OUR FOUNDERS
Madoka Hara - she/her - mixed-Race/ Japanese-French
Madoka is a Hapa yoga/mindfulness teacher and surfer based in Oakland, CA. Raised in Japan by a French mom and a Japanese dad, she remembers feeling like she didn’t “belong” anywhere as a youth. Madoka’s entire life was (and still is!) a series of internal negotiations and perpetual identity questions/revelations that come with the experience of being mixed-race. Yoga and mindfulness gives Madoka a home-base, where she can always come back to herself whole-heartedly, no matter what her internal landscape looks like. Fueled by the passion to diversify the face of yoga, Madoka worked as a high school yoga teacher in local Bay Area schools for the past 4 years. She teaches trauma-informed practices through yin, hatha, vinyasa and restorative yoga.
Marlim Reynosa - She/They - AfroLaTINX/Caribeña
Marlim is an avid surfer who has competed in national surf contests in her home country, the Dominican Republic. Following her completion of the International Surfing Association Level I Surf Instructor program in March 2017, she joined the team at Brown Girl Surf, a nonprofit whose mission is to create a more diverse, joyful, and environmentally reverent women’s surf culture. Her experiences as a female surfer in the Dominican Republic and as an Afrolatinx in the U.S. fuel her dedication to empowering womxn of color through connecting with the ocean and with their bodies. Marlim loves music and arts and is trained in opera and classical vocal performance. She resides in Oakland, CA, and you can find her prancing around in nature or humming tunes in between sets of waves.