As the founder and current treasurer of Vibrant Lives of Montana, Melainya is guided by a genuine love for people, community, and the beautiful possibilities that unfold when we come together.

With a background in mental health, mindfulness, yoga, and holistic wellness, she finds joy in creating opportunities for connection, curiosity, and growth. She believes we each have something meaningful to offer and that together, we can create a community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

For Melainya, VLM is more than an organization—it is a living, evolving expression of her belief that vibrant lives are cultivated together. She is grateful to be part of the journey.

Lou is a yogic practitioner, teacher and spiritual guide whose path began early in life, with a formal awakening unfolding in India more than 17 years ago. Traveling there for instruction, Lou returned profoundly changed; carrying an embodied understanding of practice rather than theory alone. Her teacher, Yogirishi Vishva-ji, shared Hindu philosophy through light-hearted devotion and presence, teachings that continue to inform her work and way of being.

Lou has completed over 1,600 hours of training and teaching in Kundalini, Kriya, Hatha and Shabd Yoga, alongside extensive continuing education in Reiki, sound healing, Ayurveda and most recently Inner Alignment somatic coaching. She is a Registered Yoga Alliance Teacher, a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider, and is listed on the American Yoga Council directory. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Colorado State University, allowing her to bridge spiritual depth with grounded leadership and structure.

Sally is a writer/teacher/Mom/yoga practitioner/hiker from Dillon, Montana. Originally from Ohio, she’s lived in Chicago, Connecticut, and California. However, she fell in love with Montana when she came here for graduate school. Having received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Montana in Missoula, she's had work published in rattle, Ekphrastic Review, Writing in a Woman's Voice, the Sun, Room, Hole in the Head Review and Oyster River Pages. Surprisingly—to her—she recently got honorable mention for her poem “Airbnb” for a humor contest. She doesn’t really think of her writing as funny. She’s taught writing for many years now, at colleges, at elementary schools, for teens, for tweens, and at all-girls writing workshops. Currently, she teaches at University of Montana Western. Besides writing, she loves hiking and taking pictures on her iPhone.