It is important to share the stories of Latinx individuals beyond Hispanic Heritage Month, as it inspires others to create their own narratives. This series consists of real stories of inspirational Latinx individuals creating safe spaces for connection, community, and self-care through the power of wellness. This week we celebrate Jazmin Tejada.

What’s unique about being Latina in the wellness space is that it’s often presented as if we’re not in the wellness space but we’re out here doing the work and building community. 

What inspired you to start your own studio? 
I wanted to continue to expand on the community that I’ve been working so hard to build in Harlem for the last 10 years so it was naturally the next step to take. I’ll be completely honest with you, I’m not someone that has always wanted their own studio so when it spoke to me, I ran with it. 

What is the best advice someone gave you when you started your business? 
The best piece of advice someone gave me was to focus on the next step.  Starting a business can be extremely overwhelming and confusing so focusing on the next thing made it easier to complete tasks

What is the best advice you would give another person who wanted to start their own small business? 
Focus on the next step, don’t worry about the next 10 steps because it gets overwhelming very quickly.  Surround yourself with people that can see the vision without you having to sell them on it.  Also surround yourself with people that can help you do things that you’re not necessarily good at or knowledgeable in, this will save you a lot of headaches. Lastly, keep showing up for yourself. 

How do you maintain personal yoga/meditation practice while opening your studio? 
Over the years my personal practice has shifted from being very physical to a more presence-based practice.  So I’m pretty much practicing all the time in reminding myself to be fully present in everything I do. This has helped a lot throughout this journey because I’m not jumping into the future wondering what will happen next, instead I’m in the present which allows me to flow with whatever shows up. 

Share your favorite yoga/wellness social media/web accounts that inspire you? 
@reimagine.our.wellness I love this non-profit because they are helping to create more diversity in the wellness community by giving people that are underrepresented a platform where they could not only teach/guide different wellness modalities and rituals but they also help people get funding for training in the wellness space.

@susannabarkataki is a fav because she debunks all these marketing myths that are used to represent yoga that are actually forms of whitewashing the practice and decentralizing black and brown people that have been practicing yoga for hundreds of years. 

@jah_holla is the owner of @harlemkettlebellclub in East Harlem and he focuses on making people but mostly women of color strong and more confident in their abilities.  He laughs at me all the time because I tell him that he’s not in fitness, that’s just the instrument he uses to help people become more confident. 

Yoga access and classes has changed a lot since the pandemic. What does the future of yoga in NYC look like? 
I think that it’s super dope that we have different forms of access to practice yoga but I think that the future of yoga looks more like community and connection to each other. That’s kind of what we’re doing at Ofrenda Yoga, yes, we have group classes but it’s more than that.  We get to know each other and guide each other through our journeys because healing happens in community.  

The theme of our current issue is JOY, how do you inspire joy in your life and those around you?
Joy in my life looks like doing things that I did when I was a kid, such as painting, drawing, creating little things, etc. I may not be as good at it now, but I do it because it feels good to create without the pressure if it needing to be good or sellable or anything like that. I don’t know that it inspires joy to anyone around me but I’m definitely more pleasant to be around lol.