SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Self care has always been important to Michelle Mahar, especially since the pandemic impacted life. As a yoga and self care enthusiast, Michelle had an idea to start a business that would allow busy people to prioritize their self care in a set amount of time.
She brought the idea to her sister, Joanne, and Man.tra Box was born.
“People can take time for themselves and hopefully kind of reduce that feeling of just busy on the go nonstop,” Joanne said.
The sisters began with just selling the boxes that included the room spray or candle, sage or a burn and a mantra of the month. They then included the small journals that have prompts that can be done in less than ten minutes. The sisters wanted to include these so that people can have a more interactive self care experience.
Now that their business is expanding into local Syracuse stores such as Hot Yoga Syracuse and the Crescent Collective, Man.tra Box has started to sell the items in the box separately. This way, when customers see their products at stores or pop-up shops, they can purchase those homemade items instead of the entire box.
With busy lives and full-time jobs, the sisters were not able to spend as much time with each other before starting Man.tra Box. Now, even with the addition of a small business to run, the sisters have grown closer because of the time they spend together creating the boxes.
“We do get to hang out, and that is really nice because we kind of weren’t for a second, you know, this brought us closer as sisters,” Michelle said.
Since they make all the products themselves, they are able to take time outside of their jobs and get together to brainstorm and create their products for the boxes. On the other hand, they attend pop-up shops and promote their product in the community together, which Michelle said is nice when their clients get to meet the both of them together.
“You just need to get out in the community and people see us and meet us,” Michelle said.
Michelle and Joanne are looking to grow even more in the future with a website and more pop-up shops. With the strengthened sisterhood the have created, the only self care they need is found in each other.
