Great evening everybody. So
it's wonderful to be here. Rain,
thank you so much for the introduction
and the opportunity and thank you
Lululemon and everybody that came out.
So would love to just kind of connect
and share with you a little bit about me
and my story. So as Rain mentioned,
I'm the founder and CEO of Spa Utopia,
Spa Utopia is a luxury spa on
demand. So we do spa parties, events,
corporate wellness, um, we
do big events, small events.
We just did the super bowl this
year, so that was really fun. Um,
we partner with some high end hotels.
I started the company in Atlanta,
so now we are here in North
Carolina as well. And um,
we're doing some great things with WeWork
and we're kicking off some programming
next month with them and we also
do at home women's wellness. Um,
but something else that makes us unique
is that we believe in providing a
holistic experience for our clients.
That means we appeal to all
five senses with aroma therapy,
spa and relaxation music, candles,
tea and therapeutic touch.
So a little bit about what makes us a
little bit unique - and not only do we
provide massage therapy, but we also
provide mindfulness manicures, pedicures,
facials, and we're going to be
adding yoga and acupuncture.
But even beyond Spa Utopia
is the Utopia Living Brand.
And so I'm a holistic
lifestyle strategist.
I'm a life coach where I get so much of
my passion and fulfillment is coaching
and working with others and partnering
with others and helping them to live
their most passionate lives on
purpose. And much like Rain mentioned,
you know,
we all probably have similar themes in
terms of what kind of has made our spirit
of entrepreneurship come alive.
And I believe that we all have
those seeds on the inside of us.
And so there's always going to be
something that kind of sparks you to say,
you know what? I want to pursue
this and I want to try that.
So I just want to share with
you a little bit about my story.
The origins of the Utopia
Living brand. So many years ago,
there was this cool cat that kind of
moved down from upstate New York to go to
college in Virginia.
And then there was this sassy little
petite girl from north Philly that went to
the same school. And so they met,
they fell in love and they
decided to start a family.
So first they had a little prissy
baby boss, my oldest sister,
and she's still a boss. Then they had
a rambunctious cowboy. My brother,
is not a cowboy anymore. Um, and then
they had me, the curious, creative,
joyful, they saved the best for last. So,
they had me. And so my parents,
as they journey through life with their
three children and trying to figure it
all out, they both landed in
the arena of entrepreneurship.
So I am a third generation entrepreneur
on both sides of my family.
So my grandfather, paternal
grandfather and maternal grandfather,
they both were entrepreneurs. So it's
deep in my blood, deep in my veins.
And so it was just a part of who I am.
But I didn't know that that was going
to be the outcome when I was a little
girl. So I grew up with the
influences of seeing my father,
start government contracting businesses
where we worked with the federal
government and so forth. My
trailblazing in Mary Kay,
you can see the influences
of pink are still with me.
And so my mom drove pink
Cadillac. She still has one. Um,
she retired as a national
Mary Kay director,
which is the highest ranking
position. Another pink power girl.
Nicole just walked in,
so your mom was in Mary Kay too so
we share stories all the time. Um,
but you know, I grew up
with those influences.
I've grew up with the influences of
seeing my parents work hard to make every
dollar, you know,
the stresses that come with not
knowing if it's always guaranteed. Um,
but also the freedom of being a problem
solver at the same time as my father was
kinda developing his
path as an entrepreneur.
He also kind of grew this
love for health and wellness.
So he became a marathon runner. Um,
all of my life he was pretty much
a vegetarian or a pescatarian.
So I always say you mix all those
up in a bowl and voila get me,
so the influences of
health, beauty, wellness,
entrepreneurship.
But what I also saw was while my parents
were achieving some high levels of
success and trailblazing
some really notable areas,
I also saw the chronic fatigue and
stress and I didn't really probably fully
understand it until I got a little older.
And then I graduated from college and
I did start, started my career path.
And so I quickly realized that, you know,
my job wasn't really that fulfilling.
I understood that I started to experience
the deadline after deadline meeting
after meeting the chronic
burnout and growing up,
one of the things that's funny about
growing up in a Mary Kay household is,
especially back then, my mom would
meet ladies in the grocery store,
invite them over for like a
Wednesday night Mary Kay meeting,
we would bake a cake and go to our room
and clean up so they could have their
meeting and hear them like singing
and dancing and doing all this,
cheering for each other and
recognizing each other. Well,
that's not usually how
the typical workplace is.
So I quickly realized that there was
just something that was just missing for
me. There was a level of burnout,
there was a level of exhaustion,
a level of fatigue.
But I also saw that it wasn't
just that I was experiencing this.
A lot of people around me
were experiencing this.
And so the chronic burnout and
stress levels at the same time,
I was also noticing in my family,
um, just, you know, the diabetes,
the high blood pressure,
um, the high cholesterol.
And so it took a few more years for
me to realize how all of these things
Kinda Inter, they're interwoven. Our
health is not just, you know, one aspect.
I always like to liken it to a car. Um,
does anybody have a dream car in here?
All right. Are you already driving
your dream car? I figured that.
I just kind of knew it. I kind of knew
it. So what is your dream car? Tesla.
Nice. What color is it? Black.
So that's fly. So he has a,
he has a black Tesla. So, I mean,
I would love to have that to,
it's coming one day. So I like to
liken our lives. If we think about our,
our dream car, our Black Tesla, right?
And so the paint job is on fire,
it's shiny. We got the rims,
we have the interior. What color
is your interior? Black. All right,
black on black. And so the car is
hot, but if the alternator goes bad,
we know it's going to start to drain the
systems of the other areas of the car.
And our life is like that.
Sometimes we could have one
area that looks really good.
We know how to dress the part, we know
how to put on, you know, whatever,
whatever. Fly Gear. We know how to
get our hair done, like whatever.
But if there's one area that is really
not being nourished or it's out of
balance, it can start to drain the
systems of the other parts of our life.
So that can mean, you know, we're
doing great at work, but is our,
is our physical wellbeing suffering?
You know, are we getting rest?
Are we getting to work out? Are we eating
well or is all that being neglected?
So to fast forward a little bit more,
I was kind of going through
my own internal struggle,
trying to figure out what's
next. And a funny story,
my second job out of college I
was like, this is for the birds,
I cannot do this.
And so I decided during this time of
being miserable that I needed to do
something else. And because I come
from an entrepreneurial family,
I started to really dig into
what is it that I want to do.
And so I was reading this book called
Simple Abundance and it really helped me
to unpack the little simple things
that make my spirit come alive.
And at the same time I learned
about the spa industry.
So I decided I'm going to resign
and I'm gonna start my spa business.
And I shared this with my father and I
was working for the Hartford Insurance
Company in Detroit. And so when
you're fresh out of school,
especially at that time,
most of us are just trying to get a
corporate job with benefits and a company
that people have heard of now they're
probably trying to work with startups.
But when I graduated it was like, you
want a corporate job at a corporate name.
So it's so funny that I was just
like, I'm over this. I can't do this.
I'm going to go ahead and I'm
going to resign after the holiday.
I'm going to start my spa company.
I didn't know where to start.
I just knew I was going to start it.
And so when I went to resign and I
told my manager I was resigning, he,
he looked at me as he said,
do you think I like it here?
I don't like it here either. And I was
like, I'm really out of here. I'm like,
that wasn't the motivation
for me to stay. And so it was,
it was good cause that started
my journey. It started my path.
I ended up working with our family
business for a little bit and that sort of
thing. So fast forward,
I started that path,
but I also saw what the stress
levels were doing to even my father,
the marathon runner, the person
that was a vegetarian, pescatarian,
always reading labels. So super conscious.
My father last month
had his fourth stroke,
so thank God he's okay. I
call him the miracle man,
but his quality of life is not what it
should be or could be because of stress
levels.
So the importance of our physical
wellbeing is everything right?
Is Are we, you know, maintaining our
body, our temple? Are we feeding it well?
Are we nourishing it? Are we getting
water? Are we sleeping? Are we active?
But also even our mental wellbeing,
because 80 to 90% of stress,
I think Lululemon said 99% of
disease is caused by stress.
So they all, it's all integrated. So
that's why I believe in holistic health,
in wellness and wellbeing. So we
want to be so mindful of that.
So I've been able to see firsthand
what I will say on the other side,
what maintaining a healthy body from
a physical activity perspective.
My Dad being a marathon runner, him
being a healthy eater, quite honestly,
that and the grace of God
is why he's still here.
Cause most people could not survive four
strokes. So he had one of his strokes,
he was on a business trip in Haiti,
knew he had a stroke because he's so
in tune with his physical wellbeing and
just tried to be the, I don't know,
the miracle man and keep walking,
keep working and ignore it until he
ended up hospitalized and has a now rare
condition called PLS,
which impacts his mobility.
But he still goes to the gym. He still
gets on the treadmill. So I'm all,
I'm so inspired by him.
But what I'm most inspired by are
just those deposits that I've had all
throughout my life that
influences of health,
wellness, entrepreneurship.
So I decided to take all of that in
my journey and really create a company
that's near and dear to my heart,
which is spa utopia and
the Utopia Living Brand.
So my goal is to empower people
with the tools, the knowledge,
the thought partnership,
whether it's through coaching,
whether it's through lifestyle retreats
or whether it's through spa utopia
coming to you. I recognize
that we're busier than ever.
I recognize that the majority
of people are in a time crunch.
And so most people don't have the time,
the resources to figure it out
when they need it the most.
When your back is aching the most,
when your neck is aching the most to
figure out how do I get to the spa within
two hours, because tomorrow is a wrap,
Tomorrow I don't have
any time I need it today.
So Spa Utopia is really born
out of a place of passion,
a physical, personal experience,
and just love for seeing people living
their most passionate lives on purpose.
So with that, I'd love to like wrap
this up with a nice little affirmation.
Give you guys a moment of mindfulness.
So I'm going to have you all
take in a nice cleansing breath,
breathing in through your nose,
slowly exhaling out through your mouth,
and you're welcome to close
your eyes and repeat after me.
My body is my temple. I will treat it well
with love, care, and rest.
I will be gentle and kind.
I will be intentional
about my holistic health and happiness,
mind, spirit, and body.
Thank you. I'm Naya Powell.
Make it a utopian day.
