ABOUT THE GARDEN
Our Origin Story
We want to share how this began.
Not as a finished story, but as something still unfolding. It feels important to name this because the way The Garden came into being is inseparable from what it is. It did not come from strategy or certainty. It came through listening, through following what we could feel before we could fully understand it, and through taking steps without having the full path laid out ahead.
The Garden wasn’t our idea.
It revealed itself slowly, quietly, in its own timing. There was no moment where we decided to build it. It was something we found ourselves inside of. Something we did not know we were saying yes to, but once we felt it, we could not turn away.
We came from very different worlds.
Lauren was shaped in academic and corporate environments, rooted in inquiry, research, and the pursuit of deep understanding. Her path was one of rigor, structure, and leadership within high-performing systems.
Chelsea was shaped through apprenticeship. Her learning came through time with wisdom keepers, through earth-based traditions, through the body, intuition, and relationship with what cannot always be seen or explained.
Two different ways of knowing. Two different languages for understanding the world..
When we met, something began to weave.
There was a recognition that did not need to be explained. A sense of curiosity, of resonance, of something wanting to come into relationship. Lauren found herself remembering something Chelsea had been living for years. Chelsea felt drawn to the clarity and structure Lauren carried so naturally. It felt like two worlds beginning to speak to one another.
At first, what we created together was simple. We began by exploring seasonal retreats. Spaces to gather, to slow down, to mark the turning of time. It felt contained. Something we could understand and hold.
But pretty quickly, it became clear… these retreats weren’t what our minds thought they were.
As we listened more closely, something deeper started to move.
A name came through.
The Beauty Way.
Chelsea felt it immediately. Lauren did not, at least not at first. The hesitation was not because it was wrong, but because it was potent. The word beauty carries weight in a culture that has narrowed its meaning. She sat with it. She listened. And a few days later, it landed in her body as a full yes.
In the weeks that followed, we began to understand that this name was not new, and it was not ours. Across lineages, there are echoes of what has been called the Beauty Way.
In Navajo tradition, it speaks to living in right relationship with life.
In Greek philosophy, beauty (kalos) is seen as a pathway to divine truth and goodness
In Sufi mysticism, the path to the divine is described as a falling in love with beauty so complete that it dissolves the self.
In Christian mysticism, Via Pulchritudinis is the principle by which we access transcendence and divinity through beauty in art, nature, and word.
Even with this understanding, we did not fully know what we were stepping into.
We’re not building this alone.
We’re remembering it together as The Garden shows us the way.
We held the first Beauty Way in September 2024, and somewhere in that space, something shifted.
There was a moment where we looked at each other and knew. This was not just a retreat.
Something was happening that we were not orchestrating. Something alive. It felt less like we had created something and more like we had stepped into something that was already in motion on the planet.
That was the beginning of what we now call The Garden.
Not an idea, but a living field. Something that began revealing itself through the work, through the women who came, through what was being asked of us.
After that first experience, it was clear we couldn’t just close it and move on. It needed more space. More time. More care.
That’s how the 9-month journey came to be. Not from strategy, but from listening.
And just as clearly, we knew we weren’t meant to hold it alone.
There were women in our lives who felt connected to this without needing explanation. We invited them in, not to build something, but to feel into it with us.
They said yes, and became The Seers.
With them, everything deepened. The Garden expanded. What began as a single offering opened into many, not through force, but through a natural unfolding, matriarchal leadership, and community.
What you’re stepping into now is still unfolding.
This is not something finished or fully defined. It is something we are in relationship with. Something we are learning from, being shaped by, and tending to in real time.
Every offering you see has come from that place. From paying attention to what is asking to exist, rather than deciding in advance what should.
We’re not standing outside of it, leading from a distance. We’re inside it. With you.
Learning how to trust what’s emerging. Moving at the pace of what feels true. Letting something alive guide the way.
Maybe that’s why you’re here.
Because something in you recognizes this. Not as an idea, but as a feeling. A quiet sense that there is another way to live, to lead, to belong.
If that’s there, even a little…
you’re already part of it.
From the earliest imaginings of The Garden, one thing was clear: this work is not meant to be held by one voice alone.
We are devoted to a shared, communal model of leadership—one rooted in trust, relationship, and the belief that something more powerful emerges when leadership is distributed rather than centralized.
The Garden is stewarded by a council of leaders, healers, and seers, each bringing their own gifts in service of the whole.
Meet them below.
Our Founders
Dr. Lauren Borden, MA, PhD, PCC
-
Dr. Lauren Borden is a coach, transformational guide, and initiatory facilitator working at the intersection of psychology, mysticism, and embodied feminine leadership.
With a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and advanced training in mindfulness-based practices, Lauren has dedicated over a decade to advising founders, senior executives, and high-level leaders through profound identity transitions. Her work is deeply grounded in the science of leadership, human performance, and nervous system integration.
Alongside her executive advisory work, Lauren has devoted years to the study of Christian mysticism, theology, and religious deconstruction — excavating the submerged histories of the Divine Feminine and examining the psychological and cultural impact of patriarchal theology on women’s bodies and authority. Her facilitation integrates shadow work, ancestral repair, and womb-centered energy healing within a trauma-informed framework.
She is known for creating containers that are both spiritually alive and psychologically rigorous — spaces where women can metabolize grief, reclaim desire, dismantle inherited narratives, and move from performance into embodied authority.
As the Co-founder of The Beauty Way, Lauren guides women through a ceremonial path of remembrance — where intellectual insight becomes lived integration, and sacred leadership becomes relational, embodied, and real.
Outside of her work, Lauren is most at home in the mountains and in movement—skiing, climbing, and exploring embodied dance. She returns to stillness through meditation, or curled up by a fire with a good book and her beloved dog, Mowgli, curled up at her feet.
Chelsea Rose Cotton
-
Chelsea Rose Cotton is a soul guide, leadership alchemist, and sacred steward working at the intersection of embodied leadership, ancestral wisdom, and systemic change.
Initiated into a shamanic lineage at the age of thirteen, she spent seventeen years apprenticing with wisdom keepers and elders across Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico. Rooted in earth-based ritual and a worldview shaped by sacred interconnection, her formation was shaped through ceremony, energy healing, and direct apprenticeship with the unseen — cultivating a way of leading that is intuitive, embodied, and deeply ecological.
Alongside her initiatory path, Chelsea spent over a decade in nonprofit leadership development. There, she designed transformational programs, mentored emerging leaders, and built trauma-informed containers for women navigating recovery, advocacy, and systemic inequity. Her work bridges executive coaching, emotional intelligence, and nervous system regulation with shadow work, grief tending, soul retrieval, ancestral repair, and ritual practice.
Chelsea’s practice rests on the belief that personal and collective transformation begins with presence — the courage to meet the whole self and lead from that wholeness. Through private mentorship, retreats, and organizational consulting, she guides individuals and teams toward integrity that is lived, relational, and deeply embodied.
As the Co-founder of The Beauty Way, she is devoted to living a life of Beauty. This includes getting lost in the woods (trees are her people), swinging under the full moon- it feels like flying on a broom ;), and spending time in her happy place in a rustic cabin by the lake with a good bourbon in hand at sunset.
Meet The Counsel
-
Melanie Paez
COACH & FACILITATOR
Melanie Paez, PCC invites us to remember who we are without leading us anywhere, serving as a sanctuary where we can hear ourselves more deeply. With a decade of professional tools and innate, timeless gifts like mediumship and deep listening, she curates experiences based on what is needed in the moment. Grounded as a Professional Certified Coach, Reiki Master, and trusted partner to executives and entrepreneurs, she helps people integrate life transitions, amplify their gifts, and give voice to the parts of themselves seeking empowerment.
VIEW HER WEBSITE» -
Janice Hsu
BUSINESS ARCHITECT
For over two decades, Janice Hsu has worked at the intersection of business development and purpose, helping nonprofits, startups, and entrepreneurial ventures grow with intention. She is driven by innovation, fueled by collaboration, and committed to building businesses that create meaningful impact. Outside of her work, she enjoys traveling with her husband, exploring new foods, and giving back through her local community, bringing curiosity and care into everything she creates.
VIEW HER LINKEDIN» -
Tiffany Milburn
COACH
Tiffany Milburn is a self-love and embodiment guide helping women build confidence, trust themselves, and live with more freedom and joy. Her work supports women moving beyond self-doubt and old patterns into fully embodied lives through body-based practices and attuned support. She helps clients build the capacity for the life they desire and actually live it. Outside her work, Tiffany is a wife, dog mom to Heimer and Lola, cat mom to Stella, and enjoys herbalism, refurbishing furniture, and leading a Colorado nonprofit.
VISIT HER WEBSITE » -
Sasha Pearl
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Sasha Pearl, The Energy Architect, is a branding expert with 13+ years of experience and the founder of Designed to be Human, a six-figure business she has led for over seven years. She guides soul-led women in building authentic, aligned businesses through identity, messaging, and brand expression. Through her Highly Potent Method, Sasha helps clients create powerful brands that reflect who they truly are and support sustainable success, impact, and fully expressed leadership.
VISIT HER WEBSITE»
THE BEAUTY WAY RETREAT TEAM
Sam Freda, Chef Extraordinaire
Samantha Freda is a woman who walks many paths— chef, yoga teacher, retreat facilitator and writer amongst them. Sam grew up in the kitchens of her Sicilian great-grandmothers, chopping onions in the summer for her grandfather’s hot dog cart, and toasting baskets of bread at her father’s breakfast restaurant when she was barely tall enough to reach the counter.
At 28 years old Samantha opened her first restaurant at the Jersey Shore, and in 2021 began facilitating retreats. Since then she has relocated to Oregon and grown Soma into a wellness company offering chef services, farm to table dinners, journaling circles and retreats in Redwood National Park.
Sam brings her background in yoga into all of her work, weaving magic and mindfulness into her menus. In the kitchen you will often find her singing blessings or speaking positive affirmations as she cooks, preparing food with love and intention.