Cara Lemus started Vive LA Yoga with about $500 and a spot of grass in the Rose Garden at Averill Park. Five years later she owns her studio in San Pedro, runs a full class schedule, and has trained nearly twenty local women to teach. She sat down to talk about the climb from the park to the build-out.
Take us back to the beginning. When did you know you had to start this?
It started in the pandemic. I was teaching virtual classes just to keep people connected while everybody was stuck at home. When things opened back up, I told the community to come meet me outside at the Rose Garden in Averill Park. I figured a few friends would show. We were over twenty people a session before long. That’s when I knew San Pedro wanted this and had nowhere to get it. We started in a shared room at the San Pedro City Ballet building. Six, eight months in, the room kept filling up. That was my answer. I went and found our own space.
Were there challenges along the way?
Sharing a building is hard. Scheduling was a fight, and there was a dance class going right above us, so my students would be settling into meditation and hear the floor thumping through the ceiling. You can’t build a quiet room under a loud one. We needed a place that was ours. Getting it was another thing. I was pregnant with my third child while I was doing the build-out, two little ones already at home. They’re eight, six, and four now. I knew I’d be out for three months, so I hired and trained eight instructors to keep the doors open while I was gone. Handing my studio to other people to run was the hardest part. It’s also the reason we’re steady today.
Was there a time you didn’t have the money to make it happen?
I opened with about $500. That’s the whole truth. Every month early on was me staring at overhead and cash flow and every line item, trying to make it stretch. People I trusted told me a dedicated studio was too risky. I heard them. I did it anyway. Five years later the studio is still here and still growing, so I’ll let that be the argument.
What did it mean when you got the “yes” on a loan from VSEDC’s CDFI?
Relief. Real relief. Once the lease was signed, having working capital meant a slow month didn’t scare me anymore. For a small owner, that’s everything. My instructors get paid on time no matter what the month looks like. We went from surviving paycheck to paycheck to knowing somebody with weight behind them believed in what we were doing.
Did the funding change how you saw yourself?
When you’re that tight on money, fear takes up all the room where planning should be. The loan gave me space to think. I could set the schedule the way I wanted it, put money back into the classes, and know my team was covered. You lead a whole lot better when you’re not afraid.
If you could tell a big bank how to actually support people like you, what would you say?
See us. Really see what a neighborhood business is worth to a neighborhood. The way banks and landlords set their requirements, they’re built for big corporate franchises, and they ask for numbers a local owner can’t show on paper yet. That locks out good people running good businesses. Give us capital based on relationship, and give us somebody to call when we’re stuck. VSEDC did that. And because we never missed a payment, they connected us with Chain Reaction, which paid off the last ten thousand dollars we owed. Reward the people who do it right, and watch what they put back into the block.
Tell us about a breakthrough moment, where the funding opened something you’d only hoped for.
Our teacher training. We built a 200-hour program, and over two years we’ve certified fifteen to twenty women from right here to teach, spring and fall cohorts. That changed what we are. We went from a place you drop into for a class to a place you come to learn a craft. From there we started doing retreats. We took a group of women out to Valley Center near San Diego for a few days, all of us together. Watching local women lead now, women who walked in as students, that’s the part I didn’t see coming.
Where do you see your impact in the neighborhood today?
I’m from San Pedro. I grew up here. The whole point was that nobody in this town should have to drive up the coast to find good wellness. Bring it home. Now Vive is a place people come to feel better, mind and body. We go into the schools for career days and student wellness. And when somebody tells me a class got them through the worst stretch of their life, I know we’re doing what we came to do.
For the woman at her kitchen table right now with a big dream and a lot of fear about asking for help, what would you tell her?
Bet on yourself and step past the fear. Most of the doubt you’re hearing from other people is about them, not you. You don’t have to know everything on day one. You have to start, use the organizations and people out there who want to help, and keep learning as you go. There are advisors, accountants, and lenders who want to see you win. Go find them.
If your business were a theme park ride, what would it be, and what would the warning sign say?
An old wooden roller coaster. GhostRider. Fast, jerky, big drops, sharp turns, and you get off shaking and wanting to go again. The sign at the front would say: brace for the turns, this is the best ride you’ll take. Owning a business will wreck you some days. Then you see who you helped, and you get right back in line.
About Vive LA Yoga
Cara Lemus is the founder and owner of Vive LA Yoga, serving San Pedro for five years. The studio offers Yin yoga, guided meditation, Power Vinyasa, and yoga sculpt, along with community workshops, wellness retreats, and a certified 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program. Vive LA Yoga is at 1422 West 25th Street in the Pacific View Shopping Center in San Pedro.
VSEDC provided Vive LA Yoga with financing made possible through EQ2 capital from U.S. Bank. After Cara established a strong repayment record, VSEDC connected her with Chain Reaction, which paid the loan’s remaining balance of nearly $10,000.
Vive LA Yoga’s loan was made possible by an EQ2 loan from U.S. Bank.
