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

Hi Jade, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

For most of my life, I felt like pretty things and beautiful adventures were meant for a certain aesthetic of people. I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, when glossy magazines were the standard for examples of how people are “living”. Skinny women in workout clothes, casually walking with bottles of Evian; taking trips to Greece in flowy gowns toasting with champagne on yachts, and photos of beautiful homes adorned with articles from around the world – all of it just seemed so unattainable. So my mission is to make all of these things attainable. Yes – you can practice yoga even if you’re overweight and your belly hangs out of your stretchy pants every time you do a plank pose. Yes, you can take that vacation to Greece and sit on a yacht. And yes, you can have that wooly rug in your apartment – EVEN IF you are on affordable housing. Nothing is reserved for a certain class or status of people, and you really can have it all.

Jade, 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?

I’ve always felt like retreats were weird. I understand the purpose of taking a week out to re-center and do deep personal work, but I wanted to find some kind of medium between a yoga retreat and a fun vacation. To me, the yoga is just a daily opportunity to center, ground and remember the intention of the trip – to experience EVERYTHING. The smells, the tastes, the sounds, the sights, the feeling of being somewhere new…yoga can help bring all of that back to the present. That’s literally what yoga is all about. So, my job as the organizer is to put this epic travel experience together and produce it like a skilled event planner would. My job as the yoga teacher is to provide a daily opportunity to be present so you absorb the experience.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I always thought I wanted to own a yoga studio. In fact, I actually ran a kickstarter campaign and raised money to open one, which was successful for about a year before things started to stagnate. I felt stagnant with it. All I wanted to do was create these amazing travel opportunities for people, because seeing the world helped shape me SO much more than anything else has, and I wanted to give that experience to people who might not have the courage or wherewithall to do it themselves. I think part of the reason that the yoga studio suffered is because I was never meant to be a stationary person. As a side hustle, my retreats were filling up, and it was then that I realized – I’m not meant to be here sitting in this yoga studio. I’m meant to be out in the world, showing people my favorite parts of it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In 2020, the world stopped traveling. My business taked, and I lost an entire year’s worth of income. I was stressed, depressed, and lonely. Some people remember 2020 as one of the best years of their lives because they got to spend so much quality time at home. For me, it was the worst year of my life. But – I realized that with all this time spent at home, people were buying beautiful things to adorn their houses and apartments. So I started importing beautiful handmade Moroccan rugs and selling them on my website. Over time, that “side hustle” has become a full time job, and I think it ties in beautifully to the other work that I do. Life is so beautiful, and if you can experience the beauty of getting to know yourself through yoga, getting to know the world through travel, and supporting global artisans through home design – why not?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thatladyjade.com
• Instagram: @thatladyjade
• Youtube: thatladyjade
• Other: for rugs: www.thecaravanhasarrived.com or @_the_caravan on instagram We sell regularly on IG stories and ship anywhere!