Last month, Beyond Yoga teamed up with Hello Alice, a free online platform that helps businesses launch and grow, to introduce the “Beyond Yoga for Women, BY Women” grant. This grant is more than just a cash infusion for a small, female-founded business, it is a program that seeks to lift up the next generation of female founders and help their businesses succeed in 2022 and beyond.
Beyond Yoga and Hello Alice are selecting nine recipients to receive a one-hour session of coaching from senior leaders at Beyond Yoga, and one grand prize winner will receive a $10,000 grant and one year of one-on-one mentorship from Michelle Wahler, CEO of Beyond Yoga.
“I am passionate about mentorship, both within the Beyond Yoga organization and with other entrepreneurs establishing themselves,” Michelle said. “The talent that applied for this grant was incredible. I am blown away by the way these women are truly challenging the status quo and creating companies that will have an outsized impact on the world.”
The grant is open to female-identifying founders in the first five years of their entrepreneurial journey with less than $5 million in annual gross revenue. To qualify, applicants completed an in-depth application about their business, its goals, its current challenges and its opportunities to have an impact on the lives of women and others. They also had to demonstrate a need for funds and/or coaching to accelerate their business and show a plan for how they would use those funds. In just a one-month-long nomination period, there were 3,677 applicants.
A big congratulations is in order for Tonia Holloway, CEO of Beloved Bodies, who is the grand winner of a year of mentorship from Michelle and a $10,000 grant to grow her business. Beloved Bodies is a Black-owned, holistic wellness clinic that partners with local clinics, schools, shelters and organizations to provide health education, resources and services to people in the community. The company is dedicated to the empowerment of marginalized communities, especially women, and aims to help them develop and embrace wellness in their lives. The $10,000 grant will be used to hire health coaches, get supplies for the community and scale operations.
“I am thrilled to be the recipient of this grant and growth opportunity for my company, Beloved Bodies, a social enterprise that enables people to have a more intentional and hands-on role in their health and wellness,” Tonia said. “Beloved Bodies will use the majority of the money to develop our private client health portal and support our various community outreach initiatives. When Beloved Bodies was born, I wanted to be a source of support for communities that were struggling with food access, food availability, access to healthcare education and resources. With this grant, Beloved Bodies can reach even more communities and have an even greater impact. With all that is going on in the world today, it is even more imperative to take a real look at what thriving health and happiness means to you and to start cultivating that experience in the real world, with self-sufficiency and sustainability in mind.”
Both Beyond Yoga and Beloved Bodies are committed to serving their communities and celebrating people’s health and wellness. The nine other recipients of virtual coaching and mentorship with Beyond Yoga leaders are Yogamazia, Beauty Beyond The Crown LLC, Penick Integrative Acupunture, Latchpad, I AM MOVEMENT, Sukie’s Candle Co., Inspiring Experiences, Inelegancies and PopLinen Co.
