Meet: Genevive Savundranayagam and Sheba Zaidi
Founder of: Mahara Mindfulness
Tell us about your business:
Mahara is a contemporary lifestyle brand with a mission to create products and experiences that offer people a stepping-stone into a world of mindful practices and personal transformation. Our first product, The Human Being Journal, as featured on Oprah’s 2021 Healthy Living ‘O’ List and Jessica Alba’s small business wellness guide, was developed as a direct response to the global pandemic to help people go inward, gain perspective and live more fulfilled lives.
Name the biggest overall lesson you've learned in running a business?
Perspective is key. Building a business is not easy or glamorous (especially in a pandemic!) and having perspective can help you through some of the most difficult days. Perspective for us is defined by the ability to ask yourself: will this issue be important in five days, five weeks or five years? And accordingly, assign the accurate weight to the problem at hand. It allows you to remain optimistic, while keeping your eye on the long game.
Having perspective helped us manage through some of the unexpected challenges presented by COVID. When we left our careers behind in early 2020 to launch Mahara, we didn’t expect a global pandemic to hit weeks later. We were forced to throw our initial business plan out the window and had to pivot from launching with mindfulness events to product development. Having to change our entire business model wasn’t easy, but putting things into perspective made all the difference. It helped us stay focused and enabled us to push through the hard days.
Does your culture influence your choices and decisions? If yes, how?
We believe our cultural backgrounds and upbringing gives us a competitive advantage and has influenced our entrepreneurial journey. Sheba was brought up in the Middle East to Pakistani parents, and Genevive was born in Sri Lanka and raised in Canada. Despite coming from different cultural backgrounds, we learned early on the importance of mindfulness and giving back. It was an important part of both our cultures and also why a percentage of all our journal sales goes towards supporting mental health organizations.
Our desire for entrepreneurship was also inspired by the immigrant experience of our parents. As many children from immigrant parents can relate, we witnessed the resilience it takes to build a new life from scratch despite immense obstacles. We saw firsthand what was possible when you put your mind towards achieving a dream.
Lastly, coming from different parts of the world also allowed us to approach things from a global perspective and we innately understood the importance of inclusivity in order to be indispensable — whether it was in our careers, social circles or philanthropy.
In moments of self-doubt or adversity, how do you build your resolve?
We show ourselves compassion. The highs and lows of entrepreneurship can often feel like emotional whiplash. This is why it is so important to have compassion towards yourself. For both of us, our mindfulness practices, including daily meditation, journaling, exercise and good nutrition helps us ensure we prioritize self-care. It is our way of showing kindness and deep compassion for ourselves which allows us bounce back from moments of self-doubt or adversity.
Discover more:
www.maharamindfulness.com/
@maharamindfulness
