Today we’d like to introduce you to April Lovett.
April, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I opened Unfold because I saw a need. When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, it was very challenging to find prenatal yoga classes. A majority of the classes were often not conducive to 9-5 type schedules. I eventually found a weekly class that I could make if I left work a little early. I fell in love with prenatal yoga and knew right away that I wanted to become a prenatal yoga teacher and fill those gaps that I experienced.
Having a deep love and interest in yoga already, I jumped into my 200hr teacher training just before my daughter turned one, I loved it and knew I was on the right path. Shortly thereafter, I took my 85hr Prenatal Teacher Training and fell into the birth world. I had a challenging birth experience and my prenatal training opened me up to a whole new world of knowledge, empowerment and support that I never knew existed, but I knew every pregnant person needed. I not only dove into prenatal yoga but also birth doula work and childbirth education. I wanted to empower women on this journey so they did not have the experience I had. My goal was, and is, to empower women with knowledge and support.
I began teaching Prenatal Yoga right away but soon found that it was challenging for prenatal classes to thrive in a studio setting. I started to rent spaces throughout Orange County to offer prenatal yoga classes on my own terms. Before I knew it, my classes were packed and moms were following me to other cities to take my classes. At a certain point on that journey, it made a lot more sense to find a small space where I could hold my prenatal classes and workshops to support pregnant and new moms in the community. I happened upon the perfect space and my first class had 12 pregnant mamas, many of whom I am still in contact with today, and have come back for subsequent pregnancies.
Over the years, I continued to expand our offerings for moms and eventually started branching out offering regular (non-prenatal) yoga and fitness classes, teacher trainings, community workshops and so much more. We now support women of all stages and phases of life, not just pre and postnatal. We have a focus on women’s health and pre and postnatal yoga, fitness, education and community.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I left a 9-5 corporate job to own a yoga studio. Meaning, I knew nothing coming into this, so I would say there have been many, many ups and downs and challenges over the last eight years. I came into this knowing a whole lot of nothing about the intricacies of running a business, it was a lot of trial and error (it still kinda is!). I did everything on my own, so everything took a little bit longer to complete, but I eventually figured it out and now I can do everything to run my business myself. There were and still are, lots of challenges in prioritizing projects and daily to do’s.
This is year eight and I would say the biggest challenge now is finding some semblance of balance between work and family. I have two kids now, and there is so much I want to do in my business and on a personal level, but my children are small, so I also want to arrange my schedule to be present with them as much as I can. Managing a business, employees, plus having my own birth business (I am also a birth doula, coach, childbirth educator and placenta encapsulation specialist) while trying to have a life, cultivate my relationships and be present with my kids is a constant struggle. It fluctuates every day, some days are more work heavy, some are more family/life heavy and I am learning that is okay. There is no such thing as “balance”, it is what we make it.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Unfold Yoga OC – what should we know?
To unfold is to open, evolve, grow and blossom. We focus on women at all stages and phases of life and hope to help them evolve, grow and blossom with our many offerings. We offer small group yoga and fitness classes, so our students get individualized attention, we get to know them and in doing so we are able to create community. Unfold offers a variety of yoga and fitness classes that are totally approachable and not intimidating. Our workshops are unique and range from sound healing, beginners yoga to vision board workshops.
Our prenatal and postnatal program is like nothing in Orange County, we have women come from all over to take our prenatal yoga classes and workshops. We offer 5-weekly prenatal classes, postnatal classes, moms groups, childbirth education classes (our prenatal partner workshop books out every single time its offered), and we even have a group of birth professionals that we work with to offer our clients anything they could need during pregnancy and postpartum.
We recently went virtual, and as we get more fluent in these technologies we will be offering some big things and will be incorporating this as a new part of our business going forward. We are very excited that now we can connect with women all over the world, creating even more community and sharing more offerings.
I am so proud that we get to be a part of so many women’s stories and journeys’. I love hearing from clients about how Unfold impacted their life in some way or another. It just makes me feel like all the blood, sweat and tears I put into this space is more than worth it. We are creating space and making real impact; nothing could be sweeter than that.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
All of the educators I have worked with over the years have had some sort of impact on my journey. I am inspired by women that empower themselves and work to educate and empower others. That said, my husband is my biggest cheerleader, he reminds me to celebrate even the small wins and keeps me grounded. I can easily get caught up in everything I still want to do and achieve that I forget to find greatness in everything I am actually doing and achieving.
Running a business can be very isolating in a lot of ways, and it has been a long journey but I have finally put together a good team and support system where I feel supported on this path. It is not easy, but it is more do-able when you have a good support system.
Pricing:
- New Clients get 2 weeks Unlimited Yoga Classes for $30 (Virtual and In-Person)
Contact Info:
- Address: 512 S Brea Blvd.
Brea, CA 92821 - Website: https://www.unfoldyogaoc.com
- Phone: (714) 455-9642
- Email: info@unfoldyogaoc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unfoldyogaoc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unfoldyogaoc
Image Credit:
Photo of me and my girls – Lauren Guilford; Photo of the studio and the 2 phtots of just me – KC Crow
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