au·then·tic adj \ə-ˈthen-tik, ȯ-\
: Not false; true to one's own personality, spirit, or character
My entire professional career has been devoted to selling things. With over 10 years spent in advertising, PR, marketing, promotions, and sales, I’ve seen a lot of product sold for a lot of different reasons. In some form or fashion, every business transaction is about selling something, be it a tangible product, service, or an emotion. This fact is neither, good, bad, or ugly. It can however, be inauthentic, either to the product being sold, or to the person being used to help sell the product. How many of you have experienced the difficulty of trying to sell something you don’t believe in? How many times have you seen an actor, or athlete being paid to push a product and wondered, what on earth do they have to do with X?
This inauthentic relationship when one acts out of alignment with their principles is from where we derive our commonly used term to “sell-out.”
This subject is hyper-visible in our day-to-day work at YAMA because (in general), Yogi’s are more aware of their principles and beliefs than most. YAMA is in the role of providing personalized career guidance for Yogi’s by actively listening, and being aware of their principles - making sure that every step of the way, each client is on their authentic path. When I set out to create an ethics based business, I committed 100% to the fact that my clients will never be pushed into a decision that is against their beliefs – even if it is a “great” opportunity for advancement, even if it is a “great” opportunity to get paid. Which does not mean that they will not choose to do something out of alignment, it means that YAMA will not be the impetus. As a result, we have turned down opportunities that were offered, and not gone after others because they were not in alignment – this approach is how YAMA does its yoga in the work place. As with all things, it is daily practice and we do our best to keep coming back to center.
There are also brand relationships that exist that are so genuine and aligned that it is a pleasure to be the endorser, the product and the end user, all at once, as it is in the case of Leslie Kaminoff and MBT shoes. When Leslie called me in to his office about 8 months ago to tell me about an idea he had that he wondered if I would help him take a crack at. At that time, I did not know enough about MBT to see the correlation. Then, I went to Leslie’s “The Yoga of Walking” workshop at the Yoga Journal Conference NY, and it all clicked.
Leslie spoke so passionately about the architecture of the foot and the importance of proper foot care to a room full of Yogi’s. Throughout the course of his lecture, he naturally engaged them in conversation & education about MBT shoes, with his own pair sitting next to the stage. I could barely wait to contact MBT to share Leslie's enthusiasm for their products and to suggest creative ways we could work together. My client, Leslie drove this communication through his authentic connection to the product.
Fast forward 6 months, after walking in off the street at an MBT event in Manhattan, lots of phone calls, meetings and proposal drafts, and here we are, announcing that MBT and Leslie Kaminoff have secured a partnership. The kick off event is this Saturday Nov 12th, at Leslie’s studio in Chelsea, the Breathing Project. He will be lecturing on the benefits of MBT and doing a gait analysis as we all celebrate the release of his best-selling “Yoga Anatomy 2nd Edition” with Amy Matthews, by having a book signing and party. We are thrilled to be connecting MBT to the Yoga Community with Leslie as the liaison. There are workshops and other ways the partnership will come to life to be released soon.
YAMA is excited to continue our work on knowing our clients well and on creating aligned business opportunities to coincide.
