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

Kourt, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

The biggest risk I have taken is leaving the corporate world or as I like to say retiring from the corporate world. A memory that has been on my mind recently is when I told my boyfriend ten years ago… One day I am going to be an entrepreneur. Crazy to think the seeds were planted ten years ago. When I moved to South Florida three years ago I spent the first two years battling a lot of personal storms while someone very special in my life was battling a lot of mental health challenges. Throughout that season I needed to learn how to take care of and love myself, this is ultimately what led me to my yoga mat and back to my faith.  My yoga mat and faith(god) saved my life. When I stepped on my mat for the first time I was honestly so fearful but I found an amazing studio.  This was the start of a life changing journey for me. I had amazing  teachers who were patient, kind, and encouraging throughout the next 2 years. Showing up on my mat six days a week and staying disciplined and committed even on days where I struggled to get out of bed. Yoga taught me the importance of learning how to fill up my own cup. The next step in my journey was signing up for yoga teacher training. I entered my teacher training at Mimi Yoga not wanting to teach but rather just deepen my practice. Throughout my teacher training , Mimi would challenge and push me to teach randomly because she saw my talent and truly believed in me. I am forever grateful for god bringing Mimi into my life, she is the reason I was able to ultimately leave my corporate job. Before teacher training was finished I was offered a temporary class at Mimi Yoga in between there teacher trainings. My temporary class was coming to a stop and before I knew it I was offered a permanent class on the schedule. I was juggling both teaching yoga part time and working my full time corporate job as a product development manager for about six months. There came a point in that journey where I stopped and asked myself this question… “Is your corporate job in alignment with your purpose”. I started to reflect over a few weeks and went into my next therapy session opening up with… “I am leaving my corporate job to start my journey of teaching yoga full time”. That is the day my life completely changed. Fast forward to the present and I teach two weekly classes at Mimi Yoga, am a coach/mentor in Mimi Yoga Teacher Training, lead kids mindful and leadership development classes, and have multiple brand partnerships across the fashion, wellness, and fitness industries. I am so beyond proud of myself for taking the risk and my amazing mentors for helping me throughout this journey. This journey started four years ago when I began a very deep spiritual and healing journey.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am so excited to connect with you all! Thank you for taking the time to read my story. At the core, I am a authentic and strong  businesswoman. I am a certified 200 RYT yoga teacher , influencer, and dynamic public speaker hailing from New York, now residing in South Florida since 2020. With a strong background in fashion and design, I am a fierce leader and a true embodiment of authenticity.

My yoga classes feature inspiring vinyasa flows that emphasize breathwork and spiritual strength, infused with personal dharmas from her own healing journey. They are truly a fun and authentic vibe. My teaching style is uniquely authentic, often adorned with some of my  favorite hats or headscarves, creating an inclusive and nurturing environment for students to embrace their true selves and gain confidence.

I teach regularly at South Florida studios, schools, and events. My home studio is Mimi Yoga, where I currently teach  two vinyasa classes per week. Additionally, I am part of Mimi Yoga’s 200-Hour Teacher Training Program as a mentor to the teacher trainees helping develop them into authentic and confident leaders/teachers.

Beyond yoga, I am an authentic influencer with partnerships across the fashion, wellness, fitness, and beauty industries. The influencer industry is very tough and there is a lot of pressure, it’s a very new industry for me. I love to be able to use my creativity and authenticity to help create content for brands. Can’t wait to continue to grow and learn.

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

I am a very non-traditional yoga teacher in many ways. In my classes I play uncensored rap music, swear occasionally(my favorite mantra is “release the shit, let it go”), and talk about deep topics that relate back to my personal healing story. My whole brand and purpose is to empower people to be their true authentic selves. When I started teaching I truly bought my authentic self to each of my classes with the hope to break barriers and standards within the industry. I am a curvy woman and bring my fun fashion to class, rocking my favorite headscarf or hat. As I have started to grow my brand, being untraditional and authentic has provided some challenges. I have turned down multiple opportunities that were presented to me because they were asking me to confirm and change who I am. My authenticity is not something I am willing to give up and compromise on. My belief is that when you say no to opportunities that aren’t in alignment with who you are, so many blessings are right around the corner. This has been proven to me over and over again recently. Being authentically YOU is truly your superpower.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Let’s go back in time here! I got rid of my social media accounts for three years, this was the first step in my healing journey. My relationship with social media had become very unhealthy and toxic, it was affecting my mental health. When I started teaching I truly believed that I wasn’t going to create an instagram account. One day I felt god put on my heart that it was time to create an account for my business. This was very scary for me as the account needed to be public, this might people were going to start learning more about myself and life. I have learned that you can do social media with boundaries of what you want to share and don’t want to share. I am very real, raw, and open with my followers and community which makes me very relatable. There are certain areas of my life that are off limits when it comes to posting to protect certain peoples privacy and intimacy of those areas of my life. The key to growing on instagram is being authentic, engaging, and consistent. You need to show up everyday no matter what is going on, this might look different from day to day but continue to be consistent in showing up. Also, I try my best to send back voice notes to everyone that responds to one of my stories or sends me a DM.. I am all about building connection. My community engages the best with me via my instagram stories because that is where I am truly able to be my authentic self. I believe it’s important to learn where and what your community engages with the most… this looks different for everyone. Lastly, be real, raw, and authentic people aren’t looking for perfection…it’s so overrated

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @yogikourtstyle
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
JFLIXS Instagram- @joelflixs