Michelle Mahar and Joanne McNeilly are sisters in the Syracuse community who started this small business to help others prioritize their self care, but they ended up with an even greater gift of a strengthened sisterhood.
Transcript
MADDIE MUSTION: In January of 2022, Michelle Mahar went to her sister with an idea.
JOANNE MCNEILLY: When she came to me, she was basically like, you know, I have this idea so that we could provide this self-care. And, you know, people can take time for themselves and hopefully kind of reduce that feeling of just busy on the go nonstop.
MADDIE: Thus, the Mantra Box was born. Each box comes with a monthly mantra along with a candle or room spray, a crystal and a journal that has short prompts that only take about 5 to 10 minutes to reflect on.
JOANNE: That’s why I was like when we do these boxes, we have to put… we have to be consciences of peoples time.
MADDIE: In addition to monthly subscriptions, the sisters have begun selling the products individually in pop-up shops as well.
MICHELLE MAHAR: At the pop-ups, you know, we sold more than just the box itself. People didn’t weren’t forced to just buy a mantra box. You know, they could pick an item.
MADDIE: By giving the gift of self-care to others, Joanne and Michelle got a greater gift that you can’t fit into a Mantra box.
MICHELLE: 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.
MADDIE: By creating a product that dedicates time for self-care, Joanne and Michelle share dedicated time with each other outside of their busy lives.
MICHELLE: It’s hard because we both work full time, this is a side for us she has kids I have three dogs and a husband.
MADDIE: With the business and their sisterhood thriving, Joanne and Michelle are excited for the future of Mantra Box. In Syracuse, Maddie Mustion NCC News
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.