CREATRIX

Rachel Strickland is a performing artist, award winning choreographer, and development coach to artists and creative entrepreneurs.  Classically trained in ballet since the age of three, she began her study of circus arts in 2007, developing a unique style and innovative approach to aerial hoop.  Her work brought her international recognition, and she has coached, performed, and choreographed on four continents. 

She is the director of The Audacity Project, an 8-week guided process to equip artists and creatives with the tools necessary to be working professionals.  Over her 16 year career as a coach and mentor, she has guided hundreds of artists through the creative process and into their own journeys towards creating sustainable, fulfilling work in their creative practices.

She’s been featured in Authority Magazine and Thrive Global, and presented her stories and pedagogy on stages worldwide.  Her passion is for creation- and supporting creatives to pursue their most authentic work.

Given to excess and quixotic tendencies, Rachel specializes in aerial hoop choreography and the practice of telling stories.  She lives in Charleston, SC with her husband, Shaun.  They have no children so don’t ask, but they would like to meet your dog.

Maia Montes-Walker serves as our Creatrix Administrator and Liaison for all those compelled to join the Creatrix retreat. She is the custodian of schedules and timepieces, offering emotional and logistical support check-ins, tracking your misplaced socks and journals so you don't have to and helping you to remember your phone is better off in your suitcase. With a background spanning a decade as a professional aerialist and movement artist, eight of those years spent at the helm of her own circus enterprise, Aerial Artique in San Francisco, where she and Rachel forged an unbreakable soul-sister bond and many beautiful business partnerships.

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Maia has overseen and contributed to eight distinct health and wellness retreats across the globe. Her preferred destinations include Costa Rica, Maui, and Puerto Escondido. She regards the retreat environment as one of the most potent catalysts for personal transformation and fostering an essential sense of connection to community.

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At present, Maia has transitioned into a freelance bookkeeper and business advisor, catering to female led businesses and entrepreneurs. She now resides in Chico, California. She's particularly enthused about her newfound passion for beekeeping, tending to her flourishing vegetable garden, and discovering innovative methods to keep her liver in excellent spirits.

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She is eagerly anticipating the opportunity to meet and serve all of you, extending her heartfelt wishes for a nourishing and enduring experience that extends far beyond the confines of the Creatrix  container in 2024.

Kelly-Jean is a certified Rolfer who has been teaching Yoga and Contemplative movement for almost 2 decades. From 2012 until 2020 she taught weekly classes, led teacher trainings, and maintained a private Rolfing practice at her brick and mortar studio, Mission Yoga. During that period she also founded Sarayana Yoga, a system of Hatha Yoga that Synthesizes TCM, Taoism, and Rolfing concepts. Not a style of movement, Sarayana is more of a method of seeing and contextualizing the varied elements of healing and awakening in our lives.

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In her yoga classes, Kelly intuitively weaves elements of Yin, Vinyasa, and experimental movement into a seamless exploration of humanness that leads to greater somatic intelligence. She is an inspired storyteller known for her humor and patient commitment to students. As a Rolfer, she finds personal ways to help facilitate growth and freedom in each client’s body/mind through structural body work as well as movement exploration.

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Currently she has a private Rolfing and movement practice in Charleston, S.C. and leads virtual and in person Teacher Trainings, Pop-ups, and Corporate Wellness events nationally. She is also sharing her thoughts on the practice and the industry of Yoga with her long time friend and co-host Ashley Bell, in their podcast Yoga Burnout which you can find on Spotify or anywhere podcasts are played.

Finding a colorful and unbridled love of movement at an early age, Satya started formal dance classes at age 14. Her love of the unconventional led her to join the AZ Renaissance Festival in 2005 as a belly dance in a world music and dance troupe, Ghazaal Beledi.

Since then, she has continued her belly dance training, specializing in Transnational Fusion Dancer and now teaches classes and workshops throughout the US. Throughout this time, Satya found a love for the fire arts as well as aerial silks and most of all, lyra. She currently performs and teaches as half of the creative movement troupe, Satarah as well as a solo artist.

Whether from the ground, through the air or the flames, Satya’s light burns brightly on stage, bringing a refreshing authenticity and from-the-heart pieces to audiences everywhere. 

Lexa Walsh has been curating and creating dining experiences for over 25 years. She has been both a personal chef and on-site catering chef for Bay Area companies such as Paula LeDuc Fine Catering and Events, Left Coast Catering, The Heirloom Chef and Grace Street Catering. Her favorite work is feeding fellow artists at artist residencies such as Atlantic Center for the Arts, where she has been Culinary Artist in Residence since 2014, and Found Sound Nation, where she's been accommodating hungry international musicians since 2015. She manages a commercial kitchen, plans, shops, and executes daily meals for 25-40 international guests during residency periods. She accommodates many different dietary restrictions and cultural traditions, and incorporates radical hospitality into her meal presentations. 

Chef Lexa, the youngest of fifteen children, did not learn to cook from her sweet mom. Instead, she found herself as both a server and a chef at a Brooklyn cafe in college before relocating to the Bay Area’s culinary splendor. Her real training took place in the Czech Republic where she co-ran the kitchen at the international art center CESTA from 1996-2004, feeding up to 100 artists at a time.

When she’s not in the kitchen, she’s making large scale participatory art installations and ceramics.  You can read more about Lexa's art here.