For four days, three nights from October 6-9, 15 female founders and business professionals from around the world connected, worked and shared stories in Busan, South Korea for NomadHer’s She Can Found Anywhere workation.
Women flew from Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, the Philippines, Taiwan, the U.S., the U.K., Spain and Switzerland to Busan to connect with other women to network and explore Busan together.
The program was supported by Busan Metropolitan City, Seo-gu, Busan Center for Creative Economy & Innovation and BOUNCE 2026, Busan’s leading startup and innovation festival. It is also part of the Female Entrepreneurship Busan Initiative and built around the BOUNCE conference.
Busan is South Korea’s second largest city and it wants people to live, work and spend time in the city. Through this partnership with NomadHer, the city’s ultimate goals are to create more economic opportunities, encourage entrepreneurship, which also includes attracting more digital nomads.
Run by the city and the Busan Center for Creative Economy and Innovation, Busan’s workation program has drawn more than 17,000 users since 2023. The city won first place at the Korea Tourism Organization’s 2026 Workation Model Competition in March.
Last year, the city invited about 150 overseas digital nomads to its Global Workation event, with two-week stays between August 18 and October 23.
Busan has piloted a digital nomad visa (F-1-D) since 2024 and became a permanent, formal visa category since June 30, 2026. The visa allows for a three-year maximum stay, a year longer than the original South Korea two-year digital nomad visa.
At NomadHer’s Busan workation event, global women leaders experienced the city’s business ecosystem, female leadership and cultural experiences at the Busan Workation Hub & Seo-gu Workation Hub.
“I wanted to understand how to grow a community, turn personal experiences into a sustainable business and connect people across borders,” said Ayaka Murai. Ayaka is from Tokyo and co-founder of IdeaBoxes. She built her own startup between Tokyo and Yerevan, Armenia and is setting off on her next adventure. It’s safe to say Ayaka is a people person, since she went to more than 100 in-person networking events last year.
While working remotely from Busan hubs, they also had a chance to taste Busan’s local food, culture and traditions.
“Women founders often try to project an image of being alpha, hustling, and powerful, especially in male-dominated industries, “ Maggie Phan said. Maggie is from Hong Kong and she’s like the perfect dipping sauce for your last bite of dumplings, the touch that makes everything better. She is based in Singapore as the founder of Offgridcreators, which is a community that empowers creators to bring their creative ideas to life and build sustainable careers. She worked in aviation finance and investment, but shifted to being a mom-entrepreneur after giving birth to her beautiful daughter. Maggie came to the gathering for fresh inspiration and to recharge.
“In Busan, we had a space to share our challenges and how we’re getting through them. Founders and creators need more of this. Give yourself a break,” Maggie said.
Here are some of the other lovely female founders who came from different corners of the world for this program ✨
Therese Oertenblad also known as Sera, has lived in London for over a decade and is the founder of Small Business Collaborative Ltd. Using her firsthand experience of building a company with limited resources, she now invests in small businesses and helps owners step into the next chapter of their journey. Sera is preparing to bring a group of entrepreneurs to Seoul for a business trip.
Wen Tu, from Taiwan is like bubble tea, full of energy and joy. After living in several corners of the world like France and Canada, she moved to Hong Kong, where she founded EUROCOVER 歐尋訂製旅遊, her own tourism venture. After going through ups and downs at previous companies, she’s ready to discover a new path.
Melanie Baumgarten is from Seattle and the Director & Civic Leadership Fellow of the Rotary Club of Mercer Island. Like Doraemon, she always pulls something out of her pocket. For the Busan workation, she made handwritten cards for every participant and NomadHer member. Her time in the corporate world and building community at a university has pushed her to look for other ways to bring together youth, communities and companies.
Karina Halfen is the co-founder of Halfen House, a business platform that built the “Halfen House Test Lab” for international brands to test European offline markets, starting with Barcelona that she’s built with her sister. She has dreams of building bridges between entrepreneurs in Korea and Europe.
Whitney Johnson worked at big tech startups. Now, she’s the founder of Ackee, a voice-first travel companion created for moments when you need key information fast. The travel app is meant to help solo women travelers find safer routes. Whitney joined the Busan workation to find a clear vision for the future.
Fey P. fresh off of a trip from Thailand, she came to Busan with the idea to build a space for women to dive deeper into AI and technology and how to connect with each other through it. Fey is from Israel and she is the founder of AI Goddess Community, an AI-experience community for women to explore AI technology hands-on and share ideas in a relaxed and welcoming setting.
Juhee is from Busan and is an inspirational visionary. After living in Singapore and experiencing burnout, she chose a different path for her own mental health and for the sake of others. She’s building her own venture to inspire people and she loves sharing the stories of her hometown.
Gaëlle A. is from France and is walking toward her dream through content and creativity. She’s a digital strategist & communication consultant and content creator based in Seoul, a true nomad who still carries a star in her heart.
Faye is a London lawyer by day and a rookie content creator and blogger by night. She can be shy at first but she’ll open her heart up little by little. She’s like a warm scone with ham and butter, served with a cup of English milk tea.
Yuka Tohdoh from Japan is like amazake: gentle, nourishing and full of tradition. After working full-time remotely, she realized she wanted to pursue a path in entrepreneurship to bring amazake, Japan’s traditional fermented wellness drink, to the world.
Anne Majette Lumayno is from the Philippines and is a storyteller with a deep love for Korea. She’s the global press representative at The Korea Times and is a voice for the Filipino community, advocating for justice and better working conditions. Anne believes her work makes a real difference in many people’s lives.
Alice Jang is from Korea and she’s a mom-preneur leading managing partner at American company Mad Devs, a company building tools for AI-powered software development. She is passionate about helping people better understand technology and feel at home with it.
Nemesis Ujjain, is from India and she is the vice president and head of The Circle: Founders Club.
Santhoshi Shankar, from Canada could not attend, but she was greatly missed. She is the founder of Katae, an audio-first children’s storytelling platform that helps families preserve the magic of storytelling across languages.
Highlights
Participants traveled to BEXCO in Haeundae for BOUNCE, where they spent the afternoon participating in the Global Women Entrepreneur Talk Show with women leaders from startups, venture capital, and accelerators.
“I’ll be learning from other founders and leaders through a Female Leadership Workshop, networking, dinners and conversation across the global startup ecosystem,” said Whitney Johnson, founder of Ackee before coming to Busan.
“Doing my own thing has taught me to bet on myself, even when things seem really scary and challenging [but I decided] to just pursue my dreams” Whitney said when asked what advice she would give to people who are thinking to pursue a different career path.
Whitney was one of the selected participants that spoke on the BOUNCE x NomadHer stage. Selected speakers were able to talk about their chosen topic: from female leadership, innovation startup journeys, global experiences to their own personal stories to improve their public speaking readiness.
Other selected speakers include
- Karina Halfen, co-founder of Halfen House
- Fey P. founder of AI Goddess Community
- Maggie Phan, founder of Offgridcreators
- Melanie Baumgarten, director & civic leadership fellow of the Rotary Club of Mercer Island
- Gaëlle A., digital strategist & communication consultant and content creator
At this year’s workation, participants gained the opportunity to network and connect with other female leaders and founders from different countries, careers and life experiences. They had a chance to pitch their ideas on a major stage, with professional photos of their sessions to remember their moment.
Thank you to all of the amazing participants that worked hard and played hard at this year’s NomadHer Busan workation event and we hope to see you at the next one.
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