Despite dropping out of college and having a “very turbulent young life,” Azmina Pirani says she always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
She started her first business in her early twenties: a meditation center in McKinney.
“I had no idea what I was getting into,” she says. “I didn’t even work at a meditation center priorly, so I had no knowledge about what it all takes.”
The business closed after about two years, when Pirani realized just how tough it was to start something from scratch without a network.
“I had no family or friends at the time who were business owners, so I was very lonely. I think it took a very emotional toll,” Pirani says. “So, I took a break for about a year.”
Pirani recalled a vendor market she’d attended while operating her meditation center. It was November in Celina, and quite cold. However, the market’s beverages only included margaritas and wine, despite the thirtysomething degree weather.
Pirani thought of the idea for Snug Mug right then – a mobile beverage bar serving up hot cocoas with a variety of toppings.
By the end of that week, all of the supplies and licensing had been completed.
“I knew it was almost meant to be because I had zero advertising, I just did this as a side gig to my full-time business, and one of my first clients were the Cowboys,” Pirani says. “That’s how I knew it was going to take off. You don’t get large clients like that just pop into your lap, especially when you have no PR, no marketing, nothing like that.”
This season (October through January) is the fourth for Snug Mug, which will also be releasing packaged hot cocoa mix this year, and Snug Mug Collaborated Baked Goods can be found in bakeries in Frisco and Allen.
“It makes people so happy,” Pirani says. “If I want to take it deeper, which I will, because of course I ran a meditation center, I think people forget that it’s the simple things in life that make you smile. I feel like a lot of times, adults don’t even know how to have fun anymore. They restrict themselves. They’re very rigid. It’s nice to see people get loose and very excited.”
Despite closing her original meditation studio, Pirani kept up with a “holistic lifestyle.”
“It never left me. I took a break because I couldn’t handle it. I didn’t have a community I could bounce off. I didn’t have friends that I could ask for advice or collaborate with,” Pirani says. “But now I’m in a position where I do have all of that and my passion is to teach people that you can have inner peace and inner strength no matter what part of life you’re in.”
Pirani opened up a pop-up meditation studio and wellness center, Prana & Co., that partners with corporations and organizations to offer yoga classes, wellness coaching, meditation and other services.
“People here, especially in Dallas, are just so go-go-go,” Pirani says. “A quiet space is not a thing for them even in their house. So if we can bring it to their work or team building, it just makes me really happy to see other people have that peace.”
Aside from these businesses, Pirani focuses a lot of her time on working with nonprofits and local businesses to raise money for organizations benefiting women and children. Recently, these fundraisers give toward the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), an international charity that provides medical aid to children in Palestine.
“Most of my career, I haven’t had the support I expected to have on a personal level, other than my fiancé, and that’s been my push and motivation as to why I’m so active with fundraisers and trying to help women and children in the Middle East,” Pirani says. “And although I don’t physically know what they’ve gone through, I do feel for them. I know what it feels like to be alone. I know what it feels like when you feel like the whole world is against you or you’re just feeling so helpless that you don’t know what to do.”
According to Pirani, she has been able to donate over $10,000 in recent years to PCRF.
“I could not have done it without local businesses,” she says. “Through 10 years of running a business, I have seen that it’s the smallest businesses that lead with heart. They run their business off value, and they stay true to themselves.”
“I think if you’re a business owner, you’ve automatically taken on the responsibility to better your community, and have that motivation through your own heart. I think that if you can’t do that, you’re not a business owner. You’re not meant to do this. Entrepreneurship is far from being rich. I don’t know any entrepreneur that’s actually rich. I think that all of us are running in circles, just trying to figure it out.”
