Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Mahe.
Hi Victoria, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Like many, my story started when the pandemic hit. I was laid off from my job in March 2020 and needed to find a way to get active without sweating too much. So, I started doing Yoga on YouTube with a few friends virtually. We started a 10-minute-a-day yoga challenge with the channel Yoga with Kassandra. From there, I fell in love. I started seeing a change in my body and couldn’t go through my day without meeting the mat. Finally, in August 2020, I stepped foot into my first yoga studio at Black Swan Yoga. This was the moment that changed my life. I remember walking into the studio, the music bumping, and being welcomed by a “Hey Sister!” The sweet smiling face of Austin Nardone filled my heart, and I knew this was my safe space. Over the next year, I practiced as much as I could and found my community within Yoga. It completely changed my life. I was eating healthier, thinking clearer, and giving myself grace through the hard times I was experiencing. Then, in early 2021, I realized I wanted to provide the same feeling I had experienced walking through that door to others. So, I signed up for Yoga Teacher training and started in October 2021. This was another life-changing moment, going through a 200-hour program with ten other individuals, all with a similar goal but from different walks of life. I wouldn’t have been able to make it through the program without the help of Shaila Rubenthaler and a partial scholarship.
During our training on the Yoga business, one of the lecturers said, “Someone in this room is going to get you a job!” And a fellow teacher in training said, “Tori!” I laughed because in my professional life, I’m a recruiter, and I thought he meant literally… to my surprise, I did just that!
I founded Mind Your Mat Co. in December 2021 as a way for new yoga teachers to gain experience after graduation. Like in college, when you graduate and look for a job, everyone says you need x amount of years of experience. So how are you supposed to gain experience when no one gives you the opportunity? I found the solution.
Mind Your Mat Co. is a contribution-based studio that bridges the gap between experience and opportunity. We aim to help new yoga teachers build up their yoga resumes while creating a safe space for beginner and expert yogis alike. Our contributions go towards building a scholarship fund for a yogi to take Yoga Teacher training, building out our resources in our studio, and paying our teachers a competitive industry rate.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Mind Your Mat Co. started out as a passion project. As a way for me and my fellow graduates to have a space to teach. Once it started gaining traction and our community started to build, I realized that it was destined for greatness! But with greatness comes great challenges. Some of the challenges I have faced while building has been around finances, communication, and burnout. Being a contribution-based studio, we rely on the contributions of our community to grow, and when we started, we were paying rent for the space. Some days we would have five people in the class, and some had 20. There was a time when we didn’t have the rent on time, and that caused me to pivot from renting to partnering with a space that could contribute to Mind Your Mat. We now teach at Four Corners Brewery every Tuesday at 7 pm.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
In my professional life, I work in Talent Acquisition at MIRROR. I love my job; I love the company I work for and I love being the first friend to a new hire that joins us. Not many people can say that their career directly aligns with their entrepreneurial endeavors. MIRROR is a fitness technology company owned by Lululemon. What better alignment for a new yoga teacher with a yoga studio to work for a fitness brand? I have the ability to learn from my company about what they do good and how to implement that into Mind Your Mat.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
If you are interested in joining us for a yoga class, feel free to follow us @MindYourMatCo to learn more about the classes we offer and the different teachers we have!
Pricing:
- Suggested contribution $10
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mindyourmatco.eventbrite.com
- Instagram: torigunz_ & mindyourmatco
Image Credits
Rickey Peete
