SCOTT LAWLOR

Yogi / Produce Purveyor

STORY BY AMELIA BOLDAJI / PHOTO BY CORY GODWIN

THERE’S A FLURRY OF TEXTS BEFORE SCOTT LAWLOR CAN EVEN SIT DOWN WITH A CUP OF COFFEE, but he seems to juggle it all with a sense of ease, carefully checking items off a stack of papers and taking the odd phone call with unhurried patience. At an hour when most people are starting their morning, Scott’s just finished teaching his first of three classes for the day at Kind Yoga (which he co-owns), and even during this relatively slower season he still has a formidable list of daily local orders to take and fill as sole proprietor of Hatties Wholesale Produce and Culinary Specialties. He’s also an accredited teacher and founder of the Scott Lawlor Yoga Academy, a father of four ranging in age from toddler to teenager, and a self-proclaimed type-A personality turned dreamer who loves to talk about his enduring crush on the world – and who firmly believes that anything can be made better with an extra touch of kindness.

Can you talk a bit about the wholesale produce part of your work life?

I moved [to the Outer Banks] in ’96, and opened a niche produce market – Hatties – in ‘98, when there wasn’t a coffee or juice shop anywhere on the beach. I was a little ahead of my time, so after a couple years I sold my building, but not the business, and was able to buy some trucks to expand the wholesale part – basically, I was debt-free with an opportunity. Within a few years, I had about 100 accounts from Corolla to Ocracoke with restaurants, farm stands and small supermarkets. I also have a 25-yearplus relationship with every local farmer from here to Raleigh, and we don’t inventory anything, so it’s all directly farm to fork or market.

And in addition to that, you’re a fulltime yoga instructor as well?

The yoga part is funny. I came and went with yoga for decades [since the ‘80s]…and I taught my first class roughly seven years ago. Ish. It’s been a blur! [Laughs] Now I teach about 10 to 14 classes a week, and I'm a Yoga Alliance-certified continuing education provider. But I didn’t want to be a teacher at first – I had a business and kids; I just wanted to practice. Then my first class had 24 people in it, and afterward the entire group clapped for like five whole minutes…[teaching] is my darling now, and I’ve done it religiously ever since. It’s the vitality of life – I stopped practicing, and started living it.

They’re two different fields, but it sounds as though a lot of it comes down to wellness and healthy living – is that particularly important to you?

I absolutely feel like we should have options to traditional medicine…[which is why] I’m also training to be a yoga therapist and we’re looking forward to a big upcoming expansion of Kind as a wellness center. I wasn’t always this peaceful though! In the early 2000s my doctor wanted to put me on four prescriptions for blood pressure, but I went for a lifestyle change instead – and yoga ultimately taught me what I already knew by letting me be still enough to understand it. It can sound very hippy-dippy, but I just want people to be nice to each other. I’m a dreamer…[Hums the tune, laughs] but I’m not the only one.

But seriously, how do you balance it all?

It’s morning, noon and night, and I’ll go through 100-plus texts every day when I wake up, but I have a lot of support – my kids are incredible – and I thrive on organized chaos. It can be hard here; you have to make a living all on the fly, but the resilience people have is amazing. When it comes down to it, I’ve been selling tomatoes since I was 15 years old, my yoga community is the love of my life…and [I find that] hardships show up less when you embrace them. I just get up every morning and set the intention to be the best I can be – and then go.