Meet the Team
Solstice Rising Co is led by a small, passionate international team of women who bring heart, integrity, and deep lived experience to every retreat.
We’re not just facilitators, we’re space holders, storytellers, island lovers, jungle roamers, and soul-returners. Each of us has walked these lands, guided women through transformation, and committed to creating safe, sacred spaces for connection, healing, and joy.
From photographers who swim beside you in coral reefs, to sound healers echoing the rhythms of the jungle, to your founder who’s been returning to these places for over a decade—our team is here to hold you through it all.
Jessica is the founder of Solstice Rising Co. Born on the summer solstice, she brings the energy of turning points, deep light, and spiritual awakening into every journey she creates.
After nearly two decades in healthcare, and experiencing the deep burnout that so often comes with holding space for others, Jessica began walking a more aligned path. One shaped by saltwater, jungle trails, sisterhood, and soul return.
These retreats are not just vacations, but intimate, thoughtfully curated journeys across land Jessica knows in her bones, Honduras’s Bay Islands and the Cangrejal River Valley. Her connection to this land runs deep: she holds Honduran residency, and has spent years exploring, healing, and returning to the region.
These places became sacred to her through her father, who lived and loved Honduras for the last 14 years of his life. He played a profound role in her awakening, that has only grown since his passing. Now, three generations of her family have walked these lands, swam in these waters, and stood barefoot in the same river valleys—carrying forward a legacy of wonder, reverence, and return.
Jessica
FOUNDER OF SOLSTICE RISING CO
Originally from Amsterdam, Monique is a seasoned photographer, journalist, and dive instructor who has called Roatán home since 2009. With a background in publishing upscale Dutch magazines and a passion for underwater exploration, she’s spent decades capturing beauty both above and below the surface—from the Maldives to Mozambique.
Now a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer and founder of Mocean Art Photography, Monique specializes in soulful, nature-rooted portraiture and underwater imagery. Her work has been featured in PÄYÄ The Roatán Lifestyle Magazine, Duiken, De Wereldwijven, and national media across Honduras.
With 17 years of deep local knowledge and a talent for making women feel radiant and at ease, Monique’s lens will document your transformation—so you can return home with artful images that reflect the wild, beautiful truth of your journey.
Monique
RETREAT PHOTOGRAPHER
Mia
CACAO, YOGA, AND SOUND HEALING FACILITATOR
Mia Arevalo is a Guatemalan-born wellness guide, yoga instructor, and ceremonial artist whose presence brings deep soul, rhythm, and rootedness to Solstice Rising. With a background that spans over two decades of creative expression, through music, visual arts, and sacred movement, Mia holds space in a way that feels both expansive and intimate, grounded and transformative.
Her personal journey with yoga began in the early 2000s. After navigating personal health challenges and profound healing in the sacred landscapes of Lake Atitlán, she formalized her training in 2016 under the guidance of Vegavan Das. Since then, she has taught yoga across Guatemala, founded her own studio, and guided countless women through practices that connect body, mind, and spirit.
At Solstice Rising, Mia leads island morning yoga flows, river and oceanfront sound baths, rainforest cacao ceremonies, and gentle practices of self-inquiry and embodiment. Her teaching style is intuitive and creatively rich, infused with live music, meditation, medicine songs, and elements of her family’s musical legacy. She invites guests into experiences that honor the sacred feminine, awaken creative flow, and reconnect us to the earth and to ourselves.
In addition to her work as a wellness guide, Mia is also a visual artist and DJ. Her multifaceted background allows her to approach each offering from a place of deep knowing and joyful presence. Whether guiding a movement practice, sharing sacred cacao, or holding space with sound, Mia’s energy reminds us of what it means to live with reverence, playfulness, and inner freedom.
Marcela
YOGA FACILITATOR - JUNGLE
In the lush embrace of the rainforest, our days will begin with grounding, soul-led movement led by Marcela—a gifted yoga and embodiment guide whose presence is as nurturing as the jungle itself. Her practices will help you soften, expand, and fully receive the wild beauty around (and within) you.
A native of Honduras, Marcela first came to yoga in 2015, drawn to the mat as a refuge from chronic back pain. What began as a journey of physical healing soon unfolded into a deeper path of self-discovery and transformation.
With over seven years of teaching experience, Marcela now guides others through practices that are both gentle and powerful—grounded in breath, mindful movement, and the belief that true strength comes from presence.
Her classes are warm, welcoming spaces where women can soften, reconnect, and rise. Whether moving beneath the jungle canopy or breathing to the rhythm of the river, Marcela invites you to come home to your body—one breath at a time.