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Entrepreneur On a Mission to Empower Rebellious Women Having Quit 25 Year High Flying Career

Leaving behind a 6 figure salary, working with household names such as Sainsbury’s and Youngs, a local mum from Lincolnshire made the leap into entrepreneurship after 25 years employed -to follow her midlife dream of running global empowerment retreats for women, and she’s announced her first venture, after launching her new business in Ibiza.

On a mission to help more women to love themselves from the inside out, Josie Hamilton-Cook, 53, is blending her skills as a transformational mentor with her knowledge as an image and style consultant, with her own experiences of personal and spiritual development, to guide women who feel stuck, to see midlife through a new lens.

Having left a 26-year marriage and career, Josie founded Rebellious Essence to guide women (ages 46-53) through luxury retreats and personalized coaching, combining inner healing with outer expression, so they can reclaim their power. Leading from the front, Josie swapped Louth for the White Isle last month as she prepared to launch her new venture, and commissioned a glamorous photoshoot to curate a set of powerful images which exude confidence and conviction, despite her own body image hang ups and fears of what others would think.

Josie, who has been a stylist and image coach for the past 6 years, since leaving the corporate world, has worked with many women who have fears of being seen as truly themselves, and she was determined to show the power of being comfortable in your own skin.

She said: “When we were planning this shoot I was terrified - scared I would look silly, scared people would think I’d lost my marbles, scared I’d not look how I wanted on camera - and then I remembered what this is all about - I’m creating a space where midlife women get to celebrate themselves, and all that they are, along with their hopes and their dreams for their futures - this was no time for playing small - I was all in!” 

Josie has just announced that she is hosting her first retreat in Ibiza in September, where she is inviting other midlife women who are ready to ‘walk away from convention to forge their own rebellious path’ to join her in an immersive experience ‘to help them break free from societal expectations, rediscover their essence, and step unapologetically into their power’, through an immersive blend of spiritual coaching, astrology, energy work, and personal styling.

Having undergone a divorce after also walking away from her 26 year marriage as well as her 25 year corporate career Josie spent thousands on healing, following the next trends and fads before realising it wasn’t a new form of meditation she needed, or a 1 off trip to the spa, it was time to reconnect to herself more deeply. 

With 69%*of midlife women reporting feelings of invisibility and a lack of representation in mainstream media, the demand for transformative experiences that prioritize confidence, empowerment, and self-expression has never been higher. 

At the heart of the retreat is the Essence Code, Josie’s signature process. Set in the iconic, exclusive Six Senses resort in Ibiza, Josie and her team, ‘The Essence Alchemists’, with decades of expertise in mentorship, personal styling, and holistic empowerment, will help other women step into fearless self-expression, many of whom may be experiencing menopause. 

Josie said:” For too long, menopause has been framed as a period of decline, when in reality, it’s a powerful reset. We’re offering women tools to navigate midlife transitions with empowerment rather than fear. This retreat is a direct counter to the culture of silence and shame surrounding midlife health.”

Leading midlife model and body confidence influencer Rachel Peru, who has been featured on billboards globally as an underwear model at the age of 55,  is also on hand to support at the retreat, sharing her own experiences and tips.

Josie added:“Midlife isn’t an ending, it’s a call to rebellion. For years, I played by the rules. I ticked every societal box of the good girl ,wife, mother, daughter, career woman. And yet, I felt invisible, trapped in a life that no longer fit me. It took walking away from my 33 year relationship, a successful career, and everything familiar to truly find myself. That journey was terrifying, but it was also the most liberating thing I’ve ever done. And now, I refuse to watch other women settle for a life that doesn’t set their soul on fire.”

“They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and I am here to role model that now I am out the other side. In the last 2 years I have learnt to live on my own,  to release the status of the big family home, luxury cars and successful career and really focus on my own healing and most importantly find out who the hell Josie is.I have always been a bit of a maverick and rebel. I just wasn't able to express this before.”

“Through my own experience of being a guest on many retreats I realised that no one is offering inside outside transformational experiences like this. “I am taking the magical essences of lots of different modalities that  have personally tested and can vouch for to deliver clients a completely new experience.”

The Ibiza Immersion runs from 8th-12th September 2025.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .