Taylor Stull ’16 is on a mission to help people live healthier, holistically well lives by creating access to specialized yoga and wellness instructors with his new company, Flowell. He credits Sigma Chi with giving him tools to lead his startup to the next level.
Gamma Chi: What made you decide to pledge to Sigma Chi?
Stull: My dad was a Sigma Chi at Virginia Tech in the ’80s and when I was growing up, his Sigma Chi brothers were like my extended uncles. So, when I was introduced to Greek Life at Maryland, I had my eye on Sigma Chi.
Out of all the fraternities, I found that Gamma Chi Sigs were super genuine and honest, and they were each driven in their own ways but didn’t take life too seriously. I knew that I wanted to be a part of a community like that.
Gamma Chi: Have you kept up with Gamma Chi brothers after graduation?
Stull: I have. There are a few brothers who I am really close with: John Bosland ’16 and Alex Anschuetz ’15, especially. But what’s great about seeing brothers who I don’t keep up with as frequently is that I know we are going to have this brotherly relationship forever, and as soon as we pick up again, we haven’t missed a beat.
Gamma Chi: How did your time with Sigma Chi better prepare you for life after graduation? What kind of lasting impact has it had on your life?
Stull: Sigma Chi really taught me how to be a values-oriented leader. The foundational values that Sigma Chi teaches are so applicable across leadership and team building, but they also play a role in my personal life. I was fortunate to attend Horizon’s leadership summit and serve as Philanthropy Chair in 2015-2016; we raised the most money for Children’s Miracle Network at Derby Days since the house was reestablished. These experiences showed me the power of putting a mission at the center of our work, and I learned firsthand how to effectively position team members so they could use their strengths to help drive us forward.
Gamma Chi: What specific Sigma Chi values can you point to as being most valuable to you personally?
Stull: I would say it’s the principle of living and acting guided by an ideal. As a Sig, you learn how to operate with high ambition and drive. I gained experience in accepting that even if something is beyond my capabilities now, I should continue to work toward it with courage, confidence and discipline. It wasn’t until after I graduated that I started to see how this value reigns true across all aspects of my life. 
Gamma Chi: Tell us about your company, Flowell.
Stull: Flowell connects students and instructors for a more personalized online yoga and wellness class experience. We’re creating a community of people who share the same values of personal wellbeing and value shared experiences. Our goal is to increase access to wellness-oriented learning opportunities for students and to create a streamlined and scalable class delivery system for yoga and wellness instructors.
It all started when my girlfriend and I were looking online for yoga instructors who could help with hip pain and stress relief. It was difficult to find specialized instructors who could work with us online, and YouTube and other streamed group classes weren’t giving us the level of feedback we were looking for.
The more I researched, the more that I found that there is a significant gap in the online fitness market: instructors are trying to market and deliver their specialized yoga and wellness services online, but the delivery system is fractured and there isn’t a centralized place where students can easily find and connect with them.
So, we’re building Flowell to be the centralized and personalized yoga and wellness marketplace for students and instructors to connect with each other. My team is working in collaboration with our future customers to most effectively deliver this value, and to make the online yoga and wellness class experience richer for people all around the world.
Gamma Chi: How can Gamma Chi brothers get involved with this investment opportunity?
Stull: The easiest way to get involved is to send me an email! Flowell is under development and there are investment opportunities to help us reach our next level. We are currently raising capital to build out the web-based product and to execute our data-driven operations and customer acquisition plan. We’ve developed a seamless and elegant end-to-end solution for students and instructors, and we are excited to speak with Sig brothers who have a personal interest, or connection to folks who may have an interest, in working with us to tackle a problem faced by consumers around the world. This round of fundraising will be closing on February 28.
If you’d like to learn more about investment opportunities, visit https://www.flowell.co/ or email Taylor at [email protected].
SIDEBAR:
Wellness during the Pandemic
For Taylor Stull, founder of Flowell, a company that connects people with specialized yoga and wellness professionals, thinking about wellness holistically is crucial during COVID-19, and it doesn’t have to be hard.
Get Moving: “Exercise is crucial, and it doesn’t have to be rigorous – just create space and time to move your body and get your heart rate up. Yoga and running have been my saving grace — they connect body and mind and allow me to push outside my comfort zone if I’m feeling it.”
Hydrate: “Drink a lot of water. It keeps your immune system strong. When I feel anxious, tired or on edge, many times dehydration is a huge part of it. It’s easy to neglect your basics, so make sure they’re covered.”
Create: “Have a creative outlet — something that you create and bring into the world. It boosts confidence and strengthens the muscle of looking at things differently. I’m a firm believer that the more open we keep our minds, the more opportunity there is for meaningful ideas to come out of them.”
Get Outside: “Get outside, take a mental pause to rebalance and recalibrate. Often my best ideas and moments of clarity come on walks or hikes. Our minds naturally synthesize information when we’re not actively trying to process it. Nature is a great place to let that happen.”
Be Grateful: “For me, God is number one, and when I intentionally acknowledge the blessings in my life, it realigns my perspective and translates into a more positive view of other people, myself and my circumstances. Throughout this COVID-19 season, an attitude of gratitude has been a game-changer.”