Sanctuary 44 · Shafer, Minnesota

A place to just be. You have earned it.

A regenerative wellness ecosystem nestled in Minnesota's St. Croix River Valley — created for Black women to reconnect with themselves through curated experiences, meaningful community, and the restorative power of nature.

Discover Sanctuary 44 Join The Circle
What Sanctuary 44 Is

A regenerative wellness ecosystem
intentionally created for Black women.

Sanctuary 44 is a regenerative wellness ecosystem intentionally created for Black women. It exists to help Black women reconnect with themselves through curated boutique wellness experiences, meaningful community, farm stays, and the restorative power of nature.

Built on working farmland in Minnesota's St. Croix River Valley, Sanctuary 44 was never meant to be an escape from life — it was built as a place to return to yourself in the middle of it. Every experience here, from a single afternoon to a private multi-night stay, is designed for Human Renewal.

Our Promise

Every experience at Sanctuary 44 is intentionally designed to help you reconnect with yourself through nature, meaningful community, and moments that restore what everyday life often asks you to set aside.

Why Sanctuary 44

Some places help you disconnect.
Sanctuary 44 helps you reconnect.

Reconnect with yourself.

Reconnect with nature.

Reconnect with community.

Reconnect with what matters most.

Meaningful renewal doesn't happen by accident.
It happens intentionally.

Intentionally Boutique

Designed for depth, not crowds.

Sanctuary 44 experiences are intentionally curated to create space for presence, connection, and meaningful renewal.

Some gatherings may be small and deeply personal. Others may bring more women together around community, celebration, or shared purpose. But every experience is designed with the same care: to help women feel seen, grounded, and connected.

This is not about filling a room.
It is about creating the conditions for Human Renewal.

Here, you'll find:

Some experiences are designed to reach more people.
Sanctuary 44 is designed to reach people more deeply.

Who This Is For

Sanctuary 44 is for Black women who...

Why Black Women

Sanctuary 44 was created in response to a simple truth.

Black women often carry extraordinary responsibility while having too few spaces intentionally designed for their restoration.

Here, your well-being is not an afterthought. It is the reason this place exists.

Every experience is thoughtfully curated to create space for stillness, connection, renewal, and joy.

This is not about excluding anyone.
It is about intentionally creating a space where Black women can simply be.

I see you. I am you.

There is a kind of tired
that sleep does not fix.

I call it soul-tired.

The kind that comes from years of loud voices telling you who to be, how to show up, and why you were not enough.

The noise is real.
You are not alone.

The Invitation

I invite you into
The Circle at Sanctuary 44.

A private community nestled in Minnesota's St. Croix River Valley, where Black women gather for rest, reclamation, and sisterhood.

Here, stillness becomes the strategy.

A way to hear yourself again.

A way to remember the truth of your I AM.

A place to just be.

The waitlist is open — space is limited

Become a Founding Member
The Circle at Sanctuary 44 emblem
One Way Into Sanctuary 44

The Circle at
Sanctuary 44

The Circle is a private community for Black women who are ready to rest, reconnect, and return to themselves. Here, we gather around beauty, nature, reflection, honest conversation, and sacred sisterhood.

This is not another room where you have to perform. This is a place to just be.

What Your Place in The Circle Opens

Your place in The Circle is more than access.

It is a place to stay connected without having to perform, explain, or carry the room.

As part of The Circle, you receive first invitations to Sanctuary 44 experiences, member pricing, and the ability to invite a guest when space allows.

Most of all, you have a standing place in a sisterhood created for Black women who need room to rest, reconnect, and simply be.

This is not about filling a calendar.
It is about having somewhere to go when your spirit needs room to breathe.

Become a Founding Member
I
Stillness

A pause from the noise so you can hear what is true.

II
Sovereignty

A return to the knowing that your life still belongs to you.

III
Strategy

A sacred way to move forward with clarity, not performance.

IV
Sacred Joy

Joy that does not ask for permission.

Pathways Into The Circle

Gathered around beauty, nature, and each other.

Each experience at Sanctuary 44 is an invitation to step away from the noise and simply receive. Members have first access to everything. All pathways lead back to the same truth — you belong here.

Women gathered at Sanctuary 44
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Sanctuary 44 · Shafer, MN
Sisterhood
Sisterhood Sundays

Members-only gatherings for rest, reflection, and connection. No agenda. No performance. A place to just be.

Sisterhood
Tasting Tables

Intimate gatherings around food, beauty, conversation, and sisterhood. Members receive early access and preferred pricing.

Sanctuary 44 experience
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Seasonal
Hands-On Seasonal Experiences

Creative restoration through painting, candle making, tea blending, herbal creation, journaling, and more.

Signature
Power in the MenoPause™

A signature gathering for Black women navigating midlife, menopause, and renewal. Honest conversation. Embodied wisdom. Sacred joy.

Sisterhood
Annual Sisterhood Sleepover

A 3-day, 2-night experience for deeper rest, connection, reflection, and renewal. Members receive priority invitation.

Circle Exclusive
The Farm
The Haven

Farm visits and daycations on the land. Luxury overnight glamping stays opening 2027 — members receive first access when reservations open.

The Apothecary
Restorative Goods

Teas, herbs, candles, bath soaks, and other sensory goods. The Sanctuary 44 experience, extended into your everyday.

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Community at Sanctuary 44
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"This is not another room where you have to perform. This is a place to just be."

Sanctuary 44 · Shafer, Minnesota
The Farm
✦

Five zones. One living system.

The land is not a backdrop. It is the teacher. Each zone is tended with intention, shaped by season, and designed to remind every woman what it feels like to be deeply, fully restored.

I
The Apothecary
Tea & Herb Gardens

A living pharmacy of medicinal herbs, wildcrafted teas, and botanical wisdom. Breathe differently here.

II
The Orchard
Heritage Fruit Trees

Where the quiet discipline of tending something over time reveals what it means to wait for something worth having.

III
The Hive
Bee Sanctuary

A sanctuary within the sanctuary. A place to witness extraordinary community and rediscover collective purpose.

IV
Rooted
Vegetable Garden

Put your hands in the earth. Watch something you planted become something that feeds you.

V
The Haven
Overnight Stays · Opening 2027

Luxury glamping tents designed for stillness and renewal. Daycations and farm visits available now.

Dr. Deena Brown, Founder of Sanctuary 44
The Founder

Dr. Deena
Brown

"I didn't build this land to escape anything. I built it as a living proof that restoration is real — that the soil knows something we've forgotten, and that coming back to it changes everything."

Dr. Deena Brown has spent more than two decades guiding leaders through the moments that ask the most of them — career transitions, burnout, reinvention, the quiet unraveling that precedes real change. She has come to believe one thing above all: the most powerful transformation does not begin in a boardroom. It begins in the soil.

Her guiding philosophy is simple: every meaningful transformation begins with a shift. Every lasting transformation ends with a return. Sanctuary 44 was born from that belief — a place where what the land does naturally, rest, renew, nourish, and grow, is exactly what women in leadership need most.

The Waitlist Is Open — Space Is Limited
✦

Reserve your place
in The Circle.

Where stillness meets strategy. Where Black women come to hear themselves again. Where your I AM is the only credential that matters.

Become a Founding Member

sanctuary44.com/circle · Shafer, Minnesota · Where Stillness Meets Strategy™

Connect

Begin your
return.

Whether you are drawn to The Circle, interested in an experience, or simply feel called — we want to hear from you. This is how it starts.

Every inquiry is received with care and responded to personally.

Minnesota's St. Croix River Valley · Shafer, MN
hello@sanctuary44.com