Sense & Self: a sensory evening to write your next chapter
A room of your own to (re)connect with yourself through scent, memory writing, and community.
Memory lives in the senses, and scent reaches it first. A note of something on the air can bring back a whole season of your life before you’ve had time to name it. Where was I? Who was I then? This evening uses that on purpose.
In a small, guided circle, you’ll follow a sensory prompt to a memory, the memory to the page, and the page to a clearer sense of who you are right now.
What you’ll leave with
A piece of writing, in your own words, about who you’re becoming, not who you’ve been told to be.
A sensory anchor, something you can hold and breathe in, so the insight leaves the room with you.
Clarity on who you’re becoming, confidence to write your next chapter, and connections to keep it real.
The bigger vision
Becoming isn’t a solo project. When people write and reflect side by side, something synchronizes, and the room does part of the work no journal can. This is the inaugural circle of a monthly series built around that kind of room. The women who join it become its founding members.
Your featured guest
MéLisa Best is a filmmaker and creative visionary who works in story and scent. She founded Sensory Sensei + Co., a sensory and fragrance playhouse, and with The Wicked Scent Co. she created the Muse Collection, fragrances inspired by the muses of her multi-award-winning film, Black Women Euphoria. The collection debuted at Euphoria: IN Session, the salon series she founded to center women’s rest, play, and euphoria. All of this is powered by her creative production studio HAUS of Infinity Studios.
For our inaugural circle, she brings a sensory prompt made just for this room.
Your host
Laís de Oliveira is a writer, mother, community builder, and business strategist. She founded Nest & North, a creative memory studio for women in transformation, and wrote Hacking Communities: Cracking the Code to Vibrant Communities.
For more than 15 years she has built communities across Latam, Southeast Asia, and the US. She led Startup Grind’s community across APAC and Africa and founded a workspace marketplace in Malaysia that was later acquired. She speaks five languages, has called eight cities home, and brings one belief into every room she holds: we become ourselves in good company.
What the evening looks like
We land. Arrival, light refreshments, and a few slow breaths to ground us.
A conversation with MéLisa Best. Filmmaker, fragrance creator, and founder of Sensory Sensei + Co., MéLisa shares the story behind her work and how scent became her medium for joy. Then she opens the surprise sensory prompt she created for this circle. First we get inspired by her story, then we write our own.
The writing. A guided experience, each note chosen to unlock a memory, a place, a version of you. You get quiet, unhurried time to follow the prompt wherever it takes you.
Shared reflection. Read a line aloud or just listen. The circle witnesses, resonates, and reflects.
Carry it forward. Take home your writing, your journal, and a sensory gift, a trace of the evening that reminds you of who you are and who you’re becoming.
Who it’s for
Women and nonbinary folks in a season of change who want to reconnect with themselves through the senses, writing, and community.
You may already write, or you may have always wanted to start. No special knowledge needed, no polish expected. Just come curious, and come with your nose open.
How to join
Seats are limited, so the sharing stays intimate and every voice has room. Save your spot below and tell me a little about the season you’re in. I’ll send you a personal note before we gather.
About the series
Sense & Self is a monthly series of sensory gatherings by Nest & North, built on a simple idea: the senses are doorways back to your essence.
Each session pairs writing with a different sense and is hosted with a one-of-a-kind guest. Most guests run women-owned businesses whose craft is the senses themselves: perfumers, chocolatiers, makers, and curators who turn tasting, smelling, and touching into acts of introspection. We open the series with scent, the sense most closely tied to memory.
The sense changes. The circle stays small. And each time, you leave with a piece of writing and a sensory anchor to carry who you’re becoming into ordinary life.
Save your seat in the inaugural circle and become a founding member. Seats are limited and kept small on purpose.