R-YOLO, Donna Lee
The R-Yolo story starts in 2014 with founder Donna Lee’s journey toward health and mindfulness. After losing her dear mother to congestive heart failure and diabetes, Donna dedicated herself to the gym and cultivated a newfound love for Yoga and Pilates. With every gym visit or yoga class, Donna’s concerns about cleanliness circled her mind, leaving her concerned that the sanitation of studio-provided equipment was less-than-sanitary. Knowing that traditional yoga mats can be wiped down with toxic cleaning products that provide inadequate cleaning of bacteria and germs.
That’s when Donna’s big idea for a machine washable and dryable yoga mat safer than the alternatives on the market came to life. Donna Lee lives by the phrase, “Remember...you only live once.” After receiving her bachelor's degree from Brandeis University, Donna Lee is now enrolled in Suffolk University, studying to receive a Master of Public Administration. A driven entrepreneur dedicated to bringing her big idea to life, Lee won the Suffolk University Center for Entrepreneurship Pitch Contest, debuting the R-Yolo mat to dozens of celebrities at this year’s Oscars celebration, and has received a considerable amount of attention from local and national media alike.
Launched in 2020, the R-YOLO yoga mat is a safer, more stable, and more sanitary alternative to the harder-to-clean yoga mats and towels on the market. Made with three layers of thick, yet lightweight, sustainable, and non-slip, padded material. R-YOLO is a more comfortable, sleek, sophisticated, and longer-lasting machine washable and machine dryable fitness accessory that can be used for yoga, Pilates, and several other mat-based exercises. R-YOLO is patented and made from eco-friendly, hypoallergenic, non-PVC materials.
I am a project manager by day. In my part-time "job" as CEO of R-YOLO, I created a prototype for a lightweight, sustainable and non-slip, padded yoga mat. I have a patent for my mats and am looking at various avenues - mostly through networking - to spread greater awareness of my mats and how much better they are as compared to traditional mats.
It was something that was always kind of in the back of my mind: There’s got to be something better out there. When I was practicing before, I would always put a towel down. I sweat a lot. It was very distracting to my practice. I kind of put up with what was available to me.
A couple of things precipitated what I did. In 2018, I had just left a yoga practice. It was Father’s Day and the car in front of me had a New Hampshire license plate that said "PAPA," which is what I called my father. 10 minutes later, I had a freak accident. I fell under the car while it was going backward. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was lying there pretty zen because I had done a 90-minute yoga practice. I was pretty lucky. I got up and moved the car. It was a pivoting moment for me. I have a bigger purpose. Remember you only live once. I do feel that my dad was there to prevent me from becoming severely injured. I was pretty lucky that it went over my core. I skirted past a pretty bad situation.
I was in the hospital for 5 days and couldn’t walk for 6 months. It was a big, long recovery. On Jan. 1, 2020, I participated in a 21-day online manifesting class. I decided I wanted to invent this mat but I didn’t know how I was going to do it. On the 22nd day, it all came to me how to make this mat. Entering this challenge I had an idea. I said 'Oh I need a Turkish towel, padding in the middle.' The towel is fused to the padding and it's all stitched together. It's easy to clean. You could put it in the washing machine and dryer.
There are no other yoga mats on the market like this.
I became connected to SCORE after participating in SCORE's 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition.
Tony connected me to a couple of interns through Clark University have allowed me to outsource some functions of my business. Last semester I had an intern who was a Fulbright scholar who did marketing. Tony has helped with financial projections for the company, keeping us all honest and going, and was there for me through the pitch presentation. He also did the business plan with me, all 40 pages of it. Now that we’re going after a microloan, Tony has helped with pulling all the necessary pieces together, connecting me with my CPA who is fantastic.
He helped me prepare for the pitch competition. He's connected me to valuable professionals that have helped with my accounting, including a CPA and is working with me to help secure funding.
Remember, you only live once!
Everybody from SCORE who was at the pitch competition took me under their wing. They were really supportive, letting me network quite a bit; helping me benefit and access help that I don’t even have to pay for. I’m a big proponent of their model. I think someday when I'm a little bit further down this road I’m traveling, if I can help with SCORE, I’d love to volunteer. I'm positioning myself to be able to give back.
