Today we’d like to introduce you to Cat Valadez.
Cat, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I never dreamed of being an entrepreneur, in fact, for most of my life, I was completely turned off by the idea. Instead, I wanted to save and serve the world from consumerism and war. Then, I had my son in 2013 after getting married and moving to north county San Diego, and I left my Orange County job that was slowly killing my soul because the commute was unrealistic.
By then, I had already been practicing yoga for 7 years and teaching part-time for 2 years. I realized a few months into my postpartum journey as a mother that I really wanted a flexible work schedule for those early years so that I could earn an income and be there for my son at the same time. I also realized this was the perfect time to grow my yoga business — and suddenly there was a business to run (it kind of crept up on me). I began posting yoga photos on Instagram and getting to know the yoga community on there because my home practice was all I had been a new mother with limited childcare (and lots of mom guilt) and after 3 years in I suddenly had a following growing online as I’d transitioned into teaching yoga tutorials there and running yoga challenges.
I was also back to working part-time in addition to teaching, and had gone to full-time remote work — so I had the flexibility I craved — but I wasn’t in love with the work. I wanted to do my own thing! I sat down and decided that I was going to do everything I could to make a real career out of teaching yoga, so I transitioned out of my full-time job and picked up more classes to teach, started offering workshops in the area, and expanded my online offerings. From there, my business mindset began to grow along with the business itself and I realized how much I loved being my own boss! It really is the best thing in the world.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
This hasn’t been a smooth road–it was REALLY scary jumping from my full-time job into teaching full time and running that business. Terrifying, really. My husband wasn’t completely on board, but I promised him I would make it happen and if I failed, I’d find another 9-5. It’s still not easy. There was a bit of luck with me getting laid off from my job (my boss quit and as her assistant, they didn’t have a role for me), so unemployment bridged the gap as I increased my earnings from yoga. I got creative, I got really good at marketing myself and my teachings. I picked up freelance work as a social media manager since I knew the tricks I had learned for myself and created a set of side offerings to supplement my yoga teaching if need be. Still flexible, still run by me.
The greatest thing I did was decide to do it. I announced it publicly, too, on my Instagram, to get support but also to keep myself accountable and put my intention out into the world. I fully, completely believed I could do this, I knew it would be a lot of work AND I was prepared to do that work and whatever it took to get this to happen. I stepped outside my comfort zone and literally pounded the pavement looking for corporate yoga gigs, serving as my own salesperson. I grew a lot, realizing that telling myself for years that “I’m not a salesperson” was only true when it was serving something I didn’t care about. Because I believe in yoga and in my teaching, I was actually good at “selling” for once in my life!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Cat Valadez Yoga story. Tell us more about the business.
I teach Vinyasa flow yoga as taught in the lineage of Sri Krishnamacharya. He’s essentially the father of modern-day yoga, he created the breath to movement system of asana practice and is the teacher of the more famous styles like Iyengar and Ashtanga Vinyasa. Vinyasa (which is a blend of prop-loving Iyengar and diligent Ashtanga) is my bread and butter, but I also am trained in and teach Yin Yoga, restorative, Power and meditation.
My personal teaching is very much influenced by mindfulness practices as well. As a new mom, I began practicing mindfulness after I befriended a fellow “yoga mom” and teacher through Instagram who had herself trained with Thich Nhat Hanh and I love how it’s changed my asana practice and brought a lot of peace into my life.
What my students and online audience tell me most often is that I am real, genuine, and very detailed yet clear in my teachings–and that I actually TEACH rather than call poses in a sequence. I speak normally and avoid the “yoga voice,” I come from a non-gymnast, non-dancer athletic background in a body that started out very tight and weak so I truly can relate to most of my students who come in feeling beat up from sitting all day at their desk. I’ve been there!
I think what sets me apart from others is that yoga is more than a physical practice for me, but my own practice was very asana-focused and less spiritual than what you find here in San Diego. So, I am very good at teaching the physical aspect and make sure that’s understood and then, allow space for the deeper teachings of the practice to emerge from there. I don’t consider myself any kind of spiritual guru or enlightened person, so I do my best to guide the way and inspire students to walk the path themselves toward the spiritual aspect that speaks to them.
What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership, in your industry or generally?
I feel the biggest barriers today to female leadership in yoga is the saturation of voices and teachers in this space. From my own observations, it appears that the more affluent female leaders tend to rise faster, but I’ve noticed those who may not necessarily fit that description and those ladies usually have that fire within them.
So the biggest barrier is ultimately believing in yourself and stepping into your power. Women tend to work more cooperatively which is GREAT, but I think that on a personal level that manifests into diminishing ourselves or being afraid to stand out. If you want to lead, you have to be comfortable and confident in who you are and what you have to offer, first.
Pricing:
- Beginning mid-to-end of April, you’ll be able to find my teaching on the Playbook mobile app (iPhone only for now), where you can subscribe to my channel and practice with me for $10/month!
- The popularity of my Instagram yoga tutorials inspired me to create a 40 pose yoga eBook which you can purchase from my website, for just $19.99.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.catvaladezyoga.com
- Email: catvaladezyoga@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catvaladezyoga
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catvaladezyoga
Image Credit:
Karma Captures Media, Little Lotus Photography
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