Fresh Air Retreat in Charleson, SC

Last month I attended the Fresh Air Retreat in Charleston, SC! This is a work retreat with eight   food bloggers that I have been looking forward to all year! We learned, we chatted, we ate delicious food and most importantly we were so inspired by each other.

It’s wild to think that I have been food blogging and posting on social media since my junior year in college. When I started this little hobby back in my college apartment I had no idea it would become my whole personality (and career!). I make light of this, but there was no college major in food blogging. This entire path has often felt like the ‘wild wild west’. Constantly learning, growing and unlocking new business tactics and opportunities.

The Retreat

We are pioneers, photographers, recipe developers, SEO machines, writers and storytellers. When I was given the chance to get to learn from other creators and new knowledge  (and make friends!) with the Fresh Air Retreat, I JUMPED!

We all headed to Charleston, SC for the 13th annual fresh air retreat! We spent three days learning about growing our traffic, implementing new tools, serving our audience and working with each other to grow our businesses. 

Our hostess(s) with the mostess were Liz from The Lemon Bowl and Lauren from The Curious Plate. These two angels really know how to make you feel loved and taken care of. They created unique dining experiences, filled our days with activities and speakers that were rich in information and made the entire three days feel so valuable. Plus, they were real gems to hang out with!

Did I mention we had a Chef the entire weekend!? Chef Trimell spoiled us all week with delicious lunches, dinners, treats and snacks. My favorite meal was the ending dinner where he freestyles the last meal of the retreat with a theme of his choice. So fun right?!

Retreat Attendees 

We had such a lovely group of food bloggers that I was so grateful to meet and spend time with! I can without a doubt say that I learned something unique from each one of them! 

• Eden Passante from Sugar and Charm
• Liz Della Croce from The Lemon Bowl 
• Annie Holmes from Sweet Peas and Saffron
• Monique Volz from Ambitious Kitchen
• Lauren Grier from The Curious Plate 
• Hetal Vasavada from Milk and Cardamom 
• Kylie Mazon-Chambers from Cooking with Cocktail Rings
• Liz Thomson from I Heart Vegetables

The Sponsors

The retreat was made possible by some lovely sponsors! From the lovely home we stayed in to hosted dinners and breakfasts, they were amazing! We were able to immerse ourselves with Mediavine, Grocers List, The Happy Egg, Explore Charleston and the lovely Sabrina Loyer. 

Mediavine is an ad network that not only hosts ads on bloggers sites but works with them to increase traffic, support business strategy and be a direct line of support for increasing traffic and ad revenue. They treated us to an amazing dinner in downtown Charleston at Frannie and the Fox and were a real gem to chat with! 

Speaking of Charleston! We were lucky enough to have Explore Charleston tell us more about the lovely city we were staying in and took us out for a delicious lunch at Sullivans. 

We had a lovely chat with Ben from Grocers List. I was unaware of Grocers List before the retreat but was SO impressed and switched with them by the end of it. A service like Grocers List helps food bloggers send direct messages to followers with links and information about recipes. It’s a really interesting service that you should definitely check out if you have a food blog! 

We were treated to a lovely 5 course breakfast with Happy Egg! As you all know, eggs are such a hot topic right now so it was really neat to be able to sit down with a brand that is an expert in eggs and have an open and honest discussion of the current climate. 

We learned all about the details of their farms, the hens living conditions and the different types of eggs. I’ve been buying happy eggs forever and use them in lots of recipes, like my favorite garlic butter ramen noodles!

Our final sponsor was with Sabrina Loyer, she is a social media and business coach for bloggers and influencers. Her session with us was such a treat. It felt like equal parts meditation and soul search. We tapped into our inner child and got to the root of ‘why’ we love to do what we do. I’ll be honest, I don’t do a lot of meditation or mental health work but she really inspired me to try and bridge this connection in my business more. 

Inspiration and Action 

To be very candid, it can be exhausting to always ‘light your own fire’ running a business. It takes a certain strength that you have to consistently keep working on and self inspiring. 

Retreats like this give you an opportunity to work through business problems, get inspired by other peoples strategies and leave you with a list of actionable items that you can feel excited to implement. I feel hopeful and excited to try new things and opportunities this year! 

Some new business ideas I left with: 

• Creating a second blog! I’ve had an idea to start another blog called ‘Let’s Go Dutch Oven’ and since the retreat I’ve put this into motion. More to come! 
• Expanding my email strategy! Email marketing is one of the best ways to serve your audience and I’m looking forward to leveling up your inboxes! 
• Serving My Audience! With tools like Grocers List, Komi, and Email Strategy I can’t wait to give you more top notch content and direct routes to new recipes!
• Youtube?! I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a youtube channel/show and I left with some great insight on strategy from Monqiue from Ambitious Kitchen. 

During the retreat we had a lightning round where we each presented a problem or a question and everyone gave a quick fire answer. Everyone’s answers (and problems!) were so unique and I felt like I learned SO much during this part of the retreat. 

If you’re looking to rejuvenate and breathe new energy into your business and your life, I would without a doubt encourage you to apply for The Fresh Air Retreat. I am so grateful to have been a part of this and I hope I can stay involved for future retreats. 

Photographs by the lovely Amanda Kamppinen