The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
‘I know you think it’s a weird idea...’
John O’Ceallaigh keeps an open mind on the Caribbean island where the well-heeled come ‘to grow, heal and connect’
As far as inspiring life stories go, self-made Britnie Turner has a good one: now 33 years old, the homeschooled American was living in her car when she started her own property-development business at 21. Six years later she featured in a Forbes piece profiling the founders of the fastest-growing female-owned companies in the world. Today a half-dozen companies operate under her Aerial brand, and she owns the Aerial BVI, a 43-acre private island in the British Virgin Islands. The Aerial is also the venue for her “Elevate Summits”: life-coaching courses for all where she insists we have the ability to transform for the better if we’re committed.
Any fresh arrival at the Aerial with an inkling of her background will consider that 12-year leap from vehicle to Caribbean private-island idyll to be nothing short of miraculous. Overlooking the Sir Francis Drake Channel and 14 surrounding islands, it is a spectacularly beautiful retreat threaded by gentle hiking trails and fringed by a pristine beach. Residents cross its wilder interior in electric Mokes to meet the rescue animals housed on Redemption Farm or wander manicured cliff-top gardens where hummingbirds flit between bursts of hibiscus, jungle flame and bougainvillea. A circular yoga and meditation platform towers above the ocean; at the water sports centre, boats, seabobs, kayaks and more allow far-reaching access to temperate turquoise waters.
It all feels incredibly peaceful, remarkably so considering how tumultuous the Aerial’s recent history has been. Also known locally as Buck Island, it was ripped asunder, like the rest of the BVI, by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and an immense renovation project cost many millions. With the extensive rebuild finally complete, Britnie planned to open the island to paying guests on April 1 2020 – the same day that authorities closed the BVI borders to international travellers.
The pandemic may have delayed the
Aerial’s launch by a year or so, but the psychological shifts we have all endured over that period make its concept more pertinent than ever. While many exclusive-use private islands operate as hedonism hideaways where anything goes, Britnie envisions the Aerial as “an incubator for positive transformation”. Whether reserving the island exclusively for parties of 30 or so people, booking rooms individually or joining others for an Elevate Summit, guests will find every detail at the Aerial has been designed to inspire its clear-headed occupants to “dream bigger, to walk in more abundance, to experience a deeper level of presence in their lives, to elevate their strengths and [discover] who they’re really called to be”. Britnie calls the approach “Purpose Luxury”.
As such, rowdy behaviour isn’t encouraged; inebriation is off the menu. One staff member told me that while groups who hire out the island in its entirety can consume alcohol if they wish, “most people who stay here tend to avoid it, though for bookings that would like to drink we tend to offer local spirits, organic wines and healthy mixers”.
Instead, mornings begin with meditation and yoga by the cliff-top pool, or group workouts at the outdoor beach gym; the pescatarean menus are served family-style, with all diners seated at one long table; in the library, previous visitors have stocked the shelves with inspiring books that have changed them. At night, guests retire to one of five residences – Unity House, Faith House, Serenity House and the Love and Grace villas – where individual rooms bear names such as Joy, Gratitude and Clarity.
The Aerial ethos is most explicitly distilled into its Elevate Summits, where Britnie and guest speakers lead intensive courses relating to topics such as love, strength and presence. I was the first journalist to attend Abundance, a fiveday programme focused on financial awareness and wealth generation that the Aerial website promised would teach me “how to build the mindset and habits to be able to acquire wealth and be given access to resources for you to start elevating”. Hosting the event alongside Britnie would be Nashville-based financial mentor and stock market whizz Jerremy Newsome, another young, entirely self-made and very rich entrepreneur.
Given attendance at any Elevate Summit costs around £7,400 per person, one might reasonably argue that guests attending Abundance are doing quite well already. However, although I had some reservations, I was ready to learn some lessons; my own Aerial mantra was “keep an open mind”. That was just as well, as it turns out each summit demands that its guests are prepared to think differently, and requires a not insignificant degree of vulnerability.
My introduction to my fellow attendees came prior to our arrival on the island, through a WhatsApp group laden with emojis and excitability. I learnt I would be the only European attending; the hosts’ growing renown in their homeland means, for now, most of the Aerial’s clientele are American. I was somewhat concerned about this – after all, while the American Dream may rhapsodise financial success, on this side of the pond frank, aspirational discussions about money have a certain vulgarity.
That wasn’t the case at the Aerial. Our days incorporated multiple workshops and tutorials where Britnie and Jerremy shared hard-won insights and their own stories. A committed Christian and philanthropist, Britnie believes that the pursuit of profit is meaningless and unlikely to provide happiness if it’s devoid of a greater purpose. One of her businesses, Aerial Recovery Group, provides rapid assistance to nations devastated by natural disasters; her charitable interests include providing rescue and aftercare for sex-trafficking survivors and funding micro loans for would-be entrepreneurs in developing nations. A task she recommends to everybody: write your own eulogy in just 15 minutes. It turns out that crafting a synopsis of the life you’ve hypothetically lived is a sobering call to pursue what you truly want.
Ranging from a fledgling cateringbusiness owner to mid-life attendees hungry for change and a 60-year-old Californian with multiple revenue streams, my fellow Abundants were a diverse, personable crew. Sprawled across sofas in the open-air lounge, we bonded over exercises challenging us to confront our “limiting beliefs” and to forgive people in our lives who hurt us. During those sessions, participants spoke about savage childhood abuse they’d suffered and the traumatic consequences of collapsed relationships. I was taken aback by the emotional intensity.
That approach continued during meals, when we would cluster around the table for fantastically fresh feasts and further conversation, typically concluding with each member of the group standing up to share their thoughts on specific topics or the key things they had learned that day. When I mentioned that titbit on Instagram a friend messaged from London to say he couldn’t think of a worse way to end an evening.
I’d anticipated the cynicism. I had arrived at the Aerial with a feeling that woo-woo get-togethers wouldn’t fly with stiff-upper-lip Brits. Still, Britnie has no doubt the Aerial’s approach will resonate with anyone willing to try it: “I know you think it’s kind of a weird idea for British guests,” she told me, “but they’re going to like it a lot more than you think. The human spirit knows what it needs. There’s nothing fake or pretentious at the Aerial BVI. This is 100 per cent about being raw and comfortable enough to grow and heal and connect in ways you maybe haven’t allowed yourself to before.”
As it turned out, I found our packed days of confrontational workshops thought-provoking and invigorating. After a more than a year mired in deadend debates about things beyond our control, those roundtable discussions where people spoke frankly and optimistically about the ways in which they will make their lives meaningful and better were so refreshing.
My fellow guest, Tracy, agreed with me: “I came back from my first visit to the Aerial knowing that the trajectory of my entire life had changed. What I love about it, each time I visit, is that you heal yourself, find purpose and become a better person.”
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