We had the good fortune of connecting with Tereney McDowell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tereney, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I’ve always had it in my mind that I would be on a more entrepreneurial track once I realized that I likely wouldn’t become an elementary school teacher after college. After working nearly a decade in the logistics and supply chain field, I noticed how much it was impacting my mental health. In 2019, I started making plans to resign from my job to pursue teaching yoga as my career.

Taking a few steps back, I received my first yoga teaching certificate in the spring of 2015. Sporadically, I taught private sessions as Yoga with Tereney. I also acquired a very small handful of group classes at a local studio and a couple of apartment complexes for a few years. I started to devise a plan the summer of 2019 to grow my teaching schedule after experiencing severe burnout and anxiety from my former job. Making this move was more about taking care of my mental well-being than being concerned about how much money I was making. However, in this society, that’s something you can’t escape. I made charts, graphs, Excel sheets full of budgets and projections to ensure that this move could be feasible and not send me into another bout with anxiety.

To those outside of my inner circle, it looked like a hasty decision to quit my job and become a full-time yoga teacher, but it was quite thought out. The only issue, I didn’t plan for a pandemic. When all the locations I was teaching at the time of the nationwide quarantine period closed, I had to adapt in order to keep my bills paid. I started offering a regular schedule of virtual group classes and virtual 1-on-1 classes. There was a great deal of idle time since I no longer had to travel around the metroplex to teach, so I found myself haphazardly brainstorming a lot of different ideas.

When I saw the national outcry after George Floyd was murdered, it inspired me immensely to do more to give back to my community, the black community. I was met with a tough personal dilemma, because I struggled with finding ways to do my part with all the protests that were going on around the country. To this day, I take the pandemic very seriously and wish to do everything I can to do my part in not increasing the spread of the virus, but I wanted to be a part of the movement. Seeing that the nation had a spotlight on the lack of representation of Black people in our society, I thought that some of that spotlight should be on the yoga industry in America. That’s when I started putting the pieces of DFW Yoga in Black together. Taking on shining light on all the Black yoga instructors in the country was a really big bite to take, I knew the impact would be felt more if I were to keep it local. Especially because there is an extremely high volume of Black yoga teachers right here in the DFW area. From there, I started reaching out to as many teachers as I knew and started to network with more and more to interview on Instagram Live. Down the line, it turned into holding public classes as COVID restrictions started to lift. I’m currently working to transform DFW Yoga in Black into a podcast in order to broaden our reach and eventually expand into the rest of the state, the country, and beyond. Besides interviewing teachers, the platform is also about providing paid opportunities for Black yoga teachers to share their teachings with the community. I still have a lot of ideas for DFWYIB.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The thing I didn’t expect when planning to make yoga my career was how frequently and quickly things can shift. The yoga industry is adjacent to the fitness industry, and it is very difficult to maintain consistency in your schedule, clientele and more. Things fluctuate all of the time, so now I make sure to keep that in mind with all of my endeavors with my own offerings and DFW Yoga in Black. I do my best to accommodate the fact that all of us have lives that ebb and flow, so just like the practice of yoga, I aim to meet you where you are. Working with each individual so that the experience is one that enriches each person rather than becoming another stressor.

In regard to DFW Yoga in Black, most of what’s happening at the moment is behind the scenes. I’m in the process of transforming what once was strictly a weekly Instagram Live event into a podcast. However, there are some events that are currently in the works for this summer, and I can’t wait to announce them to the public.

A lot of hard work has gone into everything I put out there. After having some rocky experiences with a few studios, I’m enjoying being able to dedicate more time to providing yoga to the community in as many ways as I can.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Goodness, this question shouldn’t be this difficult to answer, but when you’re as much of a homebody as I am… One of my favorite places to eat is Blue Sushi Sake Grill for their happy hour. Their food is great, and their cocktails are so creative and delicious! Of course, participating in a Yoga with Tereney yoga meet-up, or a DFW Yoga in Black class/event to rejuvenate mind, body, and soul. I also love exploring all the different parks in the area, but my favorite may be White Rock Lake Park.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’ll never miss an opportunity to shoutout my mother, Anita McDowell. She was the first example of an entrepreneur I had in my life. She saw a need in our community in Eastern Iowa and opened a home daycare, Creative Castle. She just celebrated 18 years of providing excellent childcare in my hometown, and is still going strong. Her diligence, attention to detail, and compassion has been something I aspire to in my own business. Making sure that those in her charge are well taken care of and given the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive. Not only is she my inspiration, she’s my sounding board. Any idea I have, I call my mom to run it by her to get her input. So much of this wouldn’t be possible without her guidance.

Also, I’d like to shoutout Georgette Dunn, Dallas-based yoga instructor and soon-to-be yoga studio owner. From the moment I discovered her Instagram profile, to being invited to an empowering photo shoot of Black yoga teachers in DFW, to present day being asked to be a part of her new yoga studio (Flow), she has been a beacon of light and inspiration. I’m so honored to be witness to her brilliance and can’t wait to work alongside her. It was with her example I knew that making yoga such an integral part of my life and career was possible. When I think of the phrase “representation matters,” she is what pops into my mind. She was the representation I needed to see, that Black women can be successful in this field.

Instagram: @dfwyogainblack

Other: dfwyogainblack@gmail.com yogawithtereney@gmail.com

Image Credits
Stanley Fleming, Jr.

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutDFW is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.