Hispanic Heritage Month: Teacher Q&A

At CorePower Yoga, we know that it’s the unique and diverse voices within our communities that make CorePower what it is, and we are dedicated to uplifting and amplifying these voices every day.  As part of this commitment, and to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, our CEO Niki Leondakis sat down with New York City-based CorePower District Manager Adrianna Perez. 

Adrianna talks with Niki about how she found yoga, the Hispanic influences in her life and how we can all support a more diverse and inclusive CorePower Yoga. Enjoy!

Niki: You’re currently the district manager for New York City and Philadelphia, but you started as a teacher for CorePower. What was the turning point in your yoga practice that made you want to become a teacher?

Adrianna: I love this question, because it doesn’t have the most glamorous answer. I feel like people expect an impactful story about how they fell in love with yoga and the yoga room and had this transformative experience. But my love was dancing, and I actually moved to NYC to become a professional dancer. I graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Dance and moved to New York right after graduation. I was looking for a way to balance my dance career with another job to pay the bills and was thinking about teaching opportunities. I had taken a handful of yoga classes in college – like maybe five, and thought maybe that would align with my dancing. I enrolled in a yoga teacher training program and it was then that I realized, wow - this is something that I not only love physically but the philosophy and the why behind yoga really spoke to me. The messages throughout the program gave me feelings of confidence and self-worth that at 22 I really needed to hear. It was one of those moments in life where things were supposed to happen just as they did, because I can say – with my hand on my heart – that yoga changed my life. And look where I am today – still teaching yoga. 

Niki: Amazing! What I love so much about your story is that you already had this connection to movement through dance and yoga could still be transformative for you. It really speaks to the depth of a yoga practice and what it can do for us, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually. 

Adrianna: Yes! Here I was going to auditions daily, feeling constantly judged and listening to this negative self-talk. Am I good enough? Am I worthy? And the yoga teachings were telling me the exact opposite – that I was good enough - and helped learn non-attachment and to trust myself. I’m so grateful I had yoga. It’s provided me a career but also supports me in keeping my mental health in a positive place. 

Niki: I hear so many similar stories about what yoga has meant for people, and I’ve personally turned to yoga to support my own mental wellness.  

Building community so that people feel like they belong and can experience these benefits we’re talking about, is a key core value of ours. I would love to know how you make people feel welcome in your classes, like they really belong? 

Adrianna: That’s such a beautiful question. I try to be authentic as often as I can. I found the best way to do this in my classes is through my personal shares. So that in the 60-minute yoga experience, I’m more than just a guide through the asana. I want to find moments that I can connect the theme to how it resonates with me personally. Sharing something about how the poses feel in my body – like a physical connection, or maybe what’s going on for me outside the practice and sharing things going on in my life with my family. When I have those little moments of vulnerability, I can create space for my students to be vulnerable. 

Niki: Honestly, I couldn't agree more with that. I think we naturally connect to people who are authentic, genuine and are comfortable being vulnerable. We can all relate to that. It's the human connection - it's just automatic. That's really beautiful.  

Since we’re celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month and honoring Hispanic and Latin culture, who is a member of the Hispanic orLatin community whoreally inspires you?  

Adrianna: The first person who spoke to my heart was Rita Moreno. Growing up as a performer, I thought she was such a trailblazer. Not only did she open so many doors for Latinas and Hispanics to see themselves in roles in the theater and on screen and have those aspirations, I just thought how she is 90 years old and so fierce and fabulous. She’s not unlike my grandma Stella,who’s 94. When you meet her you can’t believe she's 94. She still has this incredible spirit and energy about her. She makes the best Mexican meals and is always the life of the party. She just lives life to the fullest. So those are the two people that came immediately to mind – Rita Moreno and my grandmother, Stella. 

Niki: Why do you think it’s important that we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month? 

Adrianna: Hispanic Americans have made such an impact and inspired so many in this country, and to me this month is really to recognize all the contributions and achievements. We've been a community that's felt a little outside American’s culture and when that happens, it tends to silence the community. I really want people to shout from the rooftops who they are, and be proud of where they come from, what their culture is, and be able to share that with others. I think about how my grandparents were first generation Mexicans, and back the fifties and sixties when they had my mom and her siblings, they didn't teach them Spanish, because they really wanted them to be American. They didn't want them to have an accent, or be discriminated against in any way. So my mom doesn't speak Spanish, and I didn’t learn Spanish until school. Because for me – and this was obviously years later - knowing another language was seen as an asset. My husband and I are having a baby soon, and it’s our full intention to teach them Spanish and to be really proud of that voice that is so part of their culture. 

Niki: You know, I think that's such a common story for so many. My parents are Greek immigrants and while we were submerged in the Greek language at home, went to a Greek school, all I wanted was to be American. I didn’t want to be different, because differences weren’t celebrated then. But now I think it’s a beautiful time where we celebrate the richness and the heritage of all different backgrounds.  

What's one thing about your Hispanic heritage that you'd like to share? 

Adrianna: I am a lot of things. I am 50% Mexican or Hispanic, a quarter Chinese, and a quarter Irish. But I've always felt most connected to my Hispanic heritage, because culturally I was brought up with those influences. And with my husband being Mexican, those influences are still like very much part of my life. To be honest, I've always felt a little like I'm not Mexican enough, because I'm only half. Because I don't speak the language as fluently as my husband does that I'm not Mexican enough. And that always saddened me. So that’s something I really want to put out there - how can we really embrace people for who they are, and not make anyone feel like they’re not enough or that they have to check a certain box or somehow prove themselves as part of a culture? Let's welcome all because, to be honest in America, there are a lot of us who are a lot of things.  

Niki: You’re right, today’s society is multicultural, and I think we should be embracing all of it as a rich tapestry to be celebrated for the beauty of its individual parts, and the beauty of its wholeness. Thank you for sharing that. 

Why do you think it's important to have Hispanic leaders in yoga or otherwise? 

Adrianna: In the same way I idolized Rita Moreno, when you see someone who’s like you holding something that you aspire to be, it makes it possible. When you don't have that representation, you believe you don’t have access to it. It closes off certain opportunities for people. I know CorePower is doing a lot of great things with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Honestly, even the fact that you invited me to have this conversation with you is really empowering because it's making me feel seen. It's making me feel empowered to celebrate and speak to topics as an Hispanic American, that's a district manager of the largest yoga company in the world. And to know that it is it is possible, and that, you know, the at the representation and having those examples really does matter. 

Niki: It’s so true, Adrianna. We're working hard at our DE&I commitments and to bring more representation into all aspects of our company, including the leadership and the senior leadership. It's ongoing work, and I hope you're part of it. 

One last question. What is your wish for CorePower Yoga as it relates to our DE&I initiatives? 

Adrianna: We keep going! I really do think we're making tremendous strides with efforts like the Power Love scholarships and having representation in areas of leadership. So I hope we continue to open those doors. And I’d love to see someone guiding a CorePower class in Spanish, maybe an Instagram Live class or something. Continuing to lean into those kind of moments because they really are impactful. 

Niki: I’m so glad you brought that up again. We’ve heard that idea from others as well. And actually Lupita from our Los Angeles team is going to lead an Instagram Live class within the next couple weeks as part of our Hispanic Heritage Month celebration. 

Thank you, Adrianna, for taking time out of your day to spend some time with me. This conversation, and getting to know you better, has been the best part of my day. And it's what connects me to my higher purpose - to empower people to be their whole and best self in everything they do. I’m really honored. Thank you.