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Women In Wellness: Olivia F Scott of Freedom At The Mat On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Pause & evaluate when your life feels off. Often daily life gets us caught up as if on a hamster wheel. Time flies. Yet, our souls are not fulfilled by the lives we lead. So, I invite everyone to pause at least once a year to truly explore if the life you are leading is one which brings you joy and fulfills you. If it does not, use the pause to make specific steps towards creating the life you want and which you deserve.

As a part of my series about women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Olivia F. Scott.

Olivia F. Scott, M.A. & RYT-200, is Founder & Creator of Freedom At The Mat (FATM). Formally established in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, FATM is a Benefit corporation intentional in offering free short-form meditations, yoga flows and expert interviews on the brand’s YouTube channel, complimented by art yoga mats, guided journals and aromatherapy candles on FreedomAtTheMat.com. FATM donates fifteen percept of its profits to select nonprofits serving the health & wellness of underserved women & girls. Scott, also a Professor & Marketing Practioner, has developed & led the ESSENCE Festival’s Wellness House and Health Hub platforms since 2019, and is committed to devoting her combined marketing expertise, passion and academic research efforts to making wellness accessible for all.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?

I was born in Memphis, TN. Educated in Journalism at University of Missouri-Columbia, and trained in marketing and advertising in Chicago and NYC from 1995–2020 at advertising agency, brand & media companies. After a storied 20+ year marketing career as a practitioner, I experienced burn out, while also going through my divorce around 2014. My standard Saturday 10 a.m. spinning classes were not available to me at my new gym, so I reluctantly walked into a vinyasa yoga class because it was the only class offered during that time slot. I’d tried hatha and bikram yoga classes before to no great interest. But upon trying this vinyasa class led by my teacher Meriany, I began to love yoga as a wellness modality suitable for me. As I continued practicing with Meriany, I learned that yoga was more than just fitness, that if you truly connected to the present moment, it could also be a mental wellness and spiritually grounding practice as well. I earned my 200-Hour Teaching Certification in Vinyasa Yoga in 2018 at Sonic Yoga, and began teaching free classes through the Dream Center Harlem, and at First Corinthian Baptist Church, both in NYC. After teaching for about two years, I relocated for a lifestyle change to New Orleans in January 2020. The pandemic hit six weeks later, and now I’m finally emerging a bit to see what NOLA has in store for me as a business owner, Professor and wellness educator.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?

VIBE Magazine folded over night in 2009. I was Associate Publisher, Head of Marketing, with a 10+ person team. On a Monday evening around 6 PM at a pub a few blocks from our Wall Street office, our CEO informed the executive team of which I was a part that we were closing our doors at 1 PM the next day, potentially without severance. I loved this job, this company, and my staff. But just like that, it was all over. Kinda like Biggie said, “It was all a dream.”

The biggest lessons I learned were that a) it is imperative for all career women living away from home to have an emergency fund of a minimum of six months of all mandatory living expenses, and b) to never overidentify with professional titles, because they are temporary and can evaporate in mere moments. After the CEO shared that it was game over, that night on my couch I took a hard look at my expenses, and also at myself. Was I “doing” or “being?” Because life requires money, many of us focus on doing, and associate our value with our professions and incomes. But if this is taken away from you, you must have a core understanding of your “being,” not your “doing.”

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I started the Freedom At The Mat YouTube channel during the pandemic. What a joy! Well, my first filming session was socially distanced and with a production company who a) insisted on recording my yoga flow sequence voiceover immediately after the sequence taping which I knew would result in an exorbitant amount of editing (which it did), and b) lost some of my footage.

The aforementioned PLUS limited funding set me on a journey of self-production. There was only one problem. I had no experience filming content, AND was tech challenged. So, my rookie mistake was evident in my first self-filming session. To prep for this amazing big day of self-production in my second bedroom (oh the joys of entrepreneurship, and being in a pandemic), I composed eight sequences, and selected eight wardrobe selections. I was hydrated, feeling strong and ready to go. But, I did not realize that to complete one yoga sequence, I would have to potentially re-do the postures 2–3 times. So, my estimate of a three-hour shoot was not realized. Rather, my first self-production took 10 hours. Afterwards, my body was sore and in post-production, I realized some of my re-dos had the wrong outfits on intros and outros, and the sound was crappy.

Luckily, I’d viewed a popular video game YouTuber’s “How To Start A YouTube Channel,” and was relieved when I saw his progression from his first videos to current-day ones. This encouraged me to believe that everyone has to start somewhere and that those mistakes were ones from which I could learn. Today, I film one-to-two yoga sessions at a time usually, and use multiple pieces from that session over a couple of week’s span.

Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?

We are a wellness social venture intentional about making wellness accessible to all. A portion (15% of profits) from sales of our in-person classes and products goes directly to select nonprofits serving the health & wellness of underserved women & girls. So, the more we earn, the more we are able to undergird the good work done by local community 501c3s, including The Grace House of Memphis, A21, Dream Center Harlem, Taller Salud and New Orleans Family Justice Center. We think of ourselves as vessels. Women already on the wellness track purchase our products and in so doing, support the vitality of those underserved in health & wellness through 501c3 contributions.

Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.

  1. Honor your uniqueness. Human nature drives us to look to others for indications on what to do and how to be. The popularity and influence of social media has intensified this tendency to justify and substantiate your existence by looking to others. So, we invite everyone to honor their personal beauty, spirit and beings. My lived experience uniquely equips me to authentically speak about physical and mental health, so this is what I from the heart.
  2. Take the time to know yourself. My move from New York City was an emotional one. I lived there for 20 years. Many close to me questioned why I was moving, but I knew myself enough to know that my spirit was off. I could no longer create and grow in this city which took so much to navigate through daily.
  3. Stand in your truth. Every individual is entitled to their own life experience, and with that comes personal truths. There was an occasion in which I experienced an offense by a dear friend. I examined the actions of my friend from multiple angles to justify it, yet my spirit never settled on being ok with it. I found the courage to share my feelings with my friend. Afterwards, there were repercussions reflected in the shift within our relationship. While the relationship has not recovered, I feel more self confident having spoken my truth and feeling the freedom & power in standing in and owning my truth, even if it hurts. You grow when you stand in and speak your truth.
  4. Join a community, listen to a podcast or read a book. Expand your mind by learning new things and connecting with new people. This helps you feel less alone, and less stuck. While these feelings are natural at different points in our lives, when you expand your experience and knowledge base, there is comfort in knowing that countless others (no matter where they are from or what they look like) are experiencing life just like you, and you feel more seen, heard and inspired to continued your respective journey.
  5. Pause & evaluate when your life feels off. Often daily life gets us caught up as if on a hamster wheel. Time flies. Yet, our souls are not fulfilled by the lives we lead. So, I invite everyone to pause at least once a year to truly explore if the life you are leading is one which brings you joy and fulfills you. If it does not, use the pause to make specific steps towards creating the life you want and which you deserve.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I would like to see a movement in which it is mandatory for every human being on earth to begin and end their respective days by pausing for mandatory, intentional breathing and self-acknowledgement every day. Essentially, when each person wakes up they have to pause for a minimum of two uninterrupted minutes of no TV or device use (light music is ok), and end their day the same way. I would like to see this become a federal mandate for each citizen akin to financial taxes, like a “life tax.” I think this would help us all live less anxious, and more enlightened lives.

The pandemic was a global pause in which every global citizen was forced to be more mindful. And from speaking with many people, I think people enjoyed the international slowdown. I believe wholeheartedly that the the way to lead our respective lives is within us, but we don’t tune inwards enough in favor of external feedback. Listening to your soul can be powerful and transformative.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

  1. It is ok to get going on your entrepreneurial path even when you have NO idea what you’re doing, or where you’re going. Once you are in motion, all you need will be added to you. Often we procrastinate starting because we don’t know what to do, where to start, or because we don’t want to appear as if we don’t know what we’re doing. But the truth is you may not, but you will, and that you only learn by doing, so the only way to find out the how is “to do.”
  2. Conduct research beyond your friends & family about your business proposition.The world is much larger than those in your immediate circle, so you and your business can benefit from expanded world views. Also, your loved ones love and know you in a certain light, however the opportunities for you to contribute to the world may extend far beyond or differently from their views.
  3. Appealing to everyone from the onset is not realistic or healthy due to budget and bandwidth limitations. If I had been told this, to start, I would have developed a minimal viable product (yoga mats) or service offering (meditations) for a specific audience as a test, and executed further from there.
  4. It will all be done, just not all at once. A dear friend told me recently that she was happy to see me pacing my workload and spreading out my to-do dates over more time. I realized then that for whatever reason (likely the pressures of the world), I had been setting extremely unhealthy and unrealistic deadlines on my work productivity which was creating my time scarcity and anxiety. I now aim to complete things and refill my cup before moving on to the next initiative or task.
  5. Ask for references, complete solid reference checks and examine reviews for each vendor you work with. Once you’re in business for yourself, the number of people pitching you on their services is overwhelming. At some point due to your need for expanded bandwidth and/or expertise, you ultimately end up caving and saying yes to a vendor. This in and of itself is understandable, but to protect your business and preserve your cash, we highly recommend that you take your time when choosing vendors and if possible try to hire people when you don’t desperately need them, this way you can be more level headed when you examine their agreements and evaluate if they are best suited to continue your business.

Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?

Mental health is the topic of most interest to me at this time. Much emphasis for years has been placed on physical health, but by the increased school shootings, crime and suicide rates, it is obvious that mental health is of grave concern. Personally, I believe the life curation and altered image projections which occurs on some social media channels creates the idea for many that the lives they are leading are subpar (which is why the authenticity of the creators on TikTok is resonating so loudly as a counterculture). Yet, I think there is still more attention to be paid to protect the sanctity of people’s minds to creative a more sane world.

What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?

Visit YouTube.com/FreedomAtTheMat to hear our conversations with wellness experts, and experience our meditations, affirmations & yoga flows. We also post content about leading present lives on Facebook and Instagram using the Freedom At The Mat handle..

Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.

Women In Wellness: Olivia F Scott of Freedom At The Mat On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.