WellnessWednesday: JUJA Active

Founder Jen Russo (pictured above, second from left) opened JUJA Active in Southampton Village this year. Here Russo gives us the details about the activewear boutique, their charity yoga classes and her background. Give us a background on JUJA Active and how it was started: I founded JUJA in 2015 as a place for discovery and community. In my former career as an investment banker, I traveled often for work, grounding my trips with visits to local yoga studios. In these studios I found fabulous clothes from small independent brands, many created by enterprising women. I saw a need in the marketplace to bring a curated selection of these wonderful products to women everywhere. The result is JUJA Active, a place of grace, sisterhood and infectious optimism! JUJA Active’s mission both as a brand and as part of society is to empower women and girls. Empowerment begins with self confidence. Being comfortable in our bodies increases self confidence and wearing clothes that enable us to express who we are displays and enhances that confidence. Women are often hard on themselves and our hope is that JUJA can encourage positive self image through inspiring products and a supportive community. I think our tagline says it best: Activewear to inspire a movement! What are some of your favorite items for sale at JUJA? It’s hard to pick favorites. I love everything that we sell. But my current obsession are the graffiti leggings from Nolí Yoga and the Patchwork Sports Bra from the new Track & Bliss fall collection.

Favorite thing about summer in The Hamptons: Fresh local vegetables! My personal favorites: tomatoes from Pike Farm in Sagaponack and salad bowl lettuce from Halsey Farm in Water Mill. Tell us about the Summer Yoga Series and some of the charities you support: JUJA began its journey to fulfill our social mission shortly after launching. This summer we created an amazing yoga series led by renowned teachers where each class benefited a non-profit working to empower women and girls.

The classes were held in the yoga tent at the Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton. We are so grateful to One Ocean Yoga and the Channing family for their generous donation of the yoga space that made this all possible. We raised money for The Retreat, a not-for-profit agency against domestic violence and other forms of gender violence, the Urban Zen Foundation Integrative Therapy’s breast cancer program and the Lower East Side Girls Club. Each organization works to nurture and empower women and girls and we are proud to have been able to help even as a young company.

As we grow, we will build upon this movement to develop programs that help women gain additional confidence and comfort in their bodies, particularly when coming back from situations of adversity.

How do you find the brands that you carry? I found a number of our brands through my travels to yoga studios around the country. I have been introduced to others through yoga teachers, fellow practitioners and other fitness instructors. I feel very fortunate that brands are now finding us. We are always on a quest for new, fun and interesting products to share with our JUJA community. What are some of your favorite workouts? I grew up dancing so the workouts I love are those that move me spiritually as well as physically. As someone who also craves hot weather, I love hot yoga. My favorite class: a heated vinyasa practice with lots of arm balances and interesting sequences. Where did the name JUJA come from? I named JUJA after my two amazing stepdaughters, Julia and Jamie. I have had the privilege of being part of their lives for 15 years and they continue to inspire me.

How was you first summer in Southampton? Plans now that summer is winding down? Our first summer was amazing. We had such an enthusiastic response from the community here and we already have self-described JUJA addicts! We look forward to continuing to bring our customers new, fabulous products in our Southampton store, our online store www.jujaactive.com and new stores in other locations. We will stay open year-round here and we are looking forward to a beautiful Hamptons autumn. We are excited to be participating in the inaugural Hamptons Yogafest in mid-September and are planning some great in-store events in the coming months.

We are working on many exciting new initiatives for the fall. We will be launching our full ecommerce site and opening a new JUJA Active pop-up shop, all in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more.