Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Armoni Moody. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Armoni, thanks for joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.
A defining moment in my professional career happened just a few days ago actually. The moment wasn’t marked by winning an award or booking a big-ticket client. It was simply one of those “Aha” moments where something special just clicked in my brain.
It had been a LONG day. After my usual hours of teaching creative movement classes to sweet kindergarteners, I had packed up my car to co-host a community event in the park. A childhood bestie and I decided to collaborate through our companies to offer a “Sip and Stretch” to the Atlanta community where her handcrafted teas and coffees met up with my healing-centered movement meditations. We had a great turnout. And several people shared with me after the event that they needed and valued the space we curated. My heart was full.
When I got home from the event, I discovered an email in my inbox from a client at The Steve Fund, a non-profit organization created to support the mental and emotional wellbeing of college students of color. I develop and facilitate courses and workshops for the organization as a contracted Wellness Specialist, and in this email, I was being asked to facilitate my latest workshop “Mind on My Money: The Connection Between Financial Wellness and Mental Health.” I was very excited about this workshop. It was a beautiful experience creating it “from scratch,” through my own socio-emotional experiences with money, and I was looking forward to facilitating it to college students for the first time. I responded to the email with my availability for the event and marked off a few blocks of time on my calendar to do some prep for the workshop beforehand.
Then, it was time to do some event and lesson planning. I had just met with the assistant director of the Wellness Center at Spelman College early that morning to plan out an end-of-the-school-year fitness event for their students, faculty, and staff. We came up with a super fun theme surrounding Beyonce’s new Cowboy Carter album, and that night I was researching supplies, decorations, etc. and planning out my step-boarding dance fitness lesson for the event. After finding a good stopping point in the planning, I closed out the night with my content creator hat on for a bit, responding to messages from my online community. My latest video had done well (analytics-wise); so I had quite a few comments and direct messages to respond to that night. It definitely gave me a little dopamine boost and affirmed my passion and purpose in using social media as an wellness education tool.
As I turned off screens for the night and snuggled into my nighttime routine, I reflected on the truly eclectic mix of work I had on my plate. Excuse my Southern Belle but… Ain’t nobody I know doing it like this! From kindergarten creative movement classes to Cowboy Carter college stepboarding; from financial wellness workshops to YouTube meal prep tutorials. My business is taking flight in more directions than just one! And THAT was the “Aha” defining moment. This path as a wellness educator may not make sense to all, but it makes sense to me. And I feel very free and open to all the possibilities for my brand because I am not staying down one rigid, narrow path of “wellness.” You always hear people say, “Follow your own path.” But then you get judged for doing so if it’s a bit different, which can make the self-doubt and self-criticism alarms ring loudly. But here I am doing it differently anyways!
I thought that night, “Wow, I am really defining ME for ME.” One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Audre Lorde: “If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies of me and eaten alive.” In entrepreneurship, people become really convinced that there is a RIGHT way to become successful… that you have to have a clear “niche” and never stray from it, that you have to scale down before you can grow, that you have to have ‘xyz’ components to your business plan. And while I wholehearted believe that structure is necessary for success, I am proud of myself for creating my own structure, and not letting others’ beliefs shrink or stunt my ability to be a Cowboy Carter Stepboarding, Kinder-Creative Moving, College Mental Health Workshop Facilitating, Community Programming Content Creator.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I identify as a wellness educator and content creator. In 2021, I founded my company, Mantra Movements, with the mission of empowering youth and women of color with small, sustainable ways to understand, love, and care for their minds and bodies. My work has taken on many forms from dance fitness classes to meal prep tutorials, but the goal is always the same: introducing folks to the transformative power of having a simple, mind-body wellness routine.
People of color often times see self-care as a luxury they cannot afford. There never seems to be enough time or money or resources to prioritize their wellness. I want Mantra Movements to be a little safe haven that shifts the paradigms around self-care and makes health and wellness approachable, realistic, and sustainable.
Mantra Movements is unlike other companies for two key reasons. First is our holistic approach to wellness. If I’m filming a meal prep tutorial, I’m not only sharing the step by step instructions, I’m also teaching you how and why the foods in that recipe impact your mood and emotional health. If I’m leading a stretch session, I’m not only cueing proper form, I’m also sharing why we’re focusing on the hips as a key point in the body where we hold stress and trauma. It’s not just a meal; it’s not just movement. We explore how each wellness choice impacts more than just one part of our lives.
The second thing that sets Mantra apart is that we keep it simple. I want everyone who takes a class with me or watches my content to think, “I could actually do this.” I know the type of person, and have very much been the type of person, who scrolls on Instagram bookmarking high intensity workouts and intricate dinner recipes only to never return to the videos or try the routines or recipes at all. Through Mantra’s classes and content, I help people learn and incorporate realistic workouts, simple meals, and quick and easy mindfulness tools. I aim to take the stress and overwhelm out of figuring out your wellness routine. Simple, straightforward, sustainable.
In the beginning, I started Mantra Movements with a heavy emphasis on the movement part. I am a dancer. I majored in Dance and Education Studies in undergrad and went on to pursue Arts Education with a focus on trauma-informed dance and creative movement for my master’s degree. I wanted to help people explore the mind-body connection and self-healing through movement-based classes. The Mantra Movements dance wellness class combines mindfulness and breathwork with creative movement and strength training. It’s a comprehensive little fusion of meditation, fitness. and fun that really grounds you in both mind and body.
During Mantra Movements’ first two years, I taught dance wellness classes in a collection of K-12 schools and did wellness events and workshops for adults on the weekends. And as I got deeper into the wellness world, I began developing two new loves outside of dance wellness: nutrition and neuroscience. My meal prep videos began gaining traction, and I started to become a little wellness TikToker. I also began using the trauma-informed teaching skills I learned in graduate school to develop mental health and wellness curriculum. I started partnering with educational non-profits to bring a variety of curricula and classes to their youth, and this brought me lots of fulfillment. From there, Mantra Movements blossomed into the holistic education company that it is still becoming now.
Today, Mantra’s offerings fit into three categories: curriculum, content, and classes. We partner with non-profits, schools, and corporations to offer programming that they can deliver to their own communities, and we serve as guest facilitators of wellness courses and workshops at company retreats, summer programs, and other events as well. For content, our Instagram, Tiktok, and YouTube pages are packed with free guided meditations, stretch sessions, and nutritious meal prep ideas categorized by breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.
Next up on the Mantra Movements horizon is building up a digital wellness education library. We are going to start offering meal planning kits, wellness planners, and mindfulness tools as affordable and printable digital downloads. We’ve already started with a free goal planner download on both Etsy and our website. I’m so excited!
Have you ever had to pivot?
In the summer of 2023, I decided it was time to get some more knowledge to help me expand my offerings. I was taking a leap to apply to doctoral programs with the goal of learning more about trauma-informed teaching and how mindfulness practices impact the brain. I applied to a variety of public health and education-type programs spending hundreds of dollars in application fees and probably hundreds of hours in researching and narrowing down programs, writing application essays, coordinating with mentors for letters of recommendations, and meeting with peers and family members to help me revise my essays.
I didn’t get accepted into any of the programs.
With those hundreds of dollars and hours lost, I knew I couldn’t sit and sulk for long. Moments of rejection are really important in life. They help you evaluate many things: your resilience, your self confidence, your support system, your goals, your passions. And this moment helped me evaluate alllll those things. I took about 2 days to be disappointed and sad. I asked important questions as I reflected: Was I pursuing a doctorate for my own education or for the status and approval it would bring? Would this degree propel me forward in the ways that I wanted it to in my business? Was it a true stepping stone or a pivot from the plan?
After the reflection period, it was time to make a new plan. I knew that I still wanted to learn new things, but I decided that I wanted a much more succinct and focused plan than the 6-7 year PhD. Next up for me will be pursuing a Nutrition Coach program. I had been suppressing my passion for food science and nutrition because it didn’t seem realistic or related to my current path. But a journey is just that, a journey. I’m ready to take that next step. I start in the Fall.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
COMMUNITY. I was honestly very slow to honoring the importance of community in business. I think I was stuck in the very toxic American mindset of Individualism/Independence. I wanted to have that “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” storyline. I wanted to learn and do on my own. But the cost of that mentality (emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially) is immense.
I got my top three favorite Mantra Movements contracts from community connections. I learned half my content creator knowledge and tools from community connections. I got this interview from a community connection! The power of community is limitless. And because of this, networking at least three times per month is an important part of my business plan that has helped me grow significantly.
I have learned the importance of cultivating different TYPES of community as well. My high school friends hold me down in business just as much as my entrepreneur colleagues hold me down, but in different ways. And I value and utilize support from both communities almost daily. My former professors and advisors from college support me in very different ways than my sibling and cousins, but, my goodness, I NEED both groups to keep my business alive!
Community is where knowledge, opportunities, love, care, and so much more come to pour into your brand. The value is unmatched.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mantramovements.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mantramovements/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/armoni-moody/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmZeThYVtHH22ToUtx2-4xw