely to build.