Meet the Team

Nuria McGrath

Nuria McGrath is the Founder & Chief Experience Architect at Serene Shifts. She is a facilitator, speaker, and personal transformation coach who creates experiences that move people toward small yet significant change.

Drawing from mindfulness, restorative movement, guided visualization, and identity-based coaching, Nuria creates intentional spaces where people can pause, reconnect with themselves, and consider what needs to shift in order to live and lead with greater intention.

Her work is especially powerful for executives, leaders, and professionals who carry significant responsibility for others and rarely make space to examine their own well-being, identity, and personal growth. Nuria does not coach people on how to become better executives. She coaches accomplished people on how to become more connected to themselves.

A corporate facilitator and speaker, Nuria brings a distinctive combination of wildly magnetic energy, lived leadership experience, and deeply restorative practices into every room. Her approach moves beyond inspiration, inviting people into reflection and practical personal action.

A former U.S. Coast Guard officer and economist with nearly two decades of experience in public service and leadership, Nuria understands the demands of environments where responsibility is constant. Today, she creates experiences that remind people that meaningful transformation does not always require dramatic change. Sometimes, it begins with one intentional shift.

Dr. Prudence Minton

Dr. Prudence Minton is an executive coach, facilitator, and lead content designer for Serene Shifts retreats. She designs immersive retreat experiences that help leaders step away from the demands of daily life, reconnect with themselves, and gain the clarity needed to lead with greater intention. Each retreat blends executive coaching, leadership development, reflection, mindfulness, and practical application to create an experience that is both restorative and transformative.

For more than 20 years, Dr. Minton has coached leaders, designed professional learning, and facilitated strategic planning for schools, nonprofit organizations, and leadership teams across the country. She has designed and led retreats in Belize, Costa Rica, Sedona, Georgia, and New Jersey, guiding leaders, entrepreneurs, and professionals through experiences that encourage reflection, honest conversation, and purposeful action.

Her facilitation style is warm, engaging, and practical. She creates an environment where people feel comfortable slowing down, asking difficult questions, and thinking differently about their lives, leadership, and purpose. Rather than offering all the answers, she helps participants discover their own through meaningful dialogue, thoughtful reflection, and intentional coaching.

Dr. Minton’s approach is also shaped by her Caribbean heritage. Faith, spirituality, meditation, reflection, and community have always been important parts of her life and continue to influence the experiences she creates. She thoughtfully incorporates these practices into each retreat, offering participants time and space to be still, reconnect with themselves, and listen for what is often drowned out by the pace of everyday life.

Whether facilitating a sunrise reflection in Belize, leading a leadership session in Sedona, or guiding conversations during a weekend retreat in Georgia, Dr. Minton creates experiences that balance personal renewal with professional growth. Participants leave with greater clarity, renewed energy, stronger alignment with their values, and practical next steps they can carry into their work and everyday lives.

Dr. Minton believes that leadership begins with self-awareness. When we make time to pause, reflect, and reconnect with our purpose, we lead with greater confidence, make better decisions, and create a more meaningful impact in the lives of others.

Michelle Beckles

Born and raised in Jamaica, West Indies, Michelle has always believed in living a life fueled by passion, purpose, and creativity. Her journey has taken her from studying finance and accounting to building a successful career in the beauty industry as a professional makeup artist, business manager, and owner of her own makeup studio for over a decade.

After stepping away from the beauty industry, Michelle embraced her lifelong passion for cooking and began creating content to inspire others with vibrant, flavorful vegan recipes. Today she is a thriving content creator across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, sharing delicious plant-based meals that nourish the body, celebrate culture, and bring people together.

Through My Vegan Kitchen Life, her mission is to show that healthy eating doesn’t have to be boring or complicated. Every recipe she creates is designed to make plant-based living approachable, satisfying, and full of flavor — inspiring women to create meals that feed both the body and the soul.

Ashley Pichardo

Ashley Pichardo is the Director of Experience Strategy & Operations for Serene Shifts, where she transforms vision into experience. Blending strategic thinking, intentional design, and seamless execution, she creates spaces where people can slow down, reconnect, and experience meaningful transformation. From retreat concept development and logistics to participant engagement and on-site coordination, Ashley orchestrates the invisible details so every experience feels effortless and welcoming, and allows guests to be fully present for their own journey of renewal and growth.

Drawing on more than a decade of experience in education leadership, adult learning, and organizational strategy, Ashley has spent her career designing experiences that help people and organizations grow. She brings that same purpose-driven approach to Serene Shifts, creating retreats that are not only beautifully executed but intentionally designed to inspire connection, reflection, and lasting impact.

Ashley believes that transformation begins by creating space — space to slow down, reconnect with yourself, build authentic relationships, and gain clarity for what’s next. Through Serene Shifts, she is honored to help individuals, organizations, and aspiring retreat hosts create experiences that leave people feeling renewed, inspired, and empowered long after the retreat has ended.