Yoga • Wellness • Art • Community
Coty (Austin) Sluis – Freelance Artist, Studio Owner & Director, and Certified Yoga Teacher, Coty has a deep passion for building community and encouraging others to follow their wildest dreams. She was born and raised in Burlington, Vermont, and has spent her adult life thus far, traveling, learning and growing through experience and adventure. She has lived in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, as well as in Costa Rica before moving to Lakeside, Montana to plant her roots with her husband, Josh
Josh Sluis – Studio Owner and Property Manager, Josh grew up in Northern California, and has lived in North Carolina and Colorado, before settling down and convincing Coty to move to Montana. Josh has spent 13 years in the military, the majority of the time as a US Army Green Beret. He enjoys snowboarding and all the outdoor activities Montana has to offer. He has lived in Montana since 2015, and traveled to 49 states. A creative mind with pragmatic approach, Josh is a true ‘jack-of-all-trades’ who sees a challenge and accepts it with it confidence. Coty says that Josh is the driving force behind the business. With his extensive experience in building and contracting, Josh brings life to Coty’s ideas.
Coty Austin created Wildflower Society in 2015, originally, as a clothing brand. After taking a silk-screening class in Burlington, Vermont, Coty began printing her original art and designs on t-shirts and selling them on Etsy as well as in local stores. The company kept growing and organically shifted into a yoga inspired brand. Coty sold her shirts with hand-drawn designs in stores and yoga studios all along the East Coast including Vermont, New York, North Carolina and Florida. She attended big festivals such as ‘Wanderlust’ as an Authorized Vendor and hosted her own ‘pop-up shops’ and collaborative sold-out events within her community.
Soon after making the big move to Montana, Coty decided it was the right time to finally get her 200-hour Yoga Certification, and did so that fall. Just weeks after graduation, Coty began teaching yoga full-time at three different locations in the Valley, and quickly came to the realization that this was how she wanted to spend the majority of her time. Her life-long dream was to open a Yoga Studio and Boutique for her clothing brand and when her and Josh stumbled upon the perfect space in town, she knew it was time to take a leap of faith and follow the guidance she’d been receiving and start living out her dreams.
Coty and Josh live in their wooded home in Lakeside with their two sons, Holden (Age 7) and baby Austin and their two rowdy dogs, Bruce and Huckleberry. Together, they’ve built a ‘Tiny Home’ guest-house/Airbnb on their property (as seen on an episode of HGTV’s ‘Tiny Paradise’) creatively renovated and converted a classic ’65 Airstream into a mobile bar, as well as what is now, Flathead Lake Hostel – affordable lodging connected to the Yoga Studio! Josh runs the behind-the-scenes at Wildflower Society headquarters, as well as manages the property. Josh and Coty have traveled across the country together, and are known for their ‘epic road trips,’ visiting and staying in over 24 states in just one years’ time. Together they’ve surfed in Puerto Rico, snowboarded in Jackson Hole, skateboarded around San Diego, wake-boarded on Flathead Lake, and did a whiskey shot-ski in Vermont… They’ve hiked in Zion, Moab, Arches and Glacier National Park. They’ve visited the Great Yogananda’s Temple in Encinitas and meditated by the sea. They’ve gone to concerts and visited Strawberry Hot Springs in Colorado, ate lobster rolls in Boston, drank wine in Portland, sang karaoke in the Outer Banks, went on a witch hunt in Salem, gambled (and lost) in Vegas, and did a whole lot of nothing in Delaware… Side by side, they are an unstoppable force driven by inspiration, renovation, adventure and ever changing, wild love.
“Your life is a sacred journey. It is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way. You are on the path… exactly where you are meant to be right now… And from here, you can only go forward, shaping your life story into a magnificent tale of triumph, of healing, of courage, of beauty, of wisdom, of power, of dignity, and of love.” – Caroline Adam
