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In this Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A, we feature Michelle Wahler, co-founder and former CEO of the activewear brand. Beyond YogaWahler founded Beyond Yoga with Jody Guber-Brufski in 2006. A few years later, Levi’s reached out to Wahler via LinkedIn direct message and ultimately acquired the company for $400 million in 2021. Under Wahler’s leadership, Beyond Yoga has achieved 19% year-over-year growth, reaching more than $115 million in revenue in 2023. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Image credits: Grayson Tarantino. Michelle Wahler.
What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your side hustle?
After graduating with a degree in graphic design from the University of Florida, he moved to New York to work in publishing, initially as a people After the magazine Harper’s BazaarAround that time, I started drawing pictures of my friends and making them into T-shirts to give as birthday presents.
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This hobby of mine eventually evolved into a company called “Unsweetened,” a line of clothing and accessories featuring illustrations of what I call “unsugar coated” women.
Where did you get the inspiration for your side hustle?
[At my magazine jobs]I witnessed the photoshopping that goes on in the industry. Both jobs were great experiences but they shed light on the unrealistic expectations that the media places in the market and in the minds of consumers. All my life I saw amazing, smart, beautiful women unable to see themselves as they really are and trying to conform to a single concept of beauty. Through this frustration, I struggled to make a living, working long hours for little pay but gaining a lot of valuable experience! At the time, my best friend and roommate’s birthday was coming up and I didn’t have the money to buy her something nice so I decided to make her a birthday present. I sketched her and printed the illustration on a t-shirt.
All my friends loved it, so for the next year, we each had our own unique illustration printed on a t-shirt that celebrated every aspect of who we are: our curves, our careers, our fun. I called this the “less sweet” version of myself, and before I knew it, I was selling it. It was so fulfilling to be doing something I loved while simultaneously cultivating body positivity and inner confidence.
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What was the first step you took to start your side hustle?
in peopleAt the time, I had a cubicle right in front of the publishing house, a cubicle with a lot of foot traffic, so I would put all my sketches on the wall, and then people started asking me to make them for their friends, and before I knew it, I’d bought a t-shirt press, got a wholesale license, bought t-shirts, printed them and packed them in my shared apartment after my roommate went to bed.
The t-shirts were a huge hit and I began spending all my free time making Unsweetened. I sold the t-shirts at holiday bazaars and craft shows, and eventually ended up with booths at the New York City Gift Show and the Los Angeles Gift Show. I eventually left New York City with the intention of taking Unsweetened full-time to the West Coast, but things quickly changed once I arrived.
What made you decide to turn your side hustle into a full-time business, Beyond Yoga?
I was introduced to Jodie shortly after moving to California. [Guber Brufsky]who would become my future business partner. I immediately fell in love with Beyond Yoga’s mission, put Unsweetened on hold, and threw myself full-time into building Beyond Yoga, a brand that would eventually change industry standards and expectations forever. Today, size inclusivity is a given when launching a new brand, but that wasn’t the case 20 years ago when I started building Beyond Yoga. This is truly something we pioneered, and I’m proud to be a big part of that movement.
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Images/Photos: Beyond Yoga
The idea of ​​creating a clothing line that celebrated women of all shapes and sizes was incredibly exciting to me. After meeting with Jodie, I shared some of my ideas for the business and products. From that point on, I spent the next 18.5 years growing Beyond Yoga from an idea into a global brand, employing hundreds of people (directly and indirectly), generating over $500 million in revenue, and running a profitable business without putting any additional capital into it.
What was the biggest challenge you faced while building Beyond Yoga and how did you overcome it?
When I first started Beyond Yoga, everything was a challenge: expanding into stores, securing reliable wholesale partners, learning the ins and outs of the business, teaching myself everything on the fly, building a team from scratch, etc. It was hard work, but rewarding, and it was a time in my career where I learned many valuable lessons and skills.
Some of the biggest challenges I faced included understanding fabric shrinkage and applying it to patterns, figuring out ERP, teaching myself merchandising and forecasting, learning how to hire and fire, delegate, the list goes on and on.
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It’s been a long journey. In the early days, we were a very small and inexperienced team. We did everything ourselves and had a lot to learn. Things started to change about 5 years into the business, which is also when I made the most impactful hire: our COO/CFO. Having him on the team made me feel comfortable investing in the team and leveling up by bringing on more experienced professionals.
Images/Photos: Beyond Yoga
What has your experience been like growing the company over the years? What have been the highlights?
Growing Beyond Yoga into the company it is today has never been easy, but I’m very proud of it. Although we have become more aggressive in investing over the years, we have always operated for growth and reinvested all money back into the business. When we hit $20 million, we thought it might be time to bring on investors. After learning some valuable lessons, we decided to exit the market and focus on taking control of our profits and destiny.
A notable milestone was when I discovered Space Dye, which became the company’s flagship fabric. Space Dye is a revolutionary material that is incredibly soft, durable, stretchy, and recovers well. Space Dye quickly became a fan favorite and remains a big part of the Beyond Yoga collection today. It’s amazing how an exploratory fabric meeting in 2013 has led to such growth and become a pillar of the brand. My love for fabrics led to a style revolution that changed the world of activewear and continues to be imitated today.
Another highlight of my career was becoming a mother, where I learned to balance work, love, family, and friends. And that’s when Beyond the Bump was born. I was inspired to create the Beyond the Bump line after becoming a mother and watching my friends and colleagues go through this transition. After feeling extremely disappointed with the lack of comfortable clothing for pregnant and postpartum women, the only way to find options I loved was to design my own, so I did. This ended up being one of our most successful brand extensions and a great way to introduce Beyond Yoga to new customers.
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When and how did the Levi’s acquisition come about, and why was it a “full circle event”?
When Levi’s reached out to us, we weren’t considering selling at that time and, to be honest, we never would have sold to anyone else. It was a great honor. Levi’s is an iconic brand and after learning about their philosophy of prioritizing their values ​​and principles over profits, we were excited to explore the opportunity.
The more I looked into it, the more I felt this was the perfect fit to leave a lasting legacy for the company long after me and my team. Negotiating a deal of this size and level was obviously exciting as it was something I had never experienced before. It was definitely one of the biggest challenges of my career but also one of the biggest rewards. It was a unique experience and I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn this side of the business.
Images/Photos: Beyond Yoga
Throughout the entire process, from starting my own business to negotiating the terms of the largest female-led athleisure sale in the industry, I stayed true to myself, my shareholders, and above all else, the company I’ve poured my heart into over the years.
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What advice would you give to someone wanting to start a successful side hustle or full-time business?
My biggest advice would be to make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons: doing it because you’re passionate about it, doing it because you want to create something and put your all into it, doing it because you think you’ve solved a problem that helps people, doing it because you’ve made a better version of something that already exists, etc.
Once you’ve decided what to do, get started. Don’t wait for the perfect moment – it never comes. Sometimes you just need to jump in..
this Women Entrepreneurs® This article is part of an ongoing series showcasing the stories, challenges and successes of running a business as a woman.
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