Real-life experiences to take you way, way out of office.
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The Soft Reset
A creative sabbatical to reinspire your career design
Saturday, September 27 - Friday, October 3, 2025
For creative knowledge workers across disciplines—or anyone who is creative—there’s often little space left to think deeply about the work you really want to do.
This retreat is your creative sabbatical: a chance to step outside of predetermined paths and gain the space, time, and inspiration to rethink what’s possible.
Through a blend of spacious sessions, hands-on experimentation, and lots of unstructured time to simply be, we’ll explore mindful rituals that support sustainable inspiration—for your career and beyond. Expect conversations that challenge conventional professional paths, creative exercises that open new possibilities, and long, delicious meals with fellow explorers.
No hustle, no pressure—just the clarity to reconnect with what you really want and the time to start crafting it.
Join us for our pilot program in the French countryside
About this retreat
A creative sabbatical for knowledge workers
September 27 - October 3, 2025
Enjoy 6 restful, inspiring nights in the French countryside at Château de Montsymond—an idyllic estate in Burgundy with forests, fields, and a private lake as well as a sauna, steam room, and heated pool.
As this is our first retreat, we’re offering 25-30% off typical rates, plus a 10% discount on a future event for all attendees.
Space is limited to just 10 participants for an intimate experience. Couples and groups are welcome.
Daily inspiration at a relaxing pace
All activities optional! (We mean it about “no pressure.”)
Subject to change. More details will be added here, so please check back in the coming months.
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Arrivals
Welcome reception
Dinner
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Breakfast
Morning nature walk
Lunch
Unstructured time
Afternoon mind/body connection workshop
Apéro* salon
Dinner
Unstructured time
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Breakfast
Morning program with Sam Ogborn
Lunch
Unstructured time
Afternoon free writing exercise
Apéro* salon
Dinner
Unstructured time
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Breakfast
Morning program with Sam Ogborn
Lunch
Unstructured time
Afternoon creative cuisine cooking class/demo
Apéro* salon
Dinner
Unstructured time
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Breakfast
Morning program with Sam Ogborn
Offsite activity (TBA)
Lunch
Offsite activity (TBA)
Dinner
Unstructured time
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Breakfast
Morning nature walk
Lunch
Unstructured time
Closing reception
Dinner
Unstructured time
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Breakfast
Departures
* “Apéro” is the French happy hour for drinks, snacks, and lively chat!
About our speaker
Get creative about your career path
Sam Ogborn, our featured guest
Sam Ogborn is a marketing strategist, content creator, and adjunct professor who has crafted a fulfilling career path—and an online audience of 150,000+— that embraces her marketing expertise and big-picture thinking.
Beginning with her in-house career as a marketing leader at Red Bull and Synchrony, where she specialized in content and brand marketing, Sam now charts her own path with a blend of exciting and enriching work through CMO advisory, online media, and teaching.
Sam is preparing a bespoke program for this retreat. Over 3 mornings, she’ll lead presentations and discussions about how to design a career—and a career identity—that is uniquely yours.
View Sam’s content on TikTok, and say hello!
About our chef
Enjoy authentic French cuisine made fresh daily
Maëva Chiappe, our onsite chef
Maëva Chiappe is a passionate and creative private chef, who brings a personal touch to every dish—rooted in a background of culinary experience that spans restaurants, pastry kitchens, and catering. Her cooking style blends indulgence with wellness, always with an eco-responsible mindset. Much of what she serves is homegrown or homemade, with a flair for presentation and a love for reinventing nostalgic dishes.
Chef Maëva will be preparing all onsite meals and hosting a creative cooking class during the week.
Let Chef Maëva know of any dietary restrictions when booking!
Accommodations
& rates
Every bedroom has its own attached private bathroom with towels provided. Beds are either queen sized (solo/couple occupancy) or two twin beds (double occupancy).
Below are photos of real rooms at Château de Montsymond. Not every available room is pictured here.
Solo participants
€2,995 per person
€3,800 per person — Special pilot program rate ✨
If you’d like to attend the retreat with a room and bathroom to yourself, the fee for a solo participant is €2,995.
Solo participants will enjoy a private room with an en-suite bathroom, furnished with fresh linens, a comfortable bed (queen or twin, depending on availability), and space to relax or reflect. Each room has its own unique charm, with thoughtful details to support rest and creativity.
It’s your personal haven for the week—quiet, cozy, and all yours.
Availability: 6 out of 6 solo spots remaining
Couples
€5,295 per couple
If you’d like to attend the retreat as a couple with a room and bathroom to yourselves, the fee for two participants is €5,295 altogether. If only one member of the couple is participating in the programming, the fee is €3,995 altogether.
Non-participating attendees will have access to all meals, but will not be able to participate in program sessions on site. Offsite activities can be added for an additional fee.
Couples will share a private room with a queen bed and an en-suite bathroom. Each room is thoughtfully appointed with fresh linens, cozy furnishings, and plenty of space to relax together or enjoy solo time.
Availability: 3 out of 3 spots remaining
€7,000 per couple — Special pilot program rate ✨
Sharing a room
€2,495 per person
€3,300 per person — Special pilot program rate ✨
If you and a friend/family member/colleague would like to share a room, or you’re open to sharing a room with one other solo participant, the fee is €2,495 per participant. If you opt to share a room with someone you don’t know, we’ll connect you via email in advance so you can “meet” beforehand!
Availability: 6 out of 6 spots remaining
Groups & teams
If you’re interested in a block of rooms for a small group or team, get in touch with us for a customized quote.
What’s included in your stay
✅ What’s included:
Accommodations for 6 nights (single or double occupancy according to your choice)
All meals on the premises, made from scratch by an onsite chef
Access to the grounds, heated pool, small gym, steam room, and sauna
Transportation to and from the nearest train stations to the château (info below)
6 days of onsite programming and select activities in the surrounding area
Speaker fees
Materials for sessions and workshops
Transportation to and from any programmed activities off site
❌ What’s not included:
Transportation to and from the retreat location (e.g. flights to and from France, trains from Paris to the nearest station to the château, etc.)
Meals/shopping in the nearby villages
Any additional activities not listed our official programming
About our lodging
Everything is more serene
in the French countryside
Château Montsymond, our haven for the week
Château de Montsymond is a peaceful and picturesque estate nestled in the rolling hills of Burgundy, France. It’s the kind of place that invites you to exhale.
Surrounded by forests, fields, and a private lake, the château offers an ideal balance of rustic charm and modern comfort. With amenities like a heated pool, steam room, and sauna, plus cozy common areas and beautifully restored bedrooms, it’s designed to help you fully unwind. Whether you're wandering the grounds with a notebook in hand or gathered around the table for a shared meal, the environment naturally encourages stillness, reflection, and creativity. It’s a setting that feels both grounding and expansive—perfect for stepping away from the everyday.
With beauty in every direction and quiet corners to call your own, it’s more than a place to stay—it’s part of the retreat itself.
Photos of Château Montsymond
About your hosts
We can’t wait to welcome you!
Meet your retreat hosts: Kevan Lee and Shannon Deep, co-founders of Bonfire.
Bonfire is part-agency, part-community, and all-Trojan Horse for what our brand really stands for: a more creative world for everyone.
With backgrounds in creative disciplines that somehow led to 15 years in startup marketing, Kevan and Shannon always dreamed about crafting real-life, in-person experiences that take people out of the knowledge-word grind and show them that a more creative, connected, and fulfilling relationship with work is possible.
You can read more about Bonfire here.
Kevan and Shannon are excited to welcome you to The Soft Reset and look forward to many meaningful chats around the (literal) bonfire!
We’ll see you this fall!
Ready to recharge your creastivity and contemplate your career design in a truly unforgettable setting? Join a small group of curious, open-minded creatives for a week of inspiration, rest, and meaningful connection.
Getting there
Château de Montsymond is located on Route de Mont Simon, Vescours, France 01560.
If you’re not already in France, you’ll need to get there first! The two most convenient cities from which to start your journey are Paris and Lyon, though you could also start from Geneva, Switzerland.
Once your booking is confirmed, we will help coordinate your transport to one of the local train stations if you don’t plan to drive yourself. Transport to and from these set stations is included in the cost of the retreat, but other travel costs and transport to and from non-designated stations is not.
From Paris
From Gare de Lyon: Take a high-speed TGV INOUI train to Mâcon Loché (1.5 hours). We will arrange group transport from there (40 mins).
From Gare de Bercy: Take a regional TER train to Tournus (4 hours). We will arrange group transport from there (20 mins).
From Lyon
From Gare de Lyon Part Dieu: Take a regional TER train to Tournus (1 hour 10 mins). We will arrange group transport from there (20 mins).
From Geneva
From Gare de Genève Cornavin: Take a regional TER train to Lyon (2 hours), then follow the “From Lyon” instructions above!
Can’t attend this time?
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