“Yoga Gives Back is a truly inspiring organization, both visionary and effective in delivering its mission and making a real difference in the day-to-day lives of women and children. It is an honor to represent YGB as an Ambassador, and it feels like a full circle moment: over two decades ago, as a student of Development Studies researching the dire challenges of women surviving poverty, I learned about the ways in which women could overcome poverty and thrive by by utilizing their knowledge, skills and talents to create their own businesses. As such, micro-financing is a powerful way to offer life-changing entrepreneurial opportunities to women. After sharing yoga for many years as a way to heal and thrive, collaborating with YGB feels deeply aligned with a cause that I have long been passionate about. India has given the world the gift of yoga, which has been transformative for so many people’s lives, and I’m excited to have the opportunity to give back by contributing to the empowerment of women, which in turn, empowers whole communities.”
Julie Choi Trepkau
Julie Choi Trepkau is a teacher and mother living in Encinitas, California. Julie started teaching yoga over 18 years ago, unexpectedly stepping upon this path after completing undergraduate and graduate degrees in Art History, Anthropology, and Development Studies, and then working in the art and corporate marketing communications fields in New York, London and Hong Kong. Julie has been a student of yoga since 1995, and began the daily practice of Ashtanga yoga in 2000. She became a mother for the first time in 2008, a yoga teacher in 2003, and a teacher of elementary age children in 2013. She made her first visit to India to study Ashtanga yoga in 2006, and continues to return to study yoga in the place where it was born. Julie is grateful to her teachers and fellow students and seekers she’s been enriched by on this path.