Have you taught for, exchange cleaned, practiced with, or heard of CorePower Yoga? If so, read on and consider signing this petition to support our cause...

CorePower Yoga's CEO Niki Leondakis has repeatedly said they are willing to listen to feedback from instructors/students in order to learn how to modify the way the company operates to become more inclusive and diverse. So far they have not given concrete timelines of how/when we will see diversity/inclusion trainings, more Black and brown instructors, and for the actual yoga to be made more accessible to all. Despite so many in the community across the country calling for answers, they've given little more than platitudes. Worse, one of their HR representatives told us that Niki's intention in offering the recently released 300 teacher training scholarships to BIPOC humans, was to help their mental health during these trying times. 

Over the years many have tried to rally for more inclusion, diversity, and better working conditions/pay at CorePower Yoga to no avail. Recently corporate made the decision to fire a Master Trainer for making an insensitive and borderline racist Instagram post just days after the murder of George Floyd, after countless calls from the community for action. The community was, and is, fed up with the inaction and empty words of past.

CPY teaches love and empowerment, yet they pay their employees among the lowest rates across the industry. They say they support bringing yoga to all, yet the population it serves/employs is overwhelmingly white-presenting. They put out a program to offer 300 teacher training scholarships to BIPOC, and only gave people 6 days to apply. The question was asked: Can we stretch out this program to give time for COVID-19 to slow, so that we could hold these trainings even partially in person? We have yet to hear a solid answer, and they continue to stand by the online format, saying now that their goal is to bring yoga to all, despite what their HR rep said previously.

Based on what they have said, it appears that they are not interested in hiring on more Black and brown instructors or leaders, only in paying lip service to a movement that has no time for white savior-ism or spiritual bypassing. 

We are curious what TSG (parent company to CPY), thinks about this situation? Do you think a yoga company should be acting in this manner?

The community hopes CorePower will:

Re-evaluate the pay for all current SET and instructors company wide, and adjusting people's rates based on skill level, tenure, and cost of living in each respective market. 

That the company minimum wage, currently $7.25/hour, be increased to $15/hour for SET and $20/hour for interns who just completed training (subject to increases based on individual states' cost of living).

That the company make concrete timelines of when they want to bring more diversity and inclusion to the community, including expanding it's student base AND hiring more Black and brown instructors/leadership.

That the company hire a diversity and inclusion council that at minimum, includes a qualified consultant who is Black or brown to guide the community on best practices.
(For a separate petition on who the community wants as that consultant, head to https://www.change.org/p/niki-leondakis-ceo-at-corepower-yoga-leana-marie-for-diversity-and-inclusion-expert-at-corepower-yoga and sign for Leana Marshall to be that person)

Additionally, check out www.cpycoalition.com and consider adding your name anonymously and sharing your personal experience with CPY. The more voices that band together, the more likely we are to achieve our goals!