Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Yashi Carrington . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Yashi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

It was my dream to host a virtual summit. The thing is at the time, I had no idea what that subject matter would be. I had simply found a summit about working from home (this was pre-pandemic) when I was searching for a way to be at home with my daughter in 2018. It helped me so much that I wanted to do it for others too, and it could be a possible source of income. This summit even introduced me to my first coach who worked with me to figure out what subject my gifts, passions and life experiences were leading me to.

I was diagnosed with a reproductive, metabolic and hormonal condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) when I was 18 years old. At first, I didn’t understand how it would affect my life. There was no information, support group or any other resource that was addressing this condition. In fact, I didn’t even know it was something serious to be addressed. Looking back, it is amazing to me that my general doctor even suggested PCOS as I was considered “underweight” and I was having light, short periods 2 or 3 times a month. When she did this, I found a gynaecologist who confirmed it, put me on the birth control pill and a medication called metformin, and told me come back when I wanted to get pregnant. Alas, I don’t even remember who this initial gynaecologist was, and while I found better providers as my journey progressed, I felt that no one was addressing the full gamut of symptoms of PCOS and their root causes. Birth control, metformin and being told to “just lose weight” didn’t cut it for me, especially since I was not overweight when I was first diagnosed.

In my attempt to figure out how to tap into my gifts more, I created the Mind of Yash moniker and started blogging on my website in January 2019. I wrote about everything under the sun and found that my post on my PCOS journey struck a chord. It was at that moment I realised how many persons were dealing with this condition in silence and alone. It would still take me a year after to really see that this condition, which was such a pain, would be something that could be used purposefully.
With the encouragement of my coach, I started a PCOS video series on Facebook in September 2020 to share not only my stories but the stories of other women and the knowledge of experts who were looking at PCOS more holistically. This was at the height of the pandemic, so people really tuned in, and the feedback was so much more than I expected.

I knew that this was the right time and so the Persevering with PCOS Summit was born.

To this day, I still can’t believe I pulled it off. I started asking for interviews with experts and other speakers who I connected with or who I found on social media. There was a long list of people I asked and for sure there were some noes, but I was flabbergasted by the number of YESES I received. Soon enough I had more than 30 speakers and a whole week of live events, some of which can be seen on my YouTube channel. I took a month to do all the pre-recorded interviews, set up landing pages, create social media posts and everything else in the background. I had no assistant, but I must shout out my husband for creating my graphics, editing videos and the like, I couldn’t do it with his support.

The summit had a theme for each day – Specialised medical information, Fertility and Menstruation, Exercise and Nutrition, Mindset and Mental Health, and Self-care and Confidence. It was almost every topic I felt was important to and needed by the PCOS Community. We had doctors, exercise scientists, dieticians, herbalists, fertility care practitioners, coaches, entrepreneurs, and other experts, as well as women who shared their stories about in vitro fertilization, endometriosis, thyroid cancer and Hashimoto’s. We talked about getting pregnant, the effects of birth control pills, gut health, herbs for PCOS, anxiety, how to build confidence, body positivity, laser hair removal – the works! Almost 400 persons signed up for this summit. It was so well-received, and I know the information helped and continues to help so many. I still direct persons to the interviews that are available on YouTube and include the other interviews in my offers as a bonus. The connections I have made and the lessons I have learned are INVALUABLE.

This process taught me these three (3) things:
• You can do ANYTHING you set your mind to. Though there are times that my brain does not even want to go there again. It has some PTSD – post-traumatic summit disorder. Lol
• Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need, people are more willing to help than you think. Those who say no were most likely not aligned to your vision and mission.
• As my first coach says, vulnerability is your superpower for connection. Sometimes sharing the hard parts of your life is not showing weakness or for gaining sympathy, but it helps others know that they are not alone and encourages them to face another day.

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.

This is always an interesting question for me to answer. I am simply someone who was diagnosed with PCOS at a time where there was no information and support, and I now am striving to become the resource I wish I had when I was 18.

I am a coach, speaker and Zumba® instructor, with a passion to help persons with PCOS live their lives as their fully expressed selves despite the limitations of this condition, because that is my own mission!

I create content to bring awareness and to help people feel seen. PCOS affects the WHOLE person – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually but not many people understand this.

My main goal in any content or program I offer is to provide a space where persons feel heard, supported, and where they can do things on their own volition without overwhelm and pressure. There is a lot of conflicting advice out there that is confusing and can make you feel like you are not doing enough.

I want a space where they can learn more about PCOS and how to manage the symptoms in a sustainable and enjoyable way, not in a way where they feel like they MUST implement everything in a short timeframe. It’s not about another “solution” that makes their lives miserable. It’s not about always having the capacity to do what is “right” or “best”, because realistically, there are days where it is hard to stay committed when you have a bad day or life gets rough. I want persons to be able to choose what is best for themselves and their unique circumstances and be CELEBRATED for that.

I am currently running a beta program called “The PCOS Experiment” where the hypothesis is that we can manage our weight and symptoms without dieting. It is to show persons that there could be other factors affecting their wellness journey, like trauma, stress and dysregulated nervous systems. But they also get access to the content from my summit, Zumba ® classes and 30-min HIIT classes to experiment with different management and movement options that feel right for them.

It has been going great so far! I am also learning a ton and will be tweaking this offer so I can do it again in September. People can reach out to me at [email protected] if they want to get access to the Persevering With Summit content or if they want to be a part of the second run of the PCOS Experiment. They can also follow me on Instagram (@mind_of_yash) where I am most active. I share informative and relatable posts and you get all the inside scoop in my stories 😊

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My vulnerability.

There was something freeing in the moment I first shared my story and struggles with PCOS. It was like for the first time, I viewed it as something that I had to manage, and it was not who I was. It felt as though I took my power back.

I try to be as open as possible with my journey because I think that people saw me as always happy, without a care in the world, and while that essentially is how I like to show up in the world, I did not want people to think that I didn’t have challenges too.

I have shared about weight fluctuations, body image issues, failed pregnancies, excess facial hair, anxiety, depression bouts, emotional eating struggles, and even did talks with my husband on how PCOS has impacted our relationship. There might be a few things I am not fully ready to share in detail but to me, it is only a matter of time, because my aim is to show people that this wellness journey is not linear.

This has really enabled me to connect with people on a different level. People want to feel seen; they are tired of seeing perfection because we all know that that isn’t achievable. People want to live their lives authentically and not worry about being judged. I know for sure that is what I want.

I do think people follow me and reach out to me because even though we may be at different stages or have different levels of symptoms, they see themselves in me and my story.

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

That my self-worth is not based on what I do and what I could provide for others. It is something I am still unlearning. I can see it popping up in even the things I am most proud of.

Growing up, we didn’t really communicate our love or affirm each other in our family. The times I could remember getting praise was around doing well in school. Of course, as a child, you need that type of validation, especially if no one explains to you that your self-worth is unconditional. I would try to prove myself through academics, to the point where if I wasn’t doing some academic program, I didn’t feel like myself. It didn’t help that society also put a lot of value on it. Education is important but it shouldn’t define a person.

This need developed into perfectionism, a fear of failure, overthinking, and high-performance anxiety. It became debilitating and can still be at times, where I would feel like I misspoke or made a mistake in a meeting and I would get so consumed by it, that I wouldn’t be able to concentrate for the rest of the meeting. Or there would be instances where I can’t enjoy the present moment because I had a presentation or some other deliverable that I did not want to mess up.

When I became a mom, it became glaringly obvious that I developed and learned this behaviour through my upbringing. I would see how much weight mistakes held in my family and how my mom would automatically go to the worse-case scenario. I was determined to not pass these habits onto my children, and I started working on myself, trying to figure out where these things stemmed from and what I could do to start changing them. At that point, I was already 31 years in, so you know that it could be an uphill battle to now establish new thought patterns and habits.

I have to say though, it has been such a rewarding process and every day I learn something new and try to implement what resonates. I will never have perfect days so I try to give myself as much grace as possible.

Even when I did my summit, I pushed myself to get it all done in a month because perfectionism raised its head. Thankfully, it pulled off wonderfully, but I remember still feeling like I had failed afterward when my coaching business didn’t take off. Now I can look back and truly appreciate how significant it was in my journey and to others. Now, I am going with the flow more, enjoying the process and embracing the “mistakes”. Because they are not really mistakes to me now, but possible points to pivot. It’s the philosophy I have taken into my newest program, The PCOS Experiment. I shared that PCOS was kicking my butt and made an invitation for persons who were also getting their butt kicked to join me on a journey. It warmed my heart to hear the feedback from the ladies in the current group of how motivated they felt and what a safe space it has been.

And that’s the thing I have to keep reminding myself, as much as I am putting these things out in the world to make an impact, the true impact is not what I do in this world, but who I am!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mindofyash.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mind_of_yash/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindofyash/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mindofyash2413
• Other: Email: [email protected]