Yoga and Alcohol: The Perfect Business Combination

During the summer of 2007, Jennifer Simoneau and Sarah LaCroix were hanging out at Sarah's pool, Jennifer told her that she takes yoga on Tuesday night and once a month or so she and a few of her friends go out for margaritas afterwards. Sarah replied, "It's like mind, body, and spirits." They both laughed at the joke and continued on with the rest of their day.

For some unknown reason, Sarah's words resonated in Jennifer's head. Then out of nowhere she thought, "Hey that would make a cute tee shirt." A few days later at the beach Jennifer told Sarah her idea. She explained the image she had in her head, "It would be a girl sitting in lotus pose with one of her hands in the shape of and 'O' and in the other a martini glass." Sarah loved the idea.

The next time the two were together again, Sarah told Jennifer about some other tee shirt ideas she had. They laughed and began formulating ideas for tee shirts with women doing yoga and drinking alcoholic beverages. Finally, one afternoon they decided, "Let's just do it. Let's start our own tee shirt business." That was sometime in September.

The two stay-at-home moms began brainstorming and compiling endless lists. The meetings ranged from pushing shopping carts through Target, to eating lunch with all four kids, to hanging out in the minivan for an hour just to keep each other in the loop of what was going on and what was next to tackle. The two adopted a company mantra, "My positive outlook will make us successful." Using this at the end of emails they would send to one another as a reminder of their goal.

They decided to start with girls doing yoga and drinking, but in order to get a wider customer base the ideas needed to branch outward. They began to do some research on what all their friends were doing for their minds and bodies and how they could make a tee shirt that was clever and had activities that women did and a way to combine that with an alcoholic beverage.

The ideas for the tee shirts are to be fun, to make you laugh, and to remind you to enjoy life. Life may be good, but it's better with a cocktail! In February of 2008 they launched their website. Their shirts are now being sold in five different locations around New Hampshire and one of their t-shirts is being sold in the Femail Creations catalog nationwide. They are currently in the works to sell shirts on Createdbymom.com, as well as a few other retailers in the New England area.

The hottest t-shirt that they sell is the "Jarah" or the company logo - she has sold out twice and a new batch is on its way. The name for the shirt is a combination of the two Jennifer and Sarah - a.k.a their celebrity hook-up name. All of the shirts in their collection have names and personalities to go with them, which you can read on the "Meet the Girls" page on their website - www.mindbodynspirits.com.