Unleash Your Badassery
The clarity, the courage, and the crew to go after what you want, faster than on your own. We learn badass skills, from archery to poker to building a fire, with like-minded, successful women, and turn what that shakes loose into a real plan.
Who We're For
For High-Achieving Women Who Are After Something
Maybe it’s the next big title. Maybe it’s never needing one again.
Maybe it doesn't have a name yet.
The C-suite, a career pivot, the business that gets you out of corporate, a side hustle, a book with your name on it.
Or maybe you’ve built the career, and now you’re building the life: more freedom, more time with the people you love, and a beach house you actually get to sit in.
Whatever you’re after, we’ll give you the clarity, the courage, and the crew to go get it, faster than you ever would alone.
(And we have a ridiculous amount of fun doing it.)
Right Now, It Lives in Your Head
The idea. The pivot. The next big move, or the bigger life you want after it. You turn it over at 3 AM and in the shower, and you’ve told maybe one person. Big ideas stay stuck in your head when there’s nowhere to say them out loud.
Here, You Put It on the Table
In a room of women who’ve built things too. No polish, no performing, nobody angling for a client. They ask the hard questions, see what you can’t, and tell you the truth. Suddenly the thing in your head has a shape, a route, and people who won’t let you drop it.
And It Was Never About the Archery
So how do you get a room of accomplished strangers there fast? You hand them a bow. Chop wood, bluff at poker, build a fire. When you’ve just done something you were sure you couldn’t, next to women doing the same, the titles fall away and the real stuff comes out. That’s how we get you clarity, courage, and a crew.
And it's way more fun than another panel discussion.
"It's going to be the best medicine for your soul, and you're going to do the best networking of your life."
Jeni S.
Founder, Entrepreneur
"I felt nervous, curious, and excited prior to [the retreat], and when I left I felt seen, heard, and so f*cking grateful."
Katy P.
Managing Director
"In the few short months that I’ve been a member, I already feel super engaged and energized by the interactions!"
Anaid C.
"I love the immediate connection with strong, direct, and supportive women. I’ve been thrilled by how quickly I have been able to connect to the few women I’ve met."
Mary Hope M.
"This was an incredible experience of being able to do things I have never done before and with women who were incredibly helpful to one another."
Lisa Z.
The Sherpa Program
From a Spark to a Fire
Seminars and panel discussions that light you up usually don’t last past the drive home. We built the Sherpa Program so this one keeps burning: six months built around your peak, how you’re wired, and the hours you actually have. You'll know exactly what to do each week and who to connect with to keep you moving towards up your mountain.
1. Name Your Peak
Get clear on exactly what you’re after, even if right now it’s more of a feeling than a plan.
2. Map Your Route
A personal plan built around your goals, your experience, and how you’re wired to get things done.
3. Climb With Your Crew
A TRIBE in your corner, a push every week, and the right women connected to you, so it doesn’t fizzle.
In Her Words
“I knew these chicks were out there somewhere and I’m grateful to you for smoking them out and bringing us together.”
— Kris K.
Who It’s For
This Is for You If...
If you nod your way through these six, you’re exactly who we built this for. It’s probably not the right fit if you’re early in your career, looking for a spa weekend, or here to find clients.
A Doer, Not a Talker
You’d rather do it than talk about it. Plans are nice. Momentum is better.
Generous With What You Know
You share what you’ve learned the hard way, and you want women around you who do the same.
A Crew, Not a Contact List
You’re not here to collect business cards. You want women who’ll pick up when you call.
A Little Dare in You
You’ll pick up the bow, and you’ll probably laugh at yourself doing it.
After What’s Next
You’ve built a real career or a business. Now it’s the bigger seat, the pivot, the company, the second act, or a life with more freedom in it.
Done Waiting
Not for permission, not for the perfect moment. You’re ready to bet on yourself and go.
Six Months From Now
You’ve said the thing out loud, to women who took it seriously and helped you make it real. You have a route, sized to the hours you actually have, and you’ve walked the first stretch. When something stalls, you text your TRIBE instead of quietly shelving it. And you’ve caught yourself using the nerve you found at the poker table in a negotiation.
events
Project 1490 Events: We Fixed Networking
Forget stuffy rooms and name tags. When was the last time you did something for the first time? Get out of your routine, try something you weren’t sure you could pull off, and do it next to women doing the same. The connections stick because you actually did something together, not because you swapped cards.
1490 Basecamp Office Hours
Tap into the Project 1490 community for whatever's on your plate.
Learn to DJ Night
On the Ones and Twos Member request!
Tequila Tasting & Poker Night
Let's raise a shot glass to the holidays and everything you've accomplished this year!
In Her Words
“At a certain level in your career, the people around you either report to you or are your peers. Finding others, especially women who understand that position and can offer honest, supportive coaching, mentorship, and friendship, is rare and deeply needed.”
— Stephanie B.
Clarity
A Route Built Around You
A personal diagnostic of your climb, built on what you’re after, what you’ve already done, and your Kolbe Index, which shows exactly how you’re wired to get things done. It becomes a route you can actually walk, with a push every Monday so the spark doesn’t fade. Plus virtual sessions with expert coaches on the specific things your climb calls for.
In Her Words
“It’s a great way to get out of your head, touch grass, carve out space for yourself, sort out what you want, and work on your plan to make it happen.”
— Colleen W.
Courage
The Badass Skills Nobody Taught Us
Chop wood, play poker, learn self-defense, fly the trapeze, build a shelter, throw a lasso. Days of Badassery and ridiculously fun events all year long, where you remember what you’re capable of and come home with proof you can feel. It travels into the boardroom, the pitch, and the tough conversation.
In Her Words
“It was humbling and, honestly, freeing to be a beginner again.”
— Heather L.
Crew
Your War Council
Picture a handful of sharp, accomplished women who know your whole situation, so their advice is never generic. They challenge your thinking, hold you to what you said you’d do, and celebrate the wins nobody else quite gets.
That’s a TRIBE: four to six women, matched by where you actually are, meeting monthly. Every month you’re also connected with another member who can help with exactly where you are, and the whole crew keeps going between events on WhatsApp.
In Her Words
“It also led me to my Tribe: three other women who function like a personal board of directors. We listen, support, and push each other.”
— Evgeniia G.
Retreats
Epic Retreats
This is the full-meal deal. A few days in nature with bold outdoor firsts and roll-up-your-sleeves workshops where you finally put the thing you’ve been circling on the table. You come in with a question and drive home with a plan, your Navigator, and a whole crew who has your back.
Our fall 2026 retreat: archery, wilderness skills, poker by the fire, and three days of workshops built around what each woman was after.
2027 dates coming soon.
In Her Words
“I did not expect to come out of the retreat with a totally new and exciting business (ad)venture.”
— Lizzie B.
Our Members
Hear it From the Women of 1490
Hear what the Project 1490 experience is all about from the women who've been there, done it.
In Her Words
“I pay for my membership, events, and retreats out of my own pocket. My firm doesn’t cover those expenses, yet I continue to invest because the return has been immeasurable.”
— Heather T.
FAQs
Good Questions
Nope. It’s a real conversation about what you’re after and whether this is the place to go get it. Every woman here chose to be here, and we want to keep it that way. If it’s not the right fit, we’ll both know, and that’s a good outcome too.
Plenty of our members would say the same thing. Some of our favorite skills happen under the hood of a car or around a poker table, and nobody’s grading your fire. We’re adventurous, not extreme, and the point is never the activity. It’s who you become doing it.
Not the kind you’re thinking of. Nobody leads with her title here, and nobody’s collecting contacts. You learn something new next to women at your level, and real friendships come out of it.
Successful women who are after something: directors, VPs, C-suite leaders, founders, and fractional execs across finance, media, tech, science, and nonprofits. What they have in common isn’t a title. It’s that they’re done waiting on what’s next.
It’s built for full calendars. Your plan is sized to the hours you actually have, your TRIBE meets once a month, and you pick the events that fit. Most members find it gives them time back, because they stop spinning on things alone.
Keep them. Lots of our members are in other communities too. What you get here is different: a crew that knows your goal and holds you to it, and experiences that get you there faster.
Totally. Plenty of women start with “something bigger, not sure what yet.” Getting clear is often the first win, and we help with that.
It’s a paid membership, and there’s more than one way in. We’d rather hear what you’re after before we talk numbers, so we walk through the options on the call.
Yes. Most in-person events happen in and around New York, but your TRIBE and the steady support work from anywhere. Plenty of members fly in for the big ones.
Nope. You can join any time and get started right away. And when a retreat comes up, you’ll want to be there. It’s where a lot of the magic happens.
In Her Words
“Sarah, this shit works!”
— Barbara M.
A Note From Sarah
Hi, I’m Sarah.
I started my career at Fortune, climbed fast, and then took a hard right turn. I left New York for Montana and spent seven years learning to bow hunt, herd cattle, and build my own house. Then I came back and spent a couple of decades in leadership at places like The Wall Street Journal, and ended up as a Chief Revenue Officer. And honestly, a lot of the confidence I used to climb that ladder? I got it out in Montana.
The idea for Project 1490 knocked around my head for about twenty years before I finally jumped. I wanted other successful women to get what Montana gave me, without the seven years. (Or the cattle.)
It has very little to do with me, though. The women make it work; I mostly build the room and get out of the way. What I kept seeing was women leaving a retreat completely lit up, and then real life showing up. So we built the Sherpa Program, the part that keeps going after the weekend ends, so you can go faster than I did.
If you’re after something, I’d love to hear what it is.
We ride at dawn,
Sarah