In short: The EMpowered SAS Experience was a women-only, Special Forces-style experience in the Lake District on 17th and 18th September 2026, led by Ant Middleton and me. It pushed women physically and mentally in a safe, supported environment, so they came home with more self-trust, more confidence and a very different idea of what they are capable of. Want to hear about future experiences? Email [email protected] to register your interest.
I need to tell you about the moment I surprised my dad.
He thought he was going on a spa weekend. Relaxing. Peaceful. Maybe some nice food and a hot tub.
I took him to an Ant Middleton SAS experience instead.
2 days of abseiling, missions, speed boats, physical challenges, and the kind of mental pressure that strips away every excuse you have ever made about what you are capable of. With a group of mostly alpha males and a handful of women who absolutely refused to be outperformed.
My dad will never forget it. And neither will I.
But the moment that changed everything for me was a conversation I had with Ant Middleton himself. I told him what I had noticed. That there had been almost no women there. That the few of us who were there had created something extraordinary between us, cheering each other on, pulling each other through, operating at a level of camaraderie and collective courage that I rarely see anywhere.
I told him I wanted to create something like this. For women.
He listened. And then he said yes.
I nearly cried.
And on 17th and 18th September 2026, we made it happen. The very first EMpowered SAS Experience took place in the Lake District.
I have been coaching women in business for more than 13 years. I have seen every kind of block that holds women back. Undercharging, self-doubt, staying small, waiting until they are ready, apologising for taking up space.
And in 2 days on an SAS experience, I saw more of those blocks dissolve than I have seen in months of boardroom conversations.
Because when you are halfway up a cliff face, and there is no option but to keep going, all of the internal chatter stops. The imposter syndrome, the overthinking, the fear of failure, the worry about what people think. All of it becomes completely irrelevant when the only thing that matters is the next move.
What replaces it is something extraordinary. Clarity. Courage. An unshakeable proof that you are capable of far more than you had given yourself credit for.
That proof does not stay on the cliff. It comes home with you. It walks into your next client meeting. It sits with you when you are about to send the proposal with the higher price. It is there when you are about to do the thing that scares you.
Because you have already done something that scared you. And you survived it. And it was brilliant.
I came home from last year's experience and raised my prices within a week. Not because I had done any more work on my pricing strategy. Because I had just proved to myself that I could do something I genuinely believed was beyond me. If I could do that, I could do anything. Including charge what I was actually worth.
The most powerful mindset work I have ever seen happen was not in a coaching session. It was on the side of a mountain, with a group of women who refused to let each other give up.
Last year, when I did the experience with my dad, there were 4 women in a room full of alpha males. We came from Canada, Belgium, Ireland, and England. We were different ages, different sizes, different levels of physical fitness, different backgrounds.
And we were unstoppable together.
That is the thing about women. When we are given the space and the challenge, when we stop performing for anyone and just get to work, what emerges is something that no alpha-male environment could manufacture. Genuine teamwork. Real leadership. The kind of camaraderie that comes from choosing to show up for someone else when it would be easier to just focus on yourself.
I watched a woman from Canada who had told me she was terrified of heights abseil off a building while we all screamed her name from below. I watched a woman from Belgium complete a physical mission that she had been convinced was beyond her, and then immediately turn around to help the person behind her.
None of us knew each other before we arrived. By the time we left, we would have done anything for each other.
That is what I want to build for the women in my world. And that is exactly what The EMpowered SAS Experience was built to do.
The EMpowered SAS Experience took place on 17th and 18th September 2026 in the Lake District, one of the most breathtaking and challenging landscapes in England. The perfect setting for 2 days that tested everything the women thought they knew about themselves.
It was led by Ant Middleton and Emily Mallender, with a full team of ex-SAS military instructors alongside for the entire experience. It was not a gentle challenge. It was the real thing, designed to test you, push you past the edge of your comfort zone, and show you exactly who you are when the external pressure is at its highest.
I want to be honest with you about why I built this as part of EMpowered, and not just as a personal adventure.
After more than 13 years in business coaching, I have come to believe that there are certain things you cannot learn in a room. You cannot learn genuine courage by reading about it. You cannot learn how to lead under pressure in a comfortable environment. You cannot prove to yourself that you are capable of more than you thought by staying exactly where you feel safe.
The women who show up for experiences like this come back different. Not because of what they learned. Because of what they proved. To themselves. About themselves. In a context where there was nowhere to hide and no option to back out gracefully.
That proof is worth more commercially than almost any strategy session I can run. Because strategy built on top of self-doubt is fragile. Strategy built on top of proven capability is unshakeable.
You need to be willing. That is different from physically fit. Last year, the 4 women on the experience came in different shapes, sizes, ages, and fitness levels. All of them completed it. All of them surprised themselves. The experience is designed to challenge every participant at their own level. What matters is that you show up and commit to not giving up on yourself.
Last year, the 4 women on the experience included someone who described herself as the least sporty person she knew. She completed every challenge. She was one of the loudest voices cheering everyone else on. The experience is not designed to test your fitness. It is designed to test your character. And character has nothing to do with how fast you can run.
Especially for you. The women who get the most from experiences like this are almost always the ones who were most convinced they could not do it. If you are reading this and feeling a mixture of excitement and terror, that is exactly the right feeling. That is your edge. That is where the growth is.
Yes. Both of us were there for the entire experience. Not for a keynote and then gone. For the challenges, the debrief, the meals, the moments in between. The access is real.
The first EMpowered SAS Experience took place in the Lake District on 17th and 18th September 2026, led by Ant Middleton and Emily Mallender with a team of ex-SAS military instructors.
If you want to be the first to hear about any future EMpowered SAS Experiences, email [email protected] to register your interest.
I told Ant Middleton I wanted to create something like this for women. He said yes. I nearly cried. And in September 2026, we did it.
If reading this has you feeling that mix of excitement and terror, that is your edge. Email me at [email protected] to register your interest in future EMpowered SAS Experiences.
And if you want a room full of women backing themselves in the meantime, come to EMpowered Live 2027 on Friday 12th March 2027 at the OEC Sheffield.
