We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kama Hagar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kama, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about your team building process? How did you recruit and train your team and knowing what you know now would you have done anything differently?

I run three of my own businesses – it sounds like a lot, and sometimes it is, but what has absolutely changed the game for me has been building my team. I don’t think this is talked about enough so I am so glad this prompt is here for business owners to reflect and share on.

I was a die-hard solopreneur since my first entrepreneurial endeavors starting back in high school. I launched my first real business (with an LLC and all) when I was in college. It was my natural skincare line, Mukama Botanica and ran that all on my own. A few years later, I started a coaching business to help people stop self-abandoning and start pouring into themselves as much as they do for others. I managed both of these things on my own for years, but slowly started to feel burnt out. I wasn’t getting where I wanted with my skincare line and though prosperous, I felt I wasn’t hitting my target demographic with coaching. I needed space, but with two businesses completely relying on me, I felt I couldn’t get that breath I needed.

It wasn’t until a completely different FULL BODY YES business opportunity slid across my desk. It was my digital magazine Maui Makai – Your Local’s Guide to Maui (my home and a chance to contribute to supporting all the amazing people and businesses that had just taken such a blow from the devastating Lahaina fires). In starting it through an awesome web design service and course, I also received a community of women starting their own hyperlocal publications in their cities and an inspiring mentor.

I became so immersed in Maui Makai, I found myself wondering if I could do it all. I even began looking to sell Mukama Botanica and shifted my coaching business to a membership-based model (The Lush Life Community).

I was down to the wire with Mukama. Product was running low and I was preparing to say goodbye. It was hard. My passion for it was still there, I just couldn’t find the energy to do it all alone. I pursued a mentor to help me with the decision and was immediately reignited. That’s when it clicked: it wasn’t just the mission that needed to be there to keep me flowing, it was the support system – the PEOPLE. Where I had that, it felt effortless, where everything else felt heavy.

It was then that I decided I needed to change everything: I needed people – people are the lifeline, the energy, the soul, the passion and the ease. I continued working with my mentors and through a mere social media post, I scored two interns for my magazine, one who is now moving to a commission-based ad sales position and a staff photographer who is being paid hourly per project and racking up referral pay for every new business he finds to advertise with us.

As for lightening and inspiring the load for my wellness membership program, I’m partnering with a new guest teacher every month to come in and share their wisdom with the group. And for my skincare line, my mentor, a social media strategy manager abroad who I pay monthly and a creative director – who happens to be a very talented friend who initially designed my packaging – now works for equity, owning 10% of the company.

Interns have been AMAZING for our growth. As we grow, they too can grow, gaining experience and potential as we become even more profitable with their help, opening new paid opportunities. It’s so symbiotic and I have time to raise these businesses with so much more love, energy and clarity. Many heads are better than one. I’m now looking for an intern for my skincare line to help with community engagement and email marketing.

People want to be behind a powerful mission. People want to work with good people. I’ve found that finding the people wasn’t hard once I opened the door and showed them what we’re working towards – and I am so incredibly grateful I did. I can only imagine where I’d be if I’d done it sooner.

Kama, 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?

Celebration and connection are the two things I love the most in this life and I get to do it through everything I do from skincare to coaching to being the Editor in Chief of a digital magazine.

For the near part of a decade, I have been a holistic wellness coach, writer, founder of Mukama Botanica, and creator of The Lush Life Community, where I guide fulfillment-focused women to live a lit-up life. I am dedicated to empowering individuals worldwide through my expertise in meditation, mindfulness, and Hawaiian healing philosophy.

I blogged for years for no money and have written articles for many prominent publications just because I love writing so much. I’m proud to say that my insights have graced the pages of prominent publications such as Forbes, CNN, and Vogue UK, positioning me as a leading voice in the wellness industry.

My holistic approach to wellness is complemented by my extensive certifications in meditation, yoga, and Reiki healing. I hold a 200-hour Meditation Teaching Certification from Unplug Meditation and am trained in Hawaiian healing modalities such as Lomi Lomi massage and La’au Lapa’au. After college, I deep dove into all of these studies for no one else, but me and ended up falling in love with sharing this light with anyone who would listen.

I am deeply driven by a commitment to social impact and in all that I do, I make sure I do it in a way that is truly impactful, intentional, and elevating, be it for the Maui community that inspires EVERYTHING I do, to the greater consciousness of soul-focused, purpose driven leaders, to the wellbeing of the planet, to the skin of every human my products touch – I am here to uplift and inspire people to step into a completely conscious and lit-up life.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that I am supposed to do it all on my own. I had to unlearn that I make more money if I own 100%. I had to realize that other people are the answer to growth and excellence.

I got a little excited and shared that backstory right out the gate.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

My former life was in fashion and beauty. I dedicated my whole entire heart to it too. From the age of 13, I was interning, working retail and on my own T-shirt line. I even became certified in makeup artistry in the eight grade. I went on to study fashion design in college. I even finished my degree. But I was so unhappy. It was devastating to discover that the industry I had chosen was leading the ship on all the problems I felt passionate about healing in the world (women’s body issues, pollution, unfair labor, etc.).

I took a summer to breathe. I bought a one-way ticket to Maui, my happy place, and stayed alone in my childhood home. It hit me there, as I re-followed my joy (picking fresh fruit in the jungle, hiking, exploring the cute little towns, cooking healthy food, and meditating) that everything I loved about fashion and beauty wasn’t about the aesthetics, but rather the feeling they cultivated for me and people I’d adorned. It was about the quantum leap it could take someone on: from feeling low to feeling lit up, connected with themselves, and radiant. I didn’t know how to do it, but I wanted to help people feel this way for the rest of my life.

I went on to get my B.S. in Business Management and launched my skincare line, Mukama Botanica, all inspired by the jungle flora that felt so healing to my body and my senses on Maui. This world of holistic beauty and self-care was a gift that kept giving and through it, I discovered there was so much more to offer people from coaching to writing to share all the goodness. The rest is history.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kamahagar.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kamahagar
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kamashagar
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamahagar

Image Credits

Matias Ezcurra Photography
Shooting Stars Maui
Life of the Party Media