Today we’d like to introduce you to Angie Franklin.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Angie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
It all started when I failed yoga in college. That was my introduction to the practice and at that time, I knew very little about it. The second time I took it and barely passed, it was a class led by a Black woman, but I still wasn’t moved on it. Perhaps it was the scholastic setting because as I found out later, yoga is more spiritual than anything else.
In 2014, I went back to live in Spain in a town called Sabadell, about an hour outside of Barcelona. I fell into a very deep depression for months there and it wasn’t until I stumbled upon “Awake,” a Netflix documentary film about Paramahansa Yogananda and his journey bringing yoga to the West, that I started to begin waking up.
As paralyzing as that depression was watching that film reminded me of many spiritual teachings, I had studied since my teens. It reinvigorated in me a remembrance of who I was and I started to see light at the end of the tunnel.
I’d wake up in the mornings to do all I knew, sun salutations, and after about a month or two, I realized it was time to come back to the States.
A few months later, back in Sacramento, California a friend of mine invited me to come to a yoga class. It was hot, packed to brim, with low lighting and a led by a soulful teacher. It was my first experience in a studio and I remember experiencing a moment of pure bliss during the practice. I left that day with a sense of awe and wonder, realizing there was a lot more to the practice than I’d originally thought.
I fell ass backwards into a YTT at a power vinyasa yoga studio just a month after that and it completely transformed my life. Inside and out. I graduated July 11th, 2016 and July 15th I was on a flight out to Portugal to teach yoga at a surf school for the summer — three of the most memorable months of my life.
When I came back to the States, I was lost once again. I wasn’t sure which direction to go, I was broke and really unsure of what to do next.
I ended up renting an office space downtown as a “yoga studio” but truly I was living in it. Back to being depressed and feeling paralyzed. After months of feeling stuck, I finally decided to do something and make a change. I had turned 30 and my life looked unrecognizable to me. It wanted something better for myself and I started to try to make it happen.
I picked up a couple of yoga teaching jobs and one day, substituting a class for the fitness center I taught at The Well, at Sacramento State University, my life changed again.
Three young black women came up to me that day after a very full class to express how amazing of an experience it was for them to be led by me. How important it was that I was the one at the front of the room. From that day, I started to think hard about what more I could do to serve my community, my people.
A few months after that, Afro Yoga was birthed. I put out a Facebook event for a donation based yoga class on July 29, 2017 and over 60 women of color showed up that day. What I and those who attended felt that day was beyond words. Nothing had happened like this in Sacramento before of this magnitude and I knew I had to continue on this path.
Almost three years later to the date, Afro Yoga is a global wellness movement for women of color — a platform revolutionizing wellness.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Hell no and hell yes! It has all been trial and error. No one was doing what I was doing in my city and at that time, creating a platform focused specifically on WOC was still relatively new. A lot of people are doing it now but back then, Black Girl in Om was the only platform I could really think of that was doing similar work. I actually didn’t even know about them when I started.
Struggles have been days when very few people show up to classes when you’re working until late at night to prepare for an event, having teams and people come and go…that probably has been the hardest part.
The smooth part has been this feeling from day one that I always know what to do. I have felt divinely guided all the way through this, always knowing when to turn, when to keep straight and when to stop. Being able to pivot and recalibrate is a necessary skill as an entrepreneurs, something I have learned to do along the way.
It’s been beautiful though. I wouldn’t trade it for anything because it has given me so much and taught me so much about myself and my community.
Afro Yoga – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Afro Yoga is a global wellness platform that unapologetically represents, speaks to and provides support for Black women and women of color. The center of our work is yoga (union), more as a philosophy and value system than a physical practice. Our goal is to bring people closer to themselves, to hone intuition as a means to teach others how to sustainably self-care.
Over the years, I’ve brought many experiences, events and services to the table. From donation-based classes to workshops, to special collaborations around my city, to merchandise and apparel, to now an online yoga studio and quarterly mentorship program.
I am most proud of the fact that I have never taken a paid brand sponsorship and that I have graduated 30 woc worldwide under my Decolonize Your Teaching Mentorship Program. It’s been an honor to teach others the ropes and give them the foundations of what it takes to be successful as a wellness entrepreneur.
I also provide consulting and branding services and have worked with some amazing woc over the years doing important work for our communities.
I think what sets me apart is that my brand and I directly reflect each other, we ARE each other. I have a very special relationship with my community, I keep my ear to them, always accessible and at ground 0 with them. I keep it real, cuss when I feel like it and really above all try to show them that they don’t have to change who they are to take care of themselves, to work in the wellness industry or to become an entrepreneur.
It goes back to yoga, meaning union, to be aligned with who I am and allowing my work to be an extension of me.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moments are the small ones. The DM’s and emails I receive of people telling me how much taking a class, being a part of the community or being able to learn from me has changed their life in some way.
Like Bob Marley once said, “my life is for people,” and I stand by that. My work, my life is for the people. So when they win, I win.
I am also extremely proud of the sister platform we’ve just launched called Afro Yoga Allies, for non-Black allies doing anti-racism work. This platform was created to support people on their quest towards anti-racism education and practices to continue the work need for the revolution of current times to progress.
Pricing:
- Online Yoga Studio — $20/Mo
- Decolonize Your Teaching Mentorship Program — $1,297-1,500 (Runs Quarterly, Reopens August 2020)
- Brand Consulting — $275/Hr
Contact Info:
- Website: afroyoga.org
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: afroyogabyangie
- Other: Afro Yoga Allies IG: /afroyogaallies
Image Credit:
Nicolette Lovell, Tamara Rieux
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