Her Story
About Tania
I've been in the wellness field for 16 years, starting as a yoga and meditation teacher. My undergraduate degrees are in positive psychology and behavioral psychology, and I'm currently completing my master's degree in the science of happiness, graduating this December. I combine psychology, neuroscience, yoga, and movement in my work, all in an effort to heal and help people get to know themselves better. About 2 years ago, I was handpicked by Dr. Tal Ben Shahar, a Harvard professor, to develop and run the yoga and meditation department for the Happiness Studies Academy at Centenary University in New Jersey. We just completed a full year of graduating yoga teacher trainees in the science of muscular balancing, mental health, and emotional health. Beyond my work at the academy, I continue to teach healing sessions online for students around the world, teaching movement with a background of neuroscience and psychology. I've taught wellness retreats globally in Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, and Morocco, working with women who are stuck between religion and culture and helping them connect with their femininity. Next year in May, I'll be teaching a weekend retreat on somatic healing at the Kripalu Institute of Wellness in the Berkshires, Massachusetts, one of the most renowned wellness institutes in the United States. I'm also working on my book, which is a slow burn but meaningful project. As a woman of color and an immigrant in the United States, I've learned that hard work and resilience are essential, and I'm driven by curiosity about human behavior and the role trauma plays in our lives.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Tania
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to hard work and resilience. I'm a person of color and an immigrant in the United States, and I think as women of color, that's enough fire under our ass to keep moving. We always have something to prove. I was driven by my own curiosity about human behavior and the role trauma plays in our lives, and by the question of how to live more gracefully and more balanced. I don't think studying psychology, neuroplasticity, yoga, or meditation promises that you're never gonna have a difficult day in your life, but that when you do have difficult days, you know how to surf the wave without falling too hard and losing your balance for too long. I was interested in learning how to just navigate life more gracefully.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is that hard work pays off. That's all I really know, and it's definitely true.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Wellness is not an easy industry, because the people who are making the most money in wellness are not people who are actually teaching wellness. It's the Lululemons and the Under Armors and the companies who sell the merch - they're the ones who make it a trillion dollar industry. Yoga teachers and people who are actually on the ground healing people don't really make money. It's a difficult industry to be lucrative in. But I think if it's your passion, and if you're one of the crazy ones who want to really do this work, and you really need to heal and you want to heal other people, I think persistence is the only thing. And just, at the end of the day, you can't be a teacher to everybody. You can only be a teacher to what you really love to teach about, so you have to be true to yourself.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is that even today, even though companies like Google and Microsoft are throwing money at wellness teachers and hiring yoga educators to teach their staff, the focus on wellness is inconsistent. We had the COVID crisis where everyone suddenly realized that if you take away social interaction and events, we're stuck with ourselves at home, and people started turning to yoga and meditation and health and healing. But then after that COVID blip, everyone's kind of gone back to this crazy speed for accumulating wealth and material, which I have nothing against - the world is getting expensive and we all need to be taken care of. But I think not at the expense of recognizing that you're more than just a brain and a body, you are a soul. You're an emotional world, and we can't afford to leave those parts of us behind.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
More than anything, it's just integrity. One of the things I'm constantly checking in myself is, am I doing in the outside world what I'm really feeling on the inside? Because I know that when I've not been in alignment, I've often just felt unwell and just not felt like I've brought my best to the game. So I think always checking in with myself and seeing, am I in alignment? Is this in keeping with my values? I think that's one of the most powerful values that I have within me - just staying honest. It's hard enough in this world when you're trying to fit in, and it gets more and more challenging as the world gets digitalized and the competition gets ridiculous. But you gotta stay true to your roots.
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