We recently connected with Tiara Cash and have shared our conversation below.

Tiara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I hope to build a legacy that underscores how import being mindful, restful, and loving is to justice, activism, and liberatory practices. With my work in multiple domains, I hope that people remember me as someone who cared so much about humanity and our collective communities. I have worked hard to bridge academia, practice, and activism to focus on people-centered work, where I hope I leave a legacy of an embodied and deep dedication to creating inclusive spaces where individuals and communities can thrive.

Tiara, 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?

Crowned Vitta LLC began as I was working full time at Arizona State University. I was interested in how to support communities who were chronically overlooked by the western, secular mindfulness system. It was during this time that I started doing research into mindfulness within BIPOC populations and the global indigenous. I was also interested in how mindfulness could be used as a way to support justice, equity, and liberatory practices. It was from here that Crowned Vitta LLC was born. Since it’s inception, I’ve continued doing workshops, presentations, and speaking engagements on and through the novel framework of Equitable Mindfulness. Additionally, my work has led me to a more rounded way of community care through other modalities such as consulting, curriculum writing, restorative justice, and health and wellness coaching. The way that I frame each of these modalities is what makes me and my team different from others within these fields. We always utilize our Ex(SEL) model – examining solidarity, equity, and liberation in a persons own life and the lives of those within their communities. Additionally, every single piece of work that we are contracted for utilizes an Equitable Mindfulness paradigm which centers the concepts of being in the present moment while also being demographic specific and sustaining whatever practice being utilized. Over the years, I’ve been most proud of the fact that the work that we do at Crowned Vitta LLC has continued to uplift these very values and that the clients that we have worked with come out of our contracts either completely fulfilled or wanting more of the contemplative practices we use.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

As introduced, this work definitely began as a side-hustle that I was cultivating while working full-time. I began the business as a sole proprietor and over the years, while working on my PhD, the organization has grown to a full-time job with 4 other independent contractors that help support the work at Crowned Vitta LLC. To be quite honest, my biggest word of wisdom to anyone who is looking to scale up would be, to first, let your business begin naturally and with as much intention as possible. What I mean by that is make sure that you are in this business for the work and not the money – first and foremost. This allows you to really build an organization that is grounded in your values and allows clients to give you the feedback necessary to branch into other spaces. By putting your passions first, word of mouth then becomes a large tool to help you grow your business. Second, and this was a word of wisdom I got from another entrepreneur who had scaled their business before I decided to work full-time for myself – make sure you budget so that if nothing else, the contracts that you will be bringing in will support you in all aspects of your life. For example, make sure to budget in health insurance or grocery expenditures. And then, begin sending your proposals and contracts to others, gain said contracts, and make sure you have enough before deciding to leave your current position. For me, I went back to school to get my PhD with the intention of using the 5 years I’d spend to boost my business and to work for myself. So, planning is a huge part of scaling up!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A major lesson that I had to unlearn when coming into entrepreneurial work for was that capitalism breeds opportunity. What I personally found as I began working was that community actually breeds opportunity. The more that I could work from my values with clients and companies that had similar values the greater my chances were of my skills and expertise being passed on to the demographics we worked with! I learned that it wasn’t about having the best prices or thinking from the “hustle” mindset, it was about really being open and available for what the communities that I served needed. Once I unlearned the hustle mindset and re-learned the community-based mindset, my business was able to expand and the multiple services that we began to provide at Crowned Vitta LLC really were utilized in systemically overlooked communities. I am really proud of that lesson!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.crownedvitta.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crownedvittallc/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiaraacash/
• Other: Tiara’s TEDx talk – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMqU5QBPfRw