In this talk, June Pai, Director of International Sales at the yoga company Manduka, begins with a brief guided breathing exercise before sharing her personal narrative. She recounts growing up in a patriarchal society in Seoul, where she was encouraged to be independent and pursued interests in math, science, and baseball rather than traditional gendered activities. After immigrating to Arcadia, California, she faced gender-based exclusion when denied entry to Little League, which intensified her drive to compete with boys. Throughout school she oscillated between tomboy pursuits (marching band, drum major) and later, a sorority experience that shifted her focus to appearance and social acceptance, leading to a loss of academic direction. Post‑college, feeling adrift, she turned to yoga for clarity, discovered Manduka, and applied for a part‑time role. The CEO, Sky Melzer, offered her a full‑time position to build an international division, a challenge that sparked her career growth. Over seven and a half years she built Manduka’s international business, benefitted from female mentorship, earned an MBA, and launched side ventures—a nonprofit and a consulting firm. Her concluding message emphasizes that feeling lost is normal, that exploring varied paths is valuable, and that staying true to oneself despite societal expectations leads to fulfillment.
Chapters
Hi guys. Kind of hard to follow that one, but we're going to actually change the pace a little bit. I'm June. I work at Manduka, which is a yoga company, actually. And we're going to do a little bit of yoga right now. So I want everyone to sit and close your eyes, if it's OK. If you're not comfortable, it's okay. You can leave them open. You can place your hand, right hand on your chest and left hand on your stomach. Again, if you don't feel comfortable, you can leave them however you'd like. And we're just going to take a moment, this moment for ourselves. We'll take a deep breath in and exhale. Another deep breath in. This time, exhale with your mouth. And some of you are doing it already. We're going to inhale and then exhale so that it's audible. All right, so I think you guys are maybe now ready for my story. So I had a really difficult time actually preparing for this, 'cause I was trying to avoid the stereotypical, "Oh, I live in a patriarchal society," or like, "Oh, I'm an immigrant and I moved from wherever." But you know when you tell yourself not to think about certain things, that's all you think about? So those are exactly the two things I'm gonna talk about today. And I don't really have a cool aha moment where it struck and where I was like, you know what, this is where I got my life figured out. And the truth is, I'm still trying to figure it out, and I think many of us still are. And so my story's gonna be more about how I got here and how it's okay to be lost and how it's okay to wander. So I was born in Seoul, and yes, it's a, well, still is, but at the time was very male dominant. And my mom stayed at home and my dad worked. So as you can see, it's a very patriarchal society. And my parents did a good job though of trying to raise me a very independent, strong woman. And so instead of joining Girl Scout, I was a space explorer. When other people were doing dance or whatnot, played chess. I was really into math and science. I was a pretty nerdy kid. And when I was 9, my family decided that we were gonna move to Arcadia, which is about 20-ish miles northeast of here. So I moved here and thinking, "Oh, this is so great. Land of equality, land of freedom." You know, I get to be like, One of the boys, whatever. And so I get here, and one of the first experiences I have, I decided that I wanted to join Little League. I'm a huge baseball fan, and I was gonna be an MLB pitcher when I grew up. So I, yeah, I just moved here, there was a little booth in front of a grocery store, and I walked up and said, "I'm gonna join Little League." They're like, "You are not joining Little League." And I said, "Why not?" And they're like, "Well, girls play softball here." And I said, "What's softball? I only watch baseball." And for 2 days straight, I cried, 'cause they didn't let me join Little League. So it was a very disappointing moment. I moved here thinking that, you know, everything was gonna be great, and then I got turned down, can't play baseball. So that kind of made me work even harder even harder to compete with the boys and be one of them. At one point, I even had a bowl cut, glasses, and was a total tomboy. I was a late bloomer. And so that path continued on when my friends were joining dance or drill team. I tried out to be drum major of a marching band. Yeah, actually I did that for many years. Still teach marching band. And I finally got, I told you I was a late bloomer, I finally got to college and I was like, you know what, I don't think people like me. I saw all these pretty girls in sororities and I was like, oh wait, maybe I wanna be one of them. And that's what I did. I stopped really caring about my academic work. I stopped. Yup. I stopped, I actually quit marching band, and I said, "I was gonna be in this, and I'm gonna be in the sorority." And it was a great experience. I met one of my best friends who's here tonight, here. And so I'm not saying that joining a sorority is a bad thing, but it's just, it took my focus off of many things that were important to me. And I really only cared about my appearance, and how I looked and if I was liked. And when I graduated from college, I was really lost because everything that I had focused on before, I kind of threw out the door. And so I started practicing yoga, trying to find clarity, trying to find the meaning of life and what am I gonna do next? So I'm in a yoga studio and practicing and not finding clarity, not peaceful at all. But I keep seeing these little red frogs on everyone's mats. I'm like, what is going on? What are these red frogs? So I Google and said, what is this brand called Manduka? And I found out it's a little yoga company that's based in El Segundo. And I was like, you know what, I don't know what I'm going to do with my life anyway. What the heck, I'm going to apply for a job here. So I applied for a job that was 7, 8 years ago almost. And I interviewed with the CEO at the time, Sky Melzer, and I said, "Hey, would love to join your company. I started doing yoga, big fan of your brand. And I'm looking for a part-time role. I don't really know what I'm gonna do." And he said, "June, you're not gonna work part-time here. You're gonna work full-time, and I know exactly what you're gonna do." And at the time, they didn't have an international division, so he decided that for whatever reason I would be a good fit for the role. And because of his trust and confidence in me, it really instilled this accountability and responsibility. And I said, you know what, I'm going to make this happen. And so I did. And so for the next 7 and a half years, and even to this afternoon, I've been busting my butt and trying to make this international business for Manduka happen. And meanwhile, I had really great mentors, female mentors, actually our president now at the moment is also female, who have guided me along the way. And it's motivated me to get my MBA, motivated me to find a couple different companies on my own, on the side, one of them which is a nonprofit, and another consulting business. And so the moral of my story is, It's okay to be lost. It's okay to try out different things, but don't ever focus on what people perceive of you or what you feel like you have to be because of what society tells you. It's okay to be lost, try it out, but keep finding yourself, keep searching, and it'll work out.
