A Different Kind of Event
for a Different Kind of Leader
From soulful dinners to multi-day retreats, we design and facilitate experiences that leave leaders energized and transformed.
Scroll to start your Joyous Rebellion
What if modern leadership
is built on an impossible standard?
Speed with no limits, performance with no peak?
What if the bravest move you could make is the one you keep avoiding? To pause.
Joyous Rebellion Starts With These Beliefs
You think success will come if you keep pushing
We know success comes when you get quiet and listen to yourself
Your shoulders are up to your ears, your nervous system on high alert. You don’t even remember what DAY it is, let alone why you’re trying so hard.
So, no – we don’t glorify the grind. Our gatherings interrupt the cult of urgency and give you space for clarity to emerge.
You think leadership is a performance
We know real power emerges when you drop the act
You’ve played the role and perfected the look that says I’ve got this! (even when you kinda don’t got it).
You’re not alone! We’re mostly pretending, most of the time. Our work is about creating an intentional pause for you to share your unique lens and unmistakable voice. Trust us: sharing about who you are and how you got here is much more interesting than hearing about your KPI’s.
You think networking is a chore
We know real relationships happen when we’re connecting, not strategizing
Our gatherings are an interruption to business-as-usual. You won’t find any post-its, panels, or presentations.
Instead, you’ll be among peers who share your desire to deepen connection and yearn to be seen beyond their titles.
You think beauty is frivolous
We know beauty makes life meaningful
We are serious about curating beautiful gatherings that go beyond aesthetics and reveal the beauty of our uniqueness and personal experiences.
It’s in the spaces we choose, the people we gather, and the way we break bread. It’s in the small details: a table set with care, a powerful question posed to participants, and expertly guided facilitation.
You've been trying to keep up for so long
And lately, your inner voice knows it’s time to be something else
You’re longing for a reprieve; a space to re-energize, to reconnect to self and others.
Come joyously rebel with us.
Not to escape.
To reset.
The Rebellion Starts in the Pause
Are you ready to enter?
Experiences
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From soulful dinners to multi-day retreats, we design and facilitate experiences that leave leaders energized and transformed.
We work with companies that want to invest in their leaders differently. Rather than more optimization and performance, we offer immersive low-tech experiences that break the spell of busyness and isolation.
A Purposeful Pause
Our events provide a necessary reprieve from our always-on culture.
Beautifully Designed
We go beyond aesthetics, and create intentional, soulful spaces that move people.
Low-Tech, High Human
No slides. No screens.
Without distractions, all that’s left is pure presence in the room.
Reconnecting to Yourself and Others
Not networking. No forced small talk.
But the kind of intimacy that lets people remove their armor.
Testimonials
“One of the most transformational experiences of my career.”
– Paul Stonick, VP Customer Experience at Big Green Egg
“The group’s immediate vulnerability, the willingness to share, and the hours spent getting to know each other without a mention of work were incredibly rejuvenating…It was unlike any other experience I’ve had in my professional life.”
– Sarah Pottieger, SVP of People, Lyra Collective
“The group’s immediate vulnerability, the willingness to share, and the hours spent getting to know each other without a mention of work were incredibly rejuvenating…It was unlike any other experience I’ve had in my professional life.”
– Sarah Pottieger, SVP of People, Lyra Collective
“It was a reminder that leadership doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in community when we have the courage to show up fully, share openly, and listen deeply.”
– Stephen Gates, Founder CRZY Design
“What struck me most as a leader was witnessing how quickly the usual barriers of age, profession, and geography dissolved as people shared vulnerably and authentically with one another…”
– Aziz Hasan, Former CEO of Kickstarter
“Each person there revealed such depth of experience…and Joyous Rebellion provided an amazing amount of scaffolding and support throughout.”
– Laurie Tennant, Principal, People Advisory, Norwest – Venture Capital & Growth Equity for Visionary Leaders
“It was beautiful the way it was guided, so we could cut through the usual chit chat to deeper stories and experiences.”
– Piera Gelardi, Co-founder, Refinery29
Joyous Founders
We’re veteran experience designers, facilitators, storytellers, and cultural catalysts who’ve spent over twenty years working with leaders and perfecting the art of meaningful human connection.
Our integrated approach to design, narrative, and hospitality creates experiences that transform how people see the world.
Jahan Mantin
Jahan is a creative dynamo who’s worn many hats—music editor, advertising exec, hospitality maven, and entrepreneur—the core of which has been centered on creating meaningful human experiences for leaders. After co-founding Project Inkblot, a consultancy helping tech companies design for equity, she channeled her experiential design expertise into co-founding Joyous Rebellion—drawing on years of designing programming for conferences, retreats, and residencies to bring leaders together around meaning, curiosity, and joy. A former NYU adjunct professor and accomplished speaker, she has presented at HOW Design and DesignTo, and been featured on podcasts including Design Better.
She earned her B.A. in Communications and Culture from Clark University and is the recipient of the Kate Spade and Company Fellowship as a former member of The New Museum Incubator, NEW INC. a cultural incubator dedicated to supporting innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurship across art, design, and technology. She is also a certified yoga instructor and an avid traveler, having lived in such locations as Colombia and Scotland. A passionate home cook and consummate host, she credits years of bartending as a crash course in human psychology. She lives in Brooklyn.
Boyuan Gao
Boyuan’s career odyssey began in the warehouse of a floral wholesaler servicing churches and funerals. Over the past 20 years, her unconventional trajectory has put her in spaces as diverse as juvenile detention centers, public schools, music festivals, film sets, health clinics, advertising offices, and music publication HQs. Each role—whether as facilitator, marketer, editor-in-chief, journalist, or co-founder—was in service of telling human stories and facilitating deep relational experiences. Each turn equipped her with the fluency to work with wildly different groups of people, from inmates to CEOs.
Her last venture, Project Inkblot, brought dynamic programming to help big tech and media leaders build more equitable products and services. It also led her to a breaking point. There was no end to doing more, better, faster, and though impact and success came, so did an endless hamster wheel of pressure, burnout, and joylessness. She wasn’t the only one.
Through a 10-day silent meditation and the loss of her dad came the download of the name Joyous Rebellion. That was what was missing all along! She and Jahan started designing the type of experiences that they both wish they had as leaders: spacious reprieves with other incredible and big-hearted people having transformative, unexpected moments, together—that would restore creativity, confidence, and connection to ourselves and each other. This is the most true coalescence of her gifts and skills, yet.
Joyous Rebellion
Every gathering we create is custom and born from real conversations, not templates.
If you’re interested in bringing a Joyous Rebellion to your leaders, this is where it starts.
We’ll listen to your vision, walk you through our process and start shaping a gathering that is meaningful, human, and intentional.
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A newsletter for leaders who refuse the grind. Thoughts, invitations, and reminders of what actually matters.
