WHY BLACK GIRL IN OM’S LAUREN ASH IS THE VISIONARY THE WELLNESS WORLD NEEDS RIGHT NOW

When Lauren Ash started yoga teacher training three years ago, she had a 9-to-5 job in Chicago working with kids, with a focus on the arts, fostering community, and social change. She had no intention of actually leading classes, much less becoming a badass entrepreneur and changing the face of wellness. But that’s what happened—and more.

“Every time I showed up to practice at a studio or signed up for a workshop, I noticed I was one of very few women of color,” Ash says. “I really wanted to change that. I had seen the power of community with women of color, and I suddenly had all these ideas about how I could merge my passion for community with wellness and yoga.”

Today the 29-year-old is not only a yoga teacher and a recently signed Nike trainer, but—as the creator of Black Girl in Om, a holistic lifestyle brand focused on wellness for women of color—she’s a leading voice in the healthy-living world. And with a blog, a podcast, a series of guided meditations, a twice-monthly self-care series (which always sells out), and a content partnership with Shine Text—not to mention her very first BGIO retreat, slated for 2018, in the works—there’s no shortage of ways to hear her powerful message.

In other words, Ash is a master practitioner of #blackgirlmagic—creating spaces that didn’t exist before, where women of color are drawn to come together to share self-care, beauty, and health intel, and most importantly, to inspire each other.

How exactly did you come up with the idea for Black Girl in Om?

One day I was practicing yoga and the phrase “Black Girl in Om” just came to me. I wrote it down and said, “This might be something.” I felt like I could develop or explore it a little more. So that whole summer, during the whole teacher training experience, I started talking more about my ideas and my desire to develop a group or community called Black Girl in Om. Along the way, I started to find my people and my community in Chicago. It was an affirming lesson on finding your purpose, following it, and pursuing it. I believe everything unfolds as it should.

What was the process of taking the idea of BGIO and turning it into something tangible?

After I finished teacher training in 2014 I connected with Janice Bond, who’s an amazing arts advocate and cultural curator in Chicago. I literally left my day job in the middle of the day because I saw her post on Facebook saying she was open to meeting with anyone about an idea they wanted to explore. I showed up …

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