We were lucky to catch up with Sheba Zaidi and Genevive Savundranayagam recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sheba and Genevive, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
Mahara Mindfulness is a contemporary lifestyle brand offering products and experiences that provide people a stepping-stone into a world of mindful practices and personal transformation. From years of personal experience with journaling, meditation and breathwork, we came to deeply understand the immense healing power of a lifestyle rooted in mindfulness and wanted to share that with others.
The catalyst for wanting to launch a mindfulness business came about after seeing high performers all around us struggle with stress and anxiety but unable to find tools to manage their mental health effectively. We knew how mindfulness practices benefited our lives and saw an opportunity to share what worked for us with others. We also knew that journaling was scientifically proven to help manage mental health because putting pen to paper is a therapeutic experience. At the time, we were also at a crossroads in our careers and wanted to move into something more mission driven and that’s how Mahara and The Human Being Journal was born!
What got us most excited about creating a journal is that despite being avid journalers, we had never found one on the market that was perfect. Everything was either only focused on productivity or trying to hack gratefulness. We wanted something that could marry the two! We also wanted to create something that was monthly and non-dated so busy people could seamlessly incorporate it into their lives.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the years, it’s that our time is limited, and you can’t hack your way to a dream life—ending up somewhere beautiful requires thoughtful examination. Our intention with Mahara and The Human Being Journal is to help people unlock their purpose and close the gap between where they are and where they want to be.
Sheba and Genevive, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
We created The Human Being Journal and what makes it unique is that it’s a monthly, non-dated, deep dive journal rooted in a beautiful concept by spiritual leader Eckhart Tolle and inspired by our life experiences.
Our journal invites you to explore ten key elements that capture the full human being experience. The human side speaks to what we do in our life – our outer selves and earthly identifiers of success such as our careers, health, relationships, community, travel and finances. The being side refers to the true essence of who we are – timeless and formless. This includes our spirit, mind, creativity, passion and how we give back to the world. It is only when we bridge both worlds that we can unleash our full potential.
We came across this concept back in 2008 when Oprah and Eckhart did a webinar series on his book: “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.” We both watched the whole series together where he explained the idea of what it means to be a “human being.” This stopped us in our tracks. We had never heard anyone explain it in such succinct and powerful terms. We were both so moved that we kept the concept in our back pocket for years and knew we would bring it to life one day. Fast forward a decade later, we created The Human Being Journal.
We are proud that our journal helps change lives and that it has resonated with media, celebrities and customers alike. We have been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Oprah Daily and we’ve had celebrities like Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Alba and Gwyneth Paltrow recommend it. But what touches our heart the most is when we have customers write in and say that the journal helped them land their dream job, move to another city, go back to school, leave an abusive relationship, help them grieve the loss of a child or chase a lifelong dream. The fact that The Human Being Journal has gone out into the world and helped people live their best lives means everything to us. We also love that giving back is baked into our philosophy and that a percentage of all journal sales goes towards supporting global mental health organizations.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
We actually had to pivot the business idea around Mahara within the first few weeks of inception. We had wanted to launch with mindfulness events and workshops but because the global pandemic hit we were forced to throw our initial business plan out the window and switch gears from events to product development.
The good news is that our WHY had never changed. We wanted to create tools and services that helped people manage their mental health and provide perspective. During the pandemic people were struggling and could not afford mental health treatments due to unemployment, lack of benefits and going to see a therapist was hard because of lockdowns and long virtual wait times. As avid journalers ourselves, we knew that it is scientifically proven that journaling is one of the most cost-effective ways to deal with anxiety and stress. So we wanted to create a journal to help people who were looking for solutions and thats how The Human Being Journal came to be! The positive response has been so meaningful to us as founders because we created the journal to help people alleviate some of the mental health burden we have all felt in the past few years – and continue to feel.
The great news is that in 2024, Mahara will go back to focusing on events and creating community around the journal. We feel strongly about the loneliness epidemic and know people are craving real life connections and we will be hosting our first inaugural event this Fall. Many of our journal customers have said they would love to see The Human Being Journal come to life and so we are paying attention and we’re excited to be working on giving them an exceptional experience – so stay tuned! All this to say, the original pivot has come full circle.
We’d appreciate any insights you can share with us about selling a business.
Before launching Mahara, we ran a seasonal wine tour business for six years called The County Wine Tours in Canada. It was operational in a region just outside of Toronto called Prince Edward County. We eventually sold the business to Sandbanks Vacations in 2023 and our biggest lesson was to find a buyer that shares your vision and understands your brand. This shared vision is important because it means the buyer will take care of everything they inherit as part of the acquisition – the brand, the employees and the customers. We all know how much time and energy goes into creating a brand and being able to ensure it stays in tact is key because we believe that brand equals trust.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.maharamindfulness.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maharamindfulness/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maharamindfulness/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/68922128/admin/feed/posts/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/maharalifestyle
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGywuX3nrM2UxKb480Lrdjg