By day, Donna Lee, 58, works in transportation systems management for MassDOT. But in her free time, she’s building a yoga-mat business that is gaining national attention from celebrities.
Lee invented a machine washable and dryable, hypoallergenic yoga mat and launched her company, Remember You Only Live Once LLC (R-Yolo), in 2020. Two years later, she was invited to a pre-Academy Awards party, where she presented her yoga mat to celebrities like Viola Davis and Anthony Anderson as part of their luxury swag bag.
“It was like an out-of-body experience, to tell you the truth,” Lee said. “I never in a million years expected to be doing this, to meet these stars.”
The idea for this product came to Lee during a sweaty gym session. She regularly did barre, yoga and Pilates at a local fitness club using communal mats that she cleaned with disinfectant wipes. A nurse and workout friend warned Lee that these wipes contain a lot of chemicals and encouraged her to bring her own mat. That still didn’t solve the problem of cleaning her mat, so Lee decided to make her own washable product.
R-Yolo’s mat is made of three layers, Lee said. On top is a woven towel imported from Turkey, which is attached to a non-slip rubber base by foam padding. The mats are produced in Cranston, Rhode Island, and consumers pay $140 per mat.
Lee has bootstrapped the company thus far. The Harvard-based founder is completing her MPA at Suffolk University and credited the business faculty with helping her figure out some basics like market research and building a business plan. She also won the Suffolk IP Pitch Competition, which gave her access to a lawyer who helped her apply for a trademark on the company name. Lee had already secured a utility patent for her mat design.
Lee said much of her success has come from networking and putting herself and her product in front of people.
This January, Lee went to a yoga expo in Pasadena, California, with the goal of connecting with influencers. She also stopped by a local Kimpton Hotel to drop off a sample mat in an effort to get the chain to replace its in-room rubber mats with her product. By chance, she also went into the GBK Brand Bar, a high-end gift shop within the hotel.
She started chatting with the owner, whose mother grew up in Worcester, about her mats. By the time she left, the owner had invited her to provide R-Yolo mats in the gift bags that are presented to nominees and other Academy members at a two-day event prior to the Oscar ceremony.
A few weeks later, Lee was standing next to 100 of her yoga mats at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel as celebrities made their way to her booth. The stars who scooped up her mat included Paloma Garcia-Lee of West Side Story and Nika King from Euphoria.
One of Lee’s goals is to connect with large companies like Lululemon about licensing her yoga mat. She met a celebrity and several members of the media at this Oscars event who promised to connect her with the fitness company’s corporate office.
“I think that’s really the key to my success right now, is to capitalize on people I meet and seeing how they may have a connection somewhere and help me navigate this journey,” Lee said.
R-Yolo’s mats sold out after the Oscars-generated buzz on social media. Lee said she hopes to have the mats restocked in May. She is also expanding the mat’s color options to include mint green and periwinkle.
At this rate, Lee said she might also need to hire an operations manager to help with R-Yolo’s growth. It’s a problem she is happy to tackle.
“Whenever I wanted to pull that ripcord, I’m so glad I didn’t,” Lee said. “Because I do feel that there’s so much more to come.”
