The business of the outdoors is beautiful. Just ask outdoor enthusiast Jackie Seidman and proven businesswoman Lan Ma, who combined their know-how and collaborated to launch the Hellertown-based EmbraceU Adventures, through which participants can journey into nature, across the country or just around the corner.

Seidman, EmbraceU Adventure coach, and Ma are equal business partners in EmbraceU Studios LLC, the main LLC with the spinoff being the focus of Embrace U Adventures, offering small group destination adventures locally and further away at an affordable price. Taking a leap of faith, they established the business Jan. 1.

Blazing this new trail has also changed Ma’s life.

“Although I am many things and live a full life, being active and outdoors were not part of who I was until January 2023,” said Ma, a single mother of four who gave birth to all her children through IVF.

“At the time, 14 months after my last birth at 53, I still was not able to shake diabetes. My blood sugar readings put me right into diabetes territory,” Ma said.

She resisted her doctor’s advice to begin diabetes medications.

“I was determined to address the condition through natural means,” she said.

“After a thorough evaluation of my lifestyle, the one red flag was that I had been sedentary – working from home for 19 years really did not help in that department,” Ma said. “I started looking for ways to engage in more physical activities.”

Ma came across the Facebook page of a local nonprofit women’s outdoor adventure group promoting numerous outdoor activities. The group piqued her interest, and her subsequent involvement helped to improve Ma’s life overall – it helped her physically, and introduced her to Seidman, who became her business partner.

Shortly after her first event, Ma started hosting her own events twice weekly, walked 13 miles six weeks into her membership and signed up for a half marathon in April without ever running since middle school physical education classes.

“I ran my very first 10K on my 55th birthday, and my very first half marathon on Sept. 17, under two-and-a-half hours with less than five months of training,” Ma said, noting she never would have believed she’d be doing these things.

After the half-marathon, Seidman invited Ma to go on her small group tour to Kanab, Utah.

“I went on that trip with 22 other women over the magical land surrounding Kanab. The unspeakably majestic and varied landscape touched deeply inside of me. I felt something I buried deep down was trying to break free,” Ma said.

“There I was, at the charging station of Las Vegas Airport, frantically typing out a business plan of a lifestyle coaching business on my phone,” Ma said. “I so wanted everyone to have the spirit and vitality to experience what Jackie gifted me a glimpse of: the magic, mystery and beauty of nature.”

A self-described “serial entrepreneur” who creates multiple businesses for fun as well as having a full-time job, Ma got down to business right after the trip to launch EmbraceU Studio LLC. Ma told Seidman the Kanab trip inspired her for her new business adventure.

Things moved quickly.

“Over tea at Wegman’s on Dec. 12, we decided to partner up and expand EmbraceU Studio LLC to include both lifestyle coaching and all-women, destination based adventures,” Ma said.

With Seidman’s first tour slated for February, they literally opened the business in 15 days so it would be ready to go on New Year’s Day 2024. Many tasks had to be done, including expanding the website to cover the EmbraceU Adventure content, creating a Facebook page so people could find them, and creating a store front so participants could order tours.

Seidman launched EmbraceU Adventures Jan. 1 as planned and sold seven tours on that very day.

Embrace U has since flourished.

“Participants rave about the experiences,” Ma said. Their Facebook page has over 400 followers, and there is “lots of love of our website.”

“I watch in awe at how such a beloved business was built from the ground up in no time at all due to the magic that Jackie brings to the world,” Ma said.

Adventure Coach Seidman spends hours looking for the “perfect location and accommodation” that will give participants the opportunity to step away from reality and their comfort zone for a few days at a time, allowing them to see, taste and try new things.

“The destination adventures constantly challenge participants, not only to adapt to and explore new surroundings but also to engage with unfamiliar faces,” Seidman said. “We are diligent of all adventure abilities and do our very best to accommodate all levels of adventure.”

The first two EmbraceU Adventures occurred within driving distance from the Lehigh Valley. Women gathered in Lock Haven in February, where they enjoyed hiking and night-sky star gazing as well as hiking trails in the Cross Fork and Ole Bull State Park areas of Potter County. Participants enjoyed an Embrace U adventure at the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, Wellsboro in April. The women hiked the canyon’s challenging trails and witnessed the amazing night sky of Cherry Springs State Park in Coudersport.

EmbraceU Adventures soaked up “the beauty of the Turk and Caicos beaches of Grace Bay in May,” and looks forward to Yosemite National Park in September, “with a handful of our participants taking on the hike and cables of Half Dome, Cloud Rest and the many other trails of Yosemite,” Seidman said. “In October, we head to Kanab, Utah and its surrounding magic, the opportunity to participate in a Grand Canyon Rim to Rim backpacking adventure, and sleep under the stars of the new moon at White Pocket, along with the plethora of other adventure and hiking opportunities that surround Kanab,” Seidman said.

“Our 2025 calendar is filling up quickly and thus far, we will adventure to a dude ranch in Granby, Colorado, for Halloween!” Seidman said. “Stay tuned for emerging destination adventures locally and further away.”

For more information visit embraceustudio.com/destination-adventure and facebook.com/EmbraceUAdventures/.