We were lucky to catch up with Sammari Lee recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sammari Lee, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My idea for my business began with my personal journey of healing my depression and anxiety. I started studying, practicing meditation and yoga. I noticed when I incorporated these practices in my life daily, it reduced my anxiety. My mindset transformed and I became more confident and empower within myself. I learned to listen to my body and bring awareness to how I was feeling physically and mentally. Along my path of understanding my body I changed the way I ate. I adopted a plant base lifestyle. I really enjoyed this lifestyle and started to share my journey on social media. In 2020 when the pandemic came the world was on lock down. Social media was the only outlet for communication and human interaction. It was reported a lot of people begin to suffer from anxiety, depression, separation anxiety from being away from family, and more domestic altercation from people having not outlet. I felt this would be a perfect time to use my platform to share my practices. I posted my yoga, sound bath meditations, breath work videos on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. Some of my videos went viral and I was inspiring others. People comment my videos assisted them and they wanted to work with me personally. I knew deep in my heart this was my true calling. I felt this was an opportunity to turn something I am passionate about into a career. In 2021, I incorporated my business and begin teaching yoga and offering sound bath meditations. There was a lack in black representation in the yoga community online or in my local community. I knew my presence was needed to inspire more black people to practice yoga. I was so grateful and humbled by the number of people who supported my business. I feel I am contributing to people being able to gain control of their mental and physical health. I begin offering one on one coaching in 2022. This gave me the opportunity to assist people individually with aligning thoughts and actions with their goals. I love inspiring and assisting people with becoming their best versions.

Sammari Lee, 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 am a holistic wellness coach. I specialize in yoga, sound baths, meditation, Shamanic Reiki and life coaching. I provide a natural holistic approach to problem solving. I teach people to become in tune with the natural cycles and rhythms of their bodies. The body is wise and can heal itself. The practice I teach are derived from ancient knowledge and self discovery. It can assist with mental anxieties, depression, limited beliefs, low self esteem, inner child wounds, and more. Everything begins with how we feel on the inside. If we heal our insides with nutritious foods, sounds, body movement and intentional thoughts we can change our outlook on life. I have taught people how to breath and clear your mind to reduce anxiety, unnecessary confrontation, to gain a peace of mind. My business is cultivated with unconditional love and peace. I want to assist others with gaining peace in their lives.

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

A lesson I had to unlearn was money is more important than health. Before I started my business I was an accountant for 10 years. I made excellent money but I worked long hours. I always felt exhausted and coffee was my only thing that kept me going. I started to experience pain in my chest, digestive issues, jitters, so I decided to go to the doctor. The over consumption of coffee was beginning to take a toll on my body. I gave up the coffee and I really started feeling drained and anxious. I knew I was experiencing burn out. Growing up I was taught you have to hustle to succeed in life. I was taught to work hard to become a major access to companies. Truth I learned that no matter how hard you work something unforeseen can happen and you could be replaced. I had to start taking my mental and physical health more seriously. Money can not benefit you if you are not alive or well enough to enjoy it. I embarked on my journey of self healing and mindfulness. Even though I was still working full time I made sure I carved out self care practices. I let go of working extra long hours to appease management. I was more productive when I shift my focus. No longer over working and rushing to exceed and beat deadlines to mindfully completing projects. The more I put my mental and physical health first the more I was able to be successful in all areas of my life. I was able to see and cease the opportunity to start my own business. I was able to quit my job and now I have more peace in my life. My business is running well and has potential for growth.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built my audience on social media by first deciding who need the services I am providing. My target audience are women who have experienced a similar journey to mine. Women who are mothers, corporate job holders, wives or caregivers who put their mental and physical health last to care and work for others. My advise is to be transparent with your journey and share your story. The more truthful and authentic you are the more people feel safe to connect with you. I allow myself to be vulnerable and relatable. It lets the audience know that they can have similar results. I make sure I am consistent on my posting on social media. I also engage with the audience by replying to their comments

Contact Info:

• Website: www.readytoenlighten.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/evolvingselfwithsammari
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sammari.lee
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@evolvingselfwithSammari