Our story
Yoga Pops has been a labor of love, collaboration and passion for Nalini & Anita. For the longest time, Anita had been encouraging Nalini to package and sell “healthy foods” inspired by Ayurveda. This was an idea that Nalini resisted given her belief that all food should be enjoyed fresh. If it's packaged, then it wouldn't meet that basic criteria.
Many years later, the idea for Yoga Pops came along quite serendipitously. Nalini had been serving them at her ayurvedic pop-up dinners, held in various restaurants across the country. Folks would ask if they could take them back home and Nalini realized, well why not package and sell them? (..finally..!)
With their combined expertise - Nalini as an Ayurvedic chef with a background in retail sourcing, and Anita as a seasoned corporate executive specializing in talent & culture, Yoga Pops was born. They make the perfect team and have made it their core value to do business with integrity and give back to the community such as farmers in rural India and others along the way. They are proud & excited to bring you this delicious, unique and tri-doshic snack.
- About Us -
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Nalini Mehta
Nalini started teaching Ayurvedic cooking 18 years ago. She views food and the cooking process as a means to nurturing the soul - an experience for the mind, body, and soul.
She began as a culinary instructor at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health while she still worked in the fashion industry, buying and merchandising for Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue and product development and sourcing for Target Corporations. Moonlighting in the food world, she did everything from catering private events, cooking at gourmet stores in New York as well as the kitchens of Candle Cafe and Hampton Chutney. She was a culinary instructor at the Whole Foods Culinary Center, the Institute of Culinary Education and The NY Open Center.
Eventually in 2010 she moved to San Francisco and started her own culinary school called Route To India where culinary programs were rooted in her knowledge and experience of her Indian culture. She began to organize culinary trips to India and offered weekend yoga culinary retreats in Sonoma CA as well as the Art Of Living Retreat Center, Boone NC.
Nalini has been a speaker at a range of institutions including San Francisco Asian Art Museum, Rubin Museum of Art, Princeton University, Baruch College and the United Nations. Most recently, Nalini was the recipient of the James Beard Foundation Women In Culinary Leadership Grant program.
Anita Balakrishnan
Founder of Talent Evolve, Anita Balakrishnan, is a talent management and leadership development expert with over 20 years of corporate and consulting experience across world-class companies in the United States, Europe and Asia. As she progressed in her career to a senior executive, working for companies such as Novartis, Deloitte, American Express, HP & Newell Brands, focusing on Talent & Culture, she had the epiphany that “culture eats strategy for breakfast,” and having an environment where people thrive is the key to business success.
Talent Evolve specializes in the development of business and people strategies from acquiring the right talent to building an optimal culture. It also assists in developing talent programs including career, succession & workforce planning, goal setting & performance, learning strategies as well as individual and executive coaching.
Her clients range from small start-ups to large international organizations.
Anita has a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature & Psychology from Mumbai University and a Master's Degree in HR/Organizational Development from the London School of Economics.