Breaking into Wellness: Angela Dawn

Creating a career in wellness can be mystifying and intimidating, especially for those of us who hail from communities that are underrepresented in the wellness industry. In “Breaking into Wellness,” we chat with wellness practitioners and learn more about the authentic journey that led them to where they are today. Today’s installment features curvy yoga practitioner, Angela Dawn.

*This interview has been edited and modified slightly for brevity and clarity.*

Image courtesy of Angela Dawn.

“When you live in a marginalized body, you kind of never know the real reason people aren’t interested in you - if it’s for the reasons they say, or for other reasons.”

Body Politic: What do you teach and where do you work? How long have you been active in the wellness industry?

Angela Dawn: I teach yoga (mostly Vinyasa). Right now, I’m only at two studios - I teach at Y7, and Harlem Yoga Studio. I have a couple of private clients who see me. It’s going to be four years in April that I’ve been teaching yoga.

BP: How did you become interested in wellness and fitness? Is it an industry you grew up around or encountered early in life?

AD: No, it’s not. I found my own yoga practice in 2005. My life has changed in drastic ways over the ten years that I’ve lived in NYC, but yoga was kind of the one constant for me. 

BP: What were you doing before you became a wellness practitioner, and how did you make the jump into wellness? Was that a difficult transition?

AD: I was working at a New York City agency. I had been working there on and off since I graduated from grad school in 2005. Then, I became really sick. At the time, we didn’t know what it was, but my doctors thought it was maybe an autoimmune disease, maybe lupus. And they wanted to put me on lupus medication. I was like, ‘okay, I want to feel better.’ I was fatigued, had gained a lot of weight, had rashes all over my body, and I wanted to feel ok again. I’d already done some natural and holistic stuff, but no one and nothing was solving the problem for me. Six days I was on [the lupus medication], and I had a horrible reaction to it - a miserable, horrible itchy rash for three to four weeks. It’s a really rare reaction, but it’s a known reaction. I was even sicker after going on this medication, and I’d just transferred to a new department at the agency I was working at. My new department started coming down on me for missing work. It turned into this whole thing where I called in my union, I tried to call in the Human Rights Division of the city, but I was still literally fighting to keep my job, because they kept trying to fire me. Eventually, by the end of nine months, I was tired of living this way, so I quit. 

I think I took about four years - I guess it was the time I needed to heal - between leaving that job and starting yoga teacher training. [In between] I worked for a chiropractor and I did personal assistant stuff for some people dealing with chronic pain. In the end, it turned out I didn’t have lupus, I have endometriosis. 

I went to India. I did an immersion teacher training. When I came back, I tried to take it really slowly, and not force my way anywhere. I turned to a couple of studios I had been giving my time to volunteering, but nobody was interested in hiring me. When you live in a marginalized body, you kind of never know the real reason people aren’t interested in you - if it’s for the reasons they say, or for other reasons. I did privates [lessons] with friends for very low rates just to get experience. I found my first class [as a teacher] at a very new dance studio where they paid me like five dollars a class - it was horrible. But, eventually, I just racked up hours. By the time I got done with my [second training], I got a lot more work. But I also still got people saying, “Your trainings are impressive, but no.” Who knows if that was bias or something else.

BP: Do you do anything else to supplement your income or are you a full-time wellness practitioner? What are the biggest financial struggles you've faced? 

AD: I work full-time as a yoga teacher. I’ll say right off the bat [though], I’m married to a man, and I’m really privileged to be in this marriage where he makes more money than me. Because that’s the way it goes, even though we worked in the same sector for much of our lives. We’re not rich, but I’m very privileged that my husband could pay to send me to India for my training. As a yoga teacher, I still don’t make what I made working for the city.

“Imposter syndrome is real. I’ve been doing this for four years, and I still have it.”

Image courtesy of Angela Dawn.

BP: What barriers have you faced in the wellness industry? 

AD: I knew after my teacher training, I was going to come back and have to hustle. I knew so many teachers in the city that hustled, and they were thin and had two years of experience. As a fat yoga teacher, [I knew] it was going to be hard and I was going to have to hustle even harder. I’ve talked with friends who are teachers of color and they feel similarly. You get turned down for stuff and you never really know why they didn’t want you. You can’t prove anything, so you just keep on going. I did once teach at a studio where I found out I was being paid half as much as everyone else. I know it wasn’t experience-related because a friend who had a little less experience than me was being paid double what I was. 

BP: What is the best thing about working as a wellness practitioner? 

AD: Disruption. Disrupting the narrative that wellness is for a certain type of person: white, wealthy, thin, young, and already ‘well.’ Wellness is for everybody. Even us, chronically-ill people, can be well, practice wellness, and get a lot of benefit from these practices.

BP: Do you have any tips for creating routine and stability while managing an unconventional schedule?

AD: That’s my biggest challenge. Take it day-by-day. In wellness, we talk a lot about consistency. That being said, it’s an inconsistent schedule, so you can’t beat yourself up when you’re being inconsistent [too]. I’m barely going to get in my four workouts a week this month because it’s January, which is our most lucrative time of the year as yoga instructors. You have to remember every month is different, and January isn’t going to feel the same as June - which is the low time for yoga. In 2019, I was pretty inconsistent! But, I need better sleep so I’m focusing on that this year. It’s really about the long game. 

BP: What advice would you give to someone considering pursuing a career as a wellness practitioner? What do you wish you had known? 

AD: I wish I had known that as a wellness professional, people are going to trust me until I give them a reason not to. When I was new and scared, and not confident, I worried about how people would look at me as a curvy wellness professional. I had all these thoughts in my head about what other people were thinking about me. And it doesn’t matter. I mean it does, certain places won’t hire you or will pay you less, but your people will find you. I can’t control bias in other people, but I am the expert on what I have to offer. With my students and my people, that trust is inherent. The other thing I’d say is that imposter syndrome is real. I’ve been doing this for four years, and I still have it.

BP: What's your current favorite song to add to a workout playlist?

AD: I’m obsessed with “Uproar” by Lil Wayne (ft. Swizz Beatz). It’s the most banging track to put on a playlist. 

 BP: Are you working on any fun projects we can share? 

AD: I have alternative Mother’s Day and alternative Father’s Day workshops coming up in May and June! (For workshop schedule information, check out @harlemyoga!)

Find Angela Dawn on Instagram @angela_dawn_yoga.

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Fiona Lowenstein (she/they) is the Founder and Events Director for Body Politic. They are a freelance writer, producer, and wellness practitioner based in NYC. Check out their work at fionalowenstein.com and follow them on Instagram at @fi_lowenstein for updates on their next yoga class, selfies, and dog content.