Gentle Joy Women’s Leadership Collective
Your sensitivity has never made you a bad leader.
You’ve just been trying to use a conventional map that isn’t meant for you to succeed.
The Gentle Joy Women’s Leadership Collective is a small, intimate cohort for sensitive women leaders who are ready to stop forcing themselves into conventional leadership models and begin building a way of leading that actually honors who they are.
Together, we’ll explore new ways of leading that allow your sensitivity to become a strength…helping you build a sustainable path toward the impact you know you’re meant to make.
You don’t need to learn how to lead in spite of your sensitivity.
In the Collective, you’ll learn how to lead with it… allowing your sensitivity to become the foundation for your clarity, resilience, and impact as a leader.
The Collective brings together sensitive women who are fed up with the patriarchal, capitalist models of leadership. They’re sick of the pressure to hustle. They’re done with feeling exhausted, burned out, and like nothing they do is ever enough. They’re tired of feeling ashamed of their strong feelings, deep thinking, and awareness of others.
Most of all, the Collective is a place for women who know that sticking to the conventional ways of leading puts them at risk for never becoming the kinds of leaders they want to be. Never having the positive, transformative impact on their slice of the world that is so precious to them and what they value.
If you’re ready to bloom into the authentic version of leadership that’s always been inside you, and do it alongside women who understand your depth and vision, the Collective is here to support you.
The Gentle Joy Women’s Leadership Collective
New COHORT Forming in Fall 2026
Inside the Collective, you’ll grow alongside a small group of sensitive women leaders who share your depth, values, and desire to create meaningful change in the world.
Includes 1:1 mentoring support from Lori L. Cangilla, Ph.D.,
Creator of Singularly Sensitive.
You didn’t fail the conventional leadership map. It failed you.
For most of your life, you've been handed a leadership map that propped up broken patriarchal and capitalistic systems.
These conventional leadership models label your depth as a liability. Your need for rest a weakness. Your sensitivity to people, to systems, to the unseen?
All problems to be managed, flaws to be hidden until you (alone and unsupported) get rid of them, shortcomings to be apologized for and compensated with extra effort and productivity.
Those were always lies. They’re meant to block your capacity to transform the world and its broken systems. They’ve kept you uncertain, burned out, even avoiding leadership roles entirely.
Here’s the reality: sensitive women aren't a broken version of conventional leaders. We are a different kind of leader entirely — one whose perceptual intelligence, relational depth, and attunement to cycles and systems is exactly what a healthy, ecological model of leadership requires.
You’re meant to be a powerful leader. Not despite your sensitivity. Because of it.
What You’ll Take Away from the Gentle Joy Women’s Leadership Collective:
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You’ll find your voice when it’s time to speak uncomfortable truths, and do it in ways that respect and integrate other people’s perspectives.
You’ll learn to hold compassion for others while holding them accountable.
You’ll allow complexity and depth to guide your decisions—not as signs of indecision, but as proof of your capacity and competence to lead in even the most complicated situations.
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You'll recognize your burnout signals before you hit the wall—and discover how to give yourself permission to actually respond to the warning signs. No more pushing through until you collapse.
Rest becomes part of what sustains you as a leader, not something that takes you out of leadership. You'll know when to rest, when to move forward, and how to tell the difference.
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You’ll experiment in the group and on your own with specific practices (mindfulness, journaling, guided imagery, somatics, nature connection, and more) that help you listen to your intuition as a leader. These practices will teach you to recognize when your nervous system needs support so you stay regulated and effective.
Most importantly, gentle joy practices help you become more resilient and resistant to burnout. You’ll learn to find—and create—moments of calm, contentment, peace, and fulfillment, even when being a leader seems to bring nothing but challenges, heartache, and pain.
Gentle joy is what will make leadership sustainable for you over time, so that you ultimately get to make the difference in the world that you envision doing.
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You'll stop over-explaining, over-apologizing, and twisting yourself into knots trying to make everyone comfortable with your limits. You'll say no clearly. You'll protect your energy fiercely. And you'll stop feeling like a terrible leader (or person) for doing it.
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You won't have to explain yourself. You won't have to defend your sensitivity, your values, or the way that leading is sometimes just hard. You'll be surrounded by kindred spirits who understand the unique challenges of leading as a sensitive woman—and who will celebrate your wins, hold you through challenges, and remind you of your strength when you forget.
Your days of going it alone as a sensitive leader are behind you. The connections you make through the Collective will go with you for the rest of your life.
The Collective is for sensitive women who are ready to:
Lead authentically, with gentle joy, without burning out or sacrificing yourself to conventional systems
Trust your perceptiveness, empathy, and depth as leadership superpowers
Build sustainable rhythms aligned with your energy and the seasons, using proven forest therapy principles
Support and be supported by a network of sensitive women leaders
Create impact that matters—in your work, community, relationships, and connection to the natural world
Am I “Enough” of a Leader to Join the Collective?
Will I really fit in?
Conventional models of leadership are about titles and public power. The Collective is based on a model of leadership that’s rooted in relationships.
If you're guiding, creating, caregiving, educating, or making a difference in your your family, your community, or the wider world, you're leading.
In the Collective, leaders share a sense of responsibility toward the people, places, and causes that matter to them. They put their heart, soul, and energy into what they’re passionate about.
More Signs that the Collective is Right for You:
You identify as a sensitive woman (trans/nonbinary women welcome)
You want to lead in a way that honors your authenticity, values, and sensitivity and are curious about how gentle joy can help you do that
You know that the lone wolf model of getting ahead at any cost isn’t going to serve you as a leader or a sensitive woman
You are open to being part of a collaborative, interdependent group, even if you have some trepidation about groups or have past negative experiences in competitive, high-pressure groups
This program is NOT for you if you:
Believe 'toughing it out' is the answer and you just need to try harder
Want a quick fix, rigid protocols to follow, or aren’t open to gradual, sustainable change
Need crisis intervention or clinical mental health support (this is not therapy or a substitute for mental health treatment)
Aren't willing to show up vulnerably in a small group
Prefer exclusively 1:1 work with no community component (check out The Root System for private mentoring with Lori)
“I appreciated very much this opportunity to meet with other sensitive women. I value Lori's gentle guidance which makes me feel comfortable in sharing. I am amazed at the collective wisdom of the people who attended as well as the non-judgmental nature of this gathering.”
— N.J.What Makes the Collective Different? You Get the Best of Both Worlds
Here's the problem with most leadership programs:
Group coaching gives you community, but often doesn’t go deep enough to address your specific challenges.
1:1 mentoring gives you personalized support but doesn’t remedy your isolation from other women who are on the same path as you.
That's not how sensitive women thrive.
The Gentle Joy Women’s Leadership Collective gives you:
✓ Monthly group circles for shared wisdom, strategy, and celebration
✓ Two private 1:1 sessions (beginning and end) where Lori will help you map out and integrate your unique leadership journey
✓ Between-session support via private community messaging
✓ Gentle joy practices based in mindfulness, guided imagery, journaling, and somatics to help you lead in a way that fits you as a sensitive soul
✓ Nature-based practices including forest therapy activities, all designed to connect you with the rhythms of the seasons and yourself
You'll learn with other sensitive women leaders AND get individualized guidance for your specific challenges.
The Collective is built to be the opposite of the competitive, high-performance group spaces you might have been part of before.
This is a space created by a sensitive woman, for sensitive women.
We show up with radical self-acceptance and self-compassion. We extend the same to one another.
No pretenses.
No humble brags.
No doing the work for other people or holding their emotions. We each tend to our inner needs, so no one gets burned out by carrying more than her share.
And, best of all, no cookie-cutter model of what leadership is “supposed” to look like that sets us up for comparisons and self-doubt.
“I truly enjoyed participating in this sensitive women’s group. Knowing that I will not be judged or expected to be perfect (just because I’m in a helping profession) was gold. I felt supported and encouraged on a deep level.
Usually I’m not a fan of groups, but this one was different. It was fun to connect in the private Signal message group as well. Lori is an amazing leader who brought out the best in all of us. If you are longing for understanding and deep connection with kindred spirits, Lori’s groups are right for you.”
— M.B.What We’ll Do as a Women’s Leadership Collective
Month 1:
Initiation begins with a private, 60-Minute Foundation Session with Lori to Prepare You to Show Up Fully in the Collective
Clarify your leadership vision and challenges
Map out the personal gentle joy practices that will support your journey
Open your heart to community
Month 2 - Month 5:
Monthly Community Circles + Ongoing Collective Connection
Timely Topic Circle (60 min)
Lori introduces resources and practices—forest therapy, mindfulness, guided imagery, journaling, somatics—to deepen your gentle joy leadership toolkit. Learn concrete practices you can use immediately. First Monday of each month, 2-3 PM Eastern.
Strategy Circle (60 min)
Tap into collective wisdom for your real-time challenges. Get support, feedback, and celebration from women who understand what it's like to lead as a sensitive person. Third Monday of each month, 2-3 PM Eastern.
Plus: Private Signal Community
Stay connected between sessions. Share wins, ask questions, give and receive support, and celebrate gentle joys in everyday life.
Month 6:
Integration with a 60-Minute Private Closing Session with Lori:
Integrate what you've learned and done so that you have a map of your next steps
Celebrate how much you’ve transformed and grown as a sensitive leader
What Kinds of Leaders Are a Great Fit for the Collective?An entrepreneur building something meaningful
A helping professional leading with heart
A creative bringing her vision to life
A community organizer/activist creating change
A woman navigating caregiving and leadership simultaneously
Meet Your Guide to Leading with Gentle Joy:
Lori L. Cangilla, Ph.D.
I’ve spent years trying to lead in ways that patriarchal, capitalistic models said were signs of success:
I’ve spent almost 20 years working with sensitive women as a licensed psychologist.
I’ve told our stories and advocated for our needs in articles, podcasts, and in my book, Wander and Delve.
I’ve helped sensitive women soothe their nervous systems by renewing and deepening their connection to the rest of nature in my work as a certified forest therapy guide.
I’ve advocated for peace, food justice, and healthier communities as part of my vision of a world where sensitive women’s needs and values are the basis of harmony and health for all, not the exception to the rule.
From the outside, I looked successful. On the inside, I was burning out, disheartened, lonely, afraid.
So I did something quietly rebellious: I stopped leading the way I was "supposed" to and started leading the way my sensitivity demanded. The way I needed to as a woman.
I slowed down, giving myself the rest my body and mind needed. I joined communities of sensitive women who were on a similar path. I challenged my own instincts to go it alone and be competitive, choosing collaboration instead. I learned to be vulnerable with the right kind of people, those who support and believe in my growth. I started following what made me feel peaceful and energized, which meant rooting deeply into the natural world.
What a difference that has made: leading from my sensitivity, instead of fighting it!
In the process of changing my own behavior, I created the Singularly Sensitive® approach to help other sensitive women reject the old ways of doing things. My approach honors depth over speed, alignment over achievement, and gentle joy over relentless urgency.
Gentle joy is central to the Singularly Sensitive approach. For sensitive women leaders, it is essential that we slow down in the present moment, enough to notice and respond to the world inside and around us. Doing that creates the mental space we need to appreciate nuance and complexity, respond from a calm and values-centered place, and recognize when we're experiencing gentle joy: contentment, alignment, peace fulfillment, and satisfaction.
In a culture that demands we hustle to prove our worth, gentle joy is radical act of presence and acceptance. It becomes a powerful tool for discernment, for self-replenishment that makes us resilient and resistant to burnout, and for feeding out commitment to leading, even in the most challenging times.
Gentle joy leadership is for those of us who refuse to do things the old way and burn ourselves out in the process. It’s for sensitive women who know they have too much to contribute to be sidelined by trying to contort themselves into conventional leadership models.
If that's you, I'd be honored to be your guide.
“Lori is a thoughtful and compassionate group leader who creates a powerful experience for group members. I appreciated how closely she listened to each of us and how she was able to weave together our varying threads of discussion in a way that brought insight to the theme of that week.”
— C.M.Frequently Asked Questions
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The application is meant to help me understand your leadership experiences and give you a chance to ask me any questions you have. I’ll guide you through the process of reserving your place in the Collective by making a payment. I’ll also give you a link to schedule your March 1:1 mentoring session, a calendar of our group gatherings, information about the included Season Sync programs, and a link to our private Signal chat. Let me take the lead to get you oriented and integrated into the group!
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Gentle joy is based on the principle of slowing down enough to notice and respond to the world inside and around us. Gentle joy creates the mental space to appreciate nuance and complexity, respond from a calm and values-centered position, and recognize when we are experiencing contentment, alignment, fulfillment, and satisfaction. Imagine how differently you will lead if gentle joy is your guiding principle instead of urgency, comparisons, and pressure to achieve and accumulate!
The hustle culture answer is always: do more, move faster, optimize everything.Gentle joy is the rebellion: What if slowing down made you more effective? What if contentment made you a better leader than constant striving ever could?
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I’m a sensitive woman. I specialize in working with all sensitive women, including cis, nonbinary, and trans women, using an intersectional feminist lens. Anyone who identifies as a woman is welcome in the Collective.
I work from an explicitly anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal perspective that addresses the unique historical and contemporary challenges faced by sensitive women leaders. That doesn’t mean that sensitive men do not also face steep challenges—I’m just not the most qualified to support them. An internet search will turn up resources for sensitive men leaders. -
Yes. I have extensive experience working with women who are highly sensitive, introverted, and who are autistic, AuDHD, have ADHD/ADD, are gifted, and who are going through perimenopause/menopause. Your application and our initial 1:1 sessions are spaces where we can work together to help ensure that your needs and preferences are honored.
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I am a bisexual woman with a chronic illness, so I don’t take safety lightly. As a group, we will commit to welcoming and affirming all members, regardless of race, sexuality, culture, religion, ability, gender, or other identities. Racist, sexist, homophobic, or discriminatory/oppressive behavior will not be tolerated and may be grounds for expulsion without refund.
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All sessions are recorded on Zoom and I’ll share the links within 24 hours. You can also bring your questions and needs to the group Signal chat.
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Scheduled 1:1 and group gatherings are 60-minutes each. Women who’ve gotten the most out of my groups in the past have also spent time applying the practices we’ve explored. That could mean a few minutes daily for brief practices (reflection, breathing practices) or an hour or two weekly (journaling, nature therapy walks, listening to guided imagery). It truly depends on the practices you feel drawn to and what supports your leadership journey at this stage in your life. It’s fine if that changes over the course of the program. You don’t have to be perfectly consistent!
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The group will be capped at a maximum of 10 participants to allow us to have intimate conversations and make deeper connections. In all likelihood, the group will be smaller, since this is the first time I’m offering this specific topic.
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No problem! Send me an email and I’ll be happy to get back with you (usually within 1 business day).
Here's the Truth: