In 2018, founder Shakira Scott was forced out of her local business, Black to Yoga by hostile former business partners. Shakira is the principal owner of the DBA and LLC until 2023. In 2019, Shakira suddenly became blocked from the Black to Yoga Instagram page and a lawsuit against Shakira was filed on December 8, 2021.  

Shakira Scott planned a one-time special yoga event in Oakland, not knowing any other Black yogis in the Bay, Shakira accepted the first Black yoga teachers that approached her. In 2018, during the first group meeting, Shakira explained to Zenovia Forbes, Kirsten Rogers and Maureen Miller that she had everything planned for a day of yoga and wellness (location, date, and vendors). Shakira explained that she only needed teachers, help with promotion, and a name for the event. Several names were thrown out and the group settled on 'Black to Yoga’. They all agreed and three weeks later hosted the first Black to Yoga event on March 17th 2018. During the first few months of "business", Black to Yoga sold tickets under Shakira's business, Your Local Yoga Dealer, and utilized it's EIN.

In the following months Shakira soon found out that the group didn't work well together. One woman started arguments, cursed and created conflict EVERY month, leaving the other three overwhelmed and overworked. After the very first event, Maureen Miller went behind Shakira's and the other member's backs to secretly purchase the domain name and have blacktoyoga.com rerouted to her personal CPA website. No mention of yoga or the other 3 members was on the website. As a CPA by trade, she had been in charge of the businesses' money and paying the vendors we worked with. For several months there were arguments around where and how the money in Maureen's accounts would be moved to a business account. Vendors were regularly paid late and she refused to open a business account or even attempt to separate our profits from her personal checking/savings account. Left with no choice, Shakira worked with the other members to obtain and separate the money from her personal bank account, and acquire an appropriate business account.

Maureen Miller's suggestion of the event name (Black to Yoga) was chosen along with the original logo. Months later Maureen would regularly throw the phrase, "This is MY name and MY logo!" around in meetings. So the legal aid Shakira hired strongly insisted that Maureen sign over the rights to the name and said logo to the ENTIRETY of the group, Black to Yoga, and create its own EIN. 

The members could never agree on much, and the drafted Operating Agreement was never signed by all parties, but they continued to host the monthly yoga events and taught at teaching engagements under the name, Black to Yoga.

After eight months of trying to work together to no avail, Shakira agreed to go to a third party mediator with hopes of working things out with Maureen, but the session was unsuccessful. Shakira left that session feeling unappreciated and forced out of her business that she had worked so hard for. Shakira didn't want to shut the whole thing down and remove what had become a staple in Oakland, California. Hundreds of Black people showed up and expressed an overwhelming amount of gratitude for this event every month. Shakira felt that in order to maintain her integrity and mental sanity, she needed to walk away from the toxic business members. 

In 2019, after about 5-6 months of the separation, Shakira suddenly became blocked from the Black to Yoga Instagram page. Because Shakira's own Instagram bio hyperlinked the Black to Yoga page, her page was flagged and became disabled. For 3-4 months Shakira could not properly utilize the app: could not leave captions, comments, or likes; received zero engagement. This caused Shakira to lose followers and money since most  of Shakira's promotion was done online. The clients she obtained through Instagram came to a crashing halt. Eventually, Shakira was able to get in contact with Instagram and resume all functions of her Instagram page. Shakira then sought out the aid of an attorney who wrote the other three members a letter of reconciliation, to which Maureen responded with an 8 page letter as to why Shakira could NOT come back to the business. In 2020 Shakira applied for and was approved for the trademark of Black to Yoga. December 8th 2021, Kirsten Rogers and Maureen Miller and their attorney appealed Shakira's trademark ruling. 

Since 2015 Oakland native, Shakira Scott, has been teaching yoga and meditation ALL over the Bay Area and Los Angeles, coining the term 'Your Local Yoga Dealer', which she established as a business in 2016.  Noticing the lack of diversity in the Western world of yoga, specifically in the Bay Area, for months she worked on an idea: an event that would showcase other Black yoga instructors and wellness practitioners in hopes of giving them access to the teaching jobs she was being offered. 

Note from Shakira: I am sharing my story so people don’t make the same mistakes I made. Society doesn’t stress enough the importance of vetting your business partners. It is a relationship. We should be approaching business relationships like dating. Ask around, do your research, and if more than one person is telling you something about a person (good or bad) believe that shit. Everyone should be bringing something to the table, not just sit and eat.

Please sign this petition to encourage Maureen Miller, Kirsten Rogers and Zenovia Forbes to drop the trademark opposition lawsuit and give Shakira Scott access to all tax documents, social media pages, and access to the day to day functions of the business. Help  Shakira Scott get her business back!