Meet Co-Founder, Robyn Donaldson, J.D.
“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.”
the legendary, Maya Angelou
Robyn’s the Co-Founder of Paths to Peace and is based in Atlanta. Robyn specializes in Yoga, Ayurveda and Wellness. She taught at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) campuses for 5 years. She has taught yoga and offered wellness education at The Children’s Hospital, The Yoga House and Spelman College. She is Certified to Facilitate Listening Circles by The International Institute for Restorative Practices through the IRP Graduate Program. Robyn is a Certified Pilates Mat Teacher with Black Girl Pilates. She’s also a Consultant for organizations, municipalities, political campaigns and businesses on mental health.
Before teaching yoga, Robyn worked in the legal and political fields. She worked for President Barack Obama’s historic presidential campaign in 2008 as a Field Organizer in Florida. She continued to work for the president in his grassroots organization, Organizing for America. Robyn was the Regional Field Director in Broward County, Florida, overseeing the health care reform lobbying efforts for the president’s constituents.
It was through this work opportunity and experience caring for ailing relatives that Robyn became interested in the health and wellness industry. She started Robyn’s Healthy Living, a personal brand to encourage people to be more proactive with their wellness.
Robyn’s passion for civil rights, social justice and human rights led her to volunteer with a campaign to end the death penalty in Chicago. She was also named “Newcomer Mediator of the Year” by the Center for Conflict Resolutions in Chicago, for her volunteer work mediating juvenile cases in Cook County at the Markham Courthouse.
Robyn also worked for the Legal Assistance Foundation in Chicago, where she worked as a Civil Rights Investigator, testing over 100 retailers for racial discrimination in their hiring practices.
She also interned with the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs in Chicago, helping to raise awareness of the housing rights violations and international human rights issues regarding Cabrini-Green public housing residents being displaced by the City of Chicago.
While attending The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, she received a scholarship to work as a legal clerk for Judge Patricia Banks. Robyn was also the President of the Black Law Students Association and Vice President of the International Law School Society. She was on the International Law Moot Court team, which continued to spark her interest in international law.
Robyn had the extraordinary opportunity to study the South Africa Constitution and International Human Rights Law in Cape Town, South Africa, eleven years after the end of apartheid. During her law school studies in South Africa, Robyn was able to do a site visit to the Pollsmoor Prison in the Cape Town suburb of Tokai because she was studying international human rights implications of the U.S. prison industrial complex and the issue of overcrowding.
It was through these life, work and academic experiences that Robyn became interested in peace and nonviolence. Robyn completed training in Yoga for Inclusivity, Prison Yoga and Trauma Sensitive Yoga, in order to teach vulnerable populations and often excluded communities that do not always have access to yoga and meditation. She has volunteered her yoga teaching services to senior citizens, children, entrepreneurs and teenagers in juvenile justice detention centers.
Robyn’s obtained several two yoga teaching certifications. She has completed the required 500-hour advanced yoga training in Prana Vinyasa and Ayurveda. Robyn is one of the few African-American women to have this designated certification from the Samudra School of Global Living. She studied closely with Shiva Rea, master yoga teacher, artist and energy activist in California, Massachusetts and Kerala, India.
Robyn’s first yoga teacher training was a 200-hour certification in Hatha, the classical form of yoga with special study of the Sivananda yoga lineage. She is a member of Yoga Alliance and is an “Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher” (E-RYT), a designation for yoga teachers with advanced training and over 1,500 hours of yoga teaching experience.
She has traveled to Kerala, India to study Yoga, Ayurveda and Kalaripayattu, the oldest martial art in India. She also lived in Jakarta, Indonesia where she taught English as a Second Language and studied yoga in Bali. Robyn has traveled the world and taken spiritual pilgrimages everywhere from Africa to Asia, South America and Europe.
Robyn’s grassroots work and belief in President Obama’s campaign motto “respect, empower and include” inspired her to co-create “The Yoga House Atlanta”, a community wellness space based out of her home, dedicated to educating and motivating people of color and women to invest in a healthy living lifestyle.
Robyn’s love for connecting with people, the healing arts and spiritual study are what led her to co-host a podcast called “On the Spirit Path” which is available on iTunes, Spotify and more. Robyn dabbles in political consultation, background acting and film production in Atlanta.
Presently, Robyn has partnered with Dr. Keme Hawkins to create a peace and nonviolence, social justice program rooted in the arts.