In February 2023, Salt+Snow Co-Founders, Kathy Thomas and Sara Zilkha, traveled to Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, to partner with the NUSHU Surf Retreat. Founded in 2017 by Vanessa Cornell, NUSHU is a wellness collective and global community committed to fostering true connection, personal growth and empowerment. It was a home run in terms of alignment for Salt+Snow as the retreat aimed to combine adventure, fun and sisterhood.

In just seven days, 17 women (many of whom were strangers) gathered together in community and connected profoundly with one another and most importantly, themselves. The focus of the retreat was learning to surf with great meals, adrenaline-filled excursions, restorative yoga classes and reflective NUSHU Groups rounding out the week (and great gear from Salt + Snow!).

As retreat participant Courtney Evans (and Certified NUSHU Group Facilitator!) writes, “By the end of the week, I witnessed [us] popping up with grace, compassion and a well of self-love that had each of us riding waves to the shore feeling lighter, stronger, more grounded and healthier than we’ve felt before.”

Our journey with NUSHU pre-dates its inception, when Vanessa and Kathy learned to surf together in the chilly Atlantic waters of Long Island, becoming one another’s “Surf-Wives.” Surfing became a major part of both of their lives, so when Vanessa decided to do a surf retreat with her membership, it only felt natural to partner with Salt+Snow to “style” the trip.

We offered concierge services and packing guides in advance of the trip, curated gift bags of our incredible beauty products from Antedotum, Dip, Flexpower and Surfdurt, and hosted a trunk show on-site with Anemos, Left On Friday, SEPTEMBER, Cynthia Rowley and Seea.

It was a pleasure to work with this incredible group of women who ventured out of their comfort zones to catch their very first waves in our gear. But more importantly, hearing all of their stories and bonding over surfing and adventure was the highlight of the trip. Their support of what we are doing at Salt+Snow was overwhelming and we so appreciate our new friendships and can’t wait to see where their paths take them, both in and out of the water.

A special thanks to Harper, Cat and Vanessa from NUSHU and Mona and Juliana from A Week Awake for their amazing hospitality and support. To learn more about NUSHU, visit nushu.com or follow @nushu on Instagram.