Inside the Women Only Executive Retreat That Turns Boxing Into Leadership Training
Erin Renzas spent nearly two decades steadily climbing the corporate ladder, collecting all the traditional markers of success along the way. She held a high-paying tech career and even served as a marketing lead during Square’s IPO. Yet despite checking every external box, she found herself deeply dissatisfied.
Convinced that personal happiness required self-perfection, Renzas turned her focus inward. Like many women, she believed the missing piece was her body. She lost more than 100 pounds through strict diet and exercise, chasing what society frames as the “ideal” version of womanhood. Instead of fulfillment, her mental health unraveled. She experienced dissociation and moments so severe she believed she no longer existed, a period she later described in detail in a personal essay published on Medium.
Finding grounding in the ring
At the time, Renzas was working as an operating partner at Prosus in Amsterdam. Her life became a relentless loop of high-stakes meetings and punishing workouts, followed by nights spent convincing herself she was real. Eventually, exhausted by running and searching for something different, she stepped into the boxing ring at her gym.
Boxing changed everything. Unlike other forms of exercise, it demanded her full presence. The sport forced her into her body, into the moment, leaving no room to mentally disappear. That grounding proved transformative. Renzas went on to become an amateur boxer, winning four fights, and credits the sport with restoring her sense of wholeness. She is now writing a memoir about how boxing helped rebuild her mental health.
From personal healing to leadership philosophy
What began as a personal breakthrough soon became something larger. Renzas noticed that the lessons she was learning in the ring, clarity under pressure, resilience in chaos, and strategic thinking when cornered, mirrored the challenges women face in leadership roles. Together with somatic and executive coach Shea O’Neil, she began weaving boxing language and philosophy into executive coaching conversations about career direction, ambition, and boundaries.
Those ideas resonated strongly with other women leaders in their circles. The result was Fight Co.Lab, a hybrid executive retreat that blends intensive boxing training with leadership development. The program’s official home, Fight Co.Lab, reflects its mission clearly: using physical challenge as a pathway to mental clarity and professional growth.
An unconventional setting for executive growth
The inaugural retreat took place at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, the world’s longest-operating boxing gym. Known for its red walls and portraits of legendary fighters, Gleason’s is hardly a typical corporate retreat venue. That contrast is intentional. The unfamiliar, high-energy environment pushes participants out of autopilot and into full engagement, echoing the realities of executive decision-making. Gleason’s long history and intensity add symbolic weight to the experience, reinforcing the idea of strength forged through discipline.
Most participants had never boxed before arriving. Within hours, they were learning combinations, holding pads, and absorbing the discipline of staying calm under pressure. According to Renzas, boxing is about operating in chaos, finding clarity while everything is moving fast, noisy, and unpredictable.
The retreat taps into a growing crisis among women in leadership. According to a recent Business Insider report citing research from McKinsey and LeanIn.org, burnout among senior-level women has reached a five-year high. Compared with their male counterparts, women leaders face steeper expectations, greater scrutiny, and fewer allowances for imperfection. Many arrive at Fight Co.Lab at major inflection points, starting companies, rethinking careers, or struggling with isolation at the top.
The physical exhaustion of boxing plays a deliberate role. Fatigue lowers emotional defenses, making authentic connection easier. Participants describe the experience as more intense than traditional leadership retreats, combining physical vulnerability with deep emotional and intellectual reflection.
Community, intensity, and reclaiming space
For many attendees, Fight Co.Lab offers something rare: a peer group of women who understand the pressures of leadership firsthand. The shared challenge fosters trust and camaraderie, and the connections often extend beyond the retreat itself. Participants continue to hold one another accountable for goals they set during the program, forming lasting support networks.
The boxing ring also reframes intensity. Traits that women are often told to soften, drive, competitiveness, emotional force, become assets rather than liabilities. In the ring, intensity is not something to suppress but something to harness with control and purpose.
Redefining leadership through the body
Fight Co.Lab is not positioned as a luxury escape. With fees in the thousands, it is clearly designed for senior leaders. Yet for those who attend, the value lies in the redefinition of leadership itself. Rather than emphasizing endless optimization or self-erasure, the retreat encourages women to occupy space fully, trust their instincts, and remain grounded under pressure.
In a corporate world where burnout is increasingly common and expectations continue to rise, the lesson is strikingly simple: sometimes, the clearest path forward is not found in another strategy deck or productivity framework, but in learning how to stand your ground, throw a punch, and stay present when it matters most.
