We recently connected with Shawandra Ford and have shared our conversation below.

Shawandra, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

Brwnskn Yoga is a Holistic Yoga Studio that operates in underserved schools and communities. Our mission is to make sure that Yoga is accessible for everyone regardless of their socioeconomic background. In addition to providing studio sessions, BSY has been fortunate enough to go into inner city schools to introduce the practice of yoga and social emotional learning to students of all ages. Most recently, we have expanded our teaching to those who are incarcerated and are seeking reform and rehabilitation.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

I am Shawandra Ford, a native Memphian, and the Founder & Owner of Brwnskn Yoga. I am a wife, a mother and a full-time Yogipreneur. Surprisingly to some, my background is IT and Finance. I have 22 years of experience working for the largest school district in Tennessee.

Just like the students I teach; I also grew up in underserved communities. For me, resources were limited, and we could not afford extracurricular activities. We moved around a lot, so I never really had the opportunity to make a lot of friends which caused me to be socially awkward. I also suffered from severe anxiety and sometimes I still do.  January 2010, I lost my mom to cancer.  Her death was the most traumatic thing I had ever experienced. It took a long time for the images of seeing her sick to fade away from my mind. I spent a year going to grief counseling on and off and one day found myself in a yoga class at the gym.  I fell in love with the Ashtanga practice. It required a lot of discipline, and it was in those classes that I realized that I had no coping skills, nor did I know how to breathe to self-regulate… I mean, no one ever told me breathing was a thing.

Now, several years later I am back in that same community where I grew up providing tools and resources to students that remind me of how I used to be and I love it.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

After resigning, I took some time off to do some self-reflection, but I knew right away that I was going to teach Yoga. I knew that I wanted to do something meaningful. So, when I stumbled across a program designed to teach yoga to children my vision became clear. Thinking back to my childhood, all the students I’ve worked with throughout the years and my own children, I realized what was missing. Yoga and not just the poses, all 8 limbs, breathing and meditation, etc.  Social Emotional Learning (SEL) teaches self-regulation, self-awareness, affirmations and mindfulness. They get it and now they are learning to develop their own practice!  AND I taught them how to do it, truly amazing. My biggest milestone thus far has been the Brwnskn Yoga – Wellness Warrior feature on Good Morning America and seeing all my students highlighted in a positive manner, it was heartwarming. I hope they cherish those moments forever and continue their practice as they become adults!

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

Stepping out on faith required me to be resilient. Resigning from a career that loved to do something I loved more, not knowing how it would work out required me to be resilient. It has been 3 years and it is still terrifying. There is no plan B. This will be my legacy. Since I started this journey, I have lost a lot of friends, family members and time that I cannot get back. There have been days that I have cried and wanted to stay in bed but I’m resilient, so I wipe my tears and keep moving.  Entrepreneurship is not for the weak, it is hard!  If you want to be successful, you must roll with the punches and have enough integrity not to punch back, that is being resilient. Not allowing the bad days to outweigh the good days requires resilience.

Remembering your purpose and keeping your focus requires resilience; I have been truly blessed to do something I love.

Dedicated to my #brwnsknyogasquad

FUN FACT:  The letters BRWNSKN has been on my license plate since 2005.
FUN FACT: Prior to 2019, Memphis Shelby County Schools was the only company that I have ever worked for.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brwnsknyoga.com
• Instagram: @brwnsknyoga
• Twitter: @brwnsknyoga
• Yelp: Brwnskn Yoga