I liked Jodie, the former owner of Stay Wilder, the minute I met her. As the founder and passionate marketing genius behind the Stay Wilder brand, she is quite simply a wonderful human being and a great person to work with. We were introduced through a mutual connection from a local women’s network because they heard a fit between our interests. My background in business leadership and culture coupled with my experience in our family resort business seemed like a natural fit for Jodie’s desire to see Stay Wilder become a reality.
With an introduction from the amazing team at The Forum Vancouver we found ourselves on our first Zoom call, sharing our passions and listening for what might be.
Long story short, and as a surprise even to myself, I found myself moving rapidly from a contributor, to collaborator… to new owner. A few months after our first call, and having worked through a number of business issues from a foundation of trust in ourselves, each other, and the idea, we (my husband Peter and I) became the new owners of the Stay Wilder brand.
We could not be more excited to bring Jodie’s original idea to fruition and we could not have done what we are about to do without you.
I’ve read hundreds of Instagram comments, and from the bottom of our hearts we thank you for your support and enthusiasm for the Stay Wilder ideas. We are also incredibly grateful for your patience.
It’s been a year since you’ve heard from Stay Wilder and we couldn’t be more excited to tell you Stay Wilder is opening bookings for spring 2023 in late-September.
In that timeframe the business has gone through endings and beginnings. We can tell you now that Stay Wilder was originally planned for Salt Spring Island but permitting issues required a change of venue.
We’re excited to let you know that Stay Wilder’s first location will now be on the Sunshine Coast, just a 15-minute drive from the village of Sechelt, in an incredibly beautiful 160 acre forest.
Pete and I already call the coast home, so having our first Stay Wilder in our backyard seems like a natural fit. We’re working right now to finish the setup of the domes and to test our solar and water systems. We’ve chosen to call Stay Wilder 1 a “lab” because we are committed to learning with you, building a Wilder Community, and doing good for the planet together. With your booking (and even if you can’t join us IRL just yet, on Instagram), we invite you to join us in learning about, and practicing, sustainability all while staying in the heart of nature, to experience the restorative energy of the forest, and the power of Mother Nature to connect us to what is deeply important.
We will be hosting our first guests in Spring 2023, and we’ve got plenty to do before then and we’re currently working on a plan to provide some winter stay opportunities that will enable us to experiment with being in nature as the cozy season sets in. We’re opening our bookings for next spring and we’d love to have you visit when you’re ready.
None of this would be possible without our incredible team of collaborators. From the team at Coast Gravity Park (spoiler alert), to our furniture builders at the Wood Shop in Vancouver, our transportation partners who shipped the entire operation from Salt Spring Island, our local builder Pat Mikhail, and our local artisans (stay tuned for more intros) who will provide the onsite amenities, we feel incredibly blessed to be surrounded by a community ready and willing to help us birth the first Stay Wilder.
Jodie remains on the team as our Goddess of Marketing but will be offline for a birth of her own – she and husband Rob are expecting their first child in a couple of weeks. On behalf of the entire Wilder Community we send them our love and best wishes.
We know we’ve kept you waiting and we owe you a debt of gratitude. We thank you again for keeping the spark of this idea alive while we’ve built a new foundation. We’d love to hear from you when you have a moment, and while you may never have left, will you join us again?
With appreciation and love,
Suz and Pete Laurie
