Gainesville, Fla. (written by Brianna Duncan-Dieujuste) – Dream On Purpose (DOP) empowers young girls in the Gainesville community through open and safe conversations.
Hi. My name is Brianna Duncan-Dieujuste, a fourth-year journalism student at the University of Florida. I maintain the DOP Blog. Here, I hope to further the conversations brought forth by girls involved with Dream On Purpose.
This Saturday (June 17), we will celebrate our six month anniversary of Flower Empower Yoga! It’s sure to be a great day full of relaxing yoga and relieving stress in a productive way. Our once-a-month class is taught by Lauren Wilsman. She’s practiced yoga for over 15 years and make’s the experience welcoming to everybody.
I recently sat down with her to talk about the importance of yoga for young girls and being a total #GIRLBOSS! Read more…
Dream On Purpose: What ignited your spark to start Zen Vibe Yoga?
Lauren Wilsman: “Zen Vibe Yoga was started by me to help to fill a niche in the yoga industry that I felt had a void in it and that is making people feel comfortable doing yoga who have no idea what they’re doing, who have never done yoga before. I did that by making my business mobile and going to people into their homes rather than creating a group yoga studio space, which is a traditional route that a lot of yoga instructors take.”
DOP: How did you initially get involved with Dream on Purpose?
LW: “I met Shareen [Baptiste] through AdWerks. My experience was positive and the very least got connected with her. I was looking for opportunities to work specifically with young girls of the Gainesville community; then, I heard of Dream on Purpose, which has the perfect target market, in regards to age and everything. It was just a perfect match.”
DOP: What motivates you personally?
LW: “At this point in my life, I’m motivated by my family. Always having that long-term goal to keep my eyes on the prize and I think that’s important for everyone. It’s good to have short term goals, but ultimately what are those short term goals going to lead up to…that’s what always keep me motivated.”
DOP: Why do you think it’s important for young girls to role models like you making a difference in the local community?
LW: “Well sometimes the role models that we’re born into whether that be mom, dad, family or even schoolmates, don’t suffice being a positive role model unfortunately. With the girls we work with through Dream on Purpose and yoga, we have a role model outside of that realm. It is important to have someone like myself educated in yoga. It makes it a perfect match for a young person who wants to learn more about yoga. Having a role model who’s already experienced and fully immersed in an interest where someone wants to learn more about is really awesome.”
DOP: What has been the most satisfying moment in your business thus far?
LW: “I think the most satisfying moment for me is when people who have tried yoga in the past who are about to give on it and for me to be able to change their perspective of it by doing yoga with them. That is pretty rewarding by being able to hand over that tool to them through yoga to help them improve their overall life.”
DOP: When things don’t go as planned how do you respond to those situations?
LW: “The key word is respond. All of us have moments where we react, including myself. It is really about responding and not overreacting. For me, I always like to do the 5 year test in my mind, if something doesn’t go as plan. I ask myself; is this truly going to matter 5 years from now and usually the answer is ‘no’. That really scales the impact and the magnitude of the issue in that present moment. I’m a big believer in the universe knows more than we do and life flows at the pace the universe wants for us has positive things for everyone.”
DOP: What women in your life or in the media do you look at for inspiration?
LW: “I’m not big into media. For me, I’m really motivated by my circle of friends. A lot of my girlfriends are a little bit older and to see what they’re achieving, a lot of them are nurses saving people’s lives literally and always challenging themselves and growing themselves and not being afraid to be independent. I’m definitely inspired by them.”
DOP: If you could travel back and have 15 minutes with your former self before you started your business, what kind of lessons would you communicate?
LW: “When I was in college, I never thought that I would be running my own business so I think I would have told myself: You’re not going to know all the answers, but they will come with time and as long as I’m taking steps forward in in the right direction it doesn’t matter how long it takes as long as you keep on moving.”
