We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carrizo Allen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carrizo below.

Carrizo, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Moncru Yoga saw its first spark of life after I personally realized the effects that yoga itself had done on my mind and body. In 2023, graduating from university and coming into a full time role within tech, I hit the ground running without giving myself little time to be present and slow down. As expected, this did not last very long for me, and this is where I first began my yoga journey, as a stressed individual in tech looking for stress relief. From a consistent practice, I began to see the transformative effects that yoga brought, bringing not only stress relief but increased body awareness and a way to hone in on the present. While in these spaces, I also observed that there were not very many individuals that looked like me, teacher or student wise. This lead to me becoming a yoga instructor and building Moncru Yoga so that I could work to spread yoga and its effects throughout more communities. I wanted to work to assist in solving the issue of Black yogis feeling underrepresented, while also providing tools of stress relief to those who seek it and may not have access. Keeping in touch with the political atmosphere, I knew that my offerings would be something that would appeal to others because it is more important than ever to destress when needed, in order to push forward. I was most excited about knocking down some barriers to entry by providing mats at all events and by placing more a focus on the beginners in the room.

Carrizo, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a yoga instructor and entrepreneur, who also creates social media content. With a love for yoga, a passion for the business side of it all, and a social media background, I combine all three of my strengths to run Moncru Yoga. Moncru Yoga is a wellness business based in Texas that offers pop-up yoga and wellness events, in addition to yoga in 1:1, corporate, and special event settings ranging from in-person to virtual. Through my business, I work to provide tools of empowerment to assist individuals in reaching their highest state of being in whatever way that they envision that for themselves. What sets me apart from others is my age and my experience. At 24, I have worked and interned in tech, in addition to gaining teaching experience in high school and university, I have experienced a wide array of age groups, allowing me to better understand my audience as I also grow with them. This allows me to better target the needs of my audience and relate on a more empathetic level. As I continue to grow, I am most proud of expanding my reach to more individuals and providing those crucial moments of peace to keep them moving forward. Through my social media content and business operations, I want to continue to showcase support and send out some more calming energy into the world.

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

The biggest lesson that I have had to unlearn so far was that rejection was typically from a personal standpoint. As a business owner, you have to be able to sit with rejection comfortably, and continue to push forward until you receive your “yes”, but of course just starting out, this was a concept that took a while for me to get used to. This first clicked for me when I held my first beginner Vinyasa Yoga event. This was my second event and my turnout at my first event had not been as high as I had hoped, but still I continued to push forward. Despite heavy marketing for this event on social media and in person, sales were still looking low and it started to create doubt within my mind. It was not until, just a few days before the event that ticket sales shot up, and next thing I knew, my ideal attendee count was reached. This was where I first began to realize that sitting with rejection was key because only then would I understand and be able to push forward and navigate around it.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been through social media, but more specifically through TikTok and Instagram. Using my personal TikTok and Instagram, I create yoga and wellness related short videos, in addition to just showcasing some of my life moments. I work to build a community of supporters that see me beyond being a yoga instructor and more into what my lifestyle looks like as an individual all about wellness. From here, clients naturally flow over into Moncru Yoga’s Instagram and events. I love to create content that promotes daily and easily accessible wellness, and this strongly resonates with my supporters and clients who are all just individuals looking for their moments of peace and stress relief. On the Moncru Yoga socials themselves, I also create calming wellness content in story, photo posts, and short from video formats for those supporters that exclusively want the wellness content itself minus my life moments.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://moncruyoga.as.me/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themoncruyoga
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moncruyoga/
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@itscarrizo

Image Credits

The photo of me stretching with the brown head wrap on: Farai Masoha
All other photos: John Cruz