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Behind every yoga business is a founder with a vision. Explore their journeys, lessons, and strategies to build, grow, and make an impact.
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Movement helped Juri Ko navigate grief, personal transitions, and the process of reconnecting with herself. After discovering a deeper side of yoga in Hawaiʻi, she completed her teacher training and began building communities around movement
Yoga TechOriginally from Spain, I spent five years working in high-pressure environments across London and Australia, managing construction and design projects under relentless deadlines. While I was proud of my corporate accomplishments, I felt disconnected from myself. My introduction to yoga wasn’t glamorous—I started with YouTube videos at home, lacking flexibility or experience. Even lying still felt like a challenge. But something kept pulling me back. Gradually, I began noticing subtle shifts: I was calmer, more grounded, and less reactive to stress. It became a quiet refuge after long days. And over time, it started to reshape the way I approached life. That’s when I knew yoga wasn’t just a practice. It was a path...
Studio OwnerBefore stepping into the world of yoga, Vicky Chapman worked as a corporate travel agent. She met her husband in high school, and they’ve been together for 17 years. At 18, she moved to the UK, where the challenges of a new lifestyle led to significant weight gain. A serendipitous encounter with yoga while traveling in the US completely changed her path—she was instantly hooked. Beginning with Ashtanga, Vicky practiced consistently for two years before returning to Australia. There, she was unexpectedly pulled into a teacher training program and began teaching yoga at a local gym at just 21 years old. Within six months, her classes were full...
Yoga Business CoachBorn and raised in Istanbul, Nafiye Erdogan’s path was anything but traditional. With a background in mathematics, she explored careers in sales, education, and eventually banking after moving to Canada. It was during her time as a banker in Toronto that she quietly stepped into a yoga studio — battling depression, loneliness, and language barriers. She didn’t understand every word, yet something about the practice spoke directly to her soul. Often tucked into the back corner of the room, she moved through each session with quiet emotion, frequently leaving in tears. Without fully understanding how, yoga began to gently pull her out of the darkness...
Yoga TechStacie Dahlbeck first rolled out a yoga mat at age 12, tagging along to class with her mom. What started as something fun quickly turned into something sacred — a space where she felt supported, safe, and at ease in her own body. Not long after, her mom got certified as a yoga teacher, and Stacie knew in her heart she’d follow that path someday too. But like many, she took a more “practical” route after college. She entered grad school to become an audiologist — a steady, respectable profession. One year in, she realized she was living someone else’s dream. So she walked away. She had just moved from Lubbock to Fort Worth, a leap that felt big and brave — and it became the backdrop for her next chapter: teaching yoga full time...
Yoga TechLinda Rubesch never imagined yoga would become her life’s work. A native of Budapest, Hungary, she once dismissed yoga entirely, calling it boring. Her passions were theatre, literature, and sports — until a devastating roller skating accident shattered her knee and her sense of normal. Doctors warned she might never walk properly again. Determined to reclaim her active lifestyle, she started training on her own, despite having no knowledge of recovery. A chance encounter with a fellow gym-goer led her to a pilates class, which felt too gentle. But that same instructor pointed her toward something else: Ashtanga yoga. One class later, her pain disappeared — for 90 minutes. That was enough. She kept returning, again and again...
Yoga TechBorn in Buenos Aires, Satvika was raised in a high-pressure environment where success followed a fixed path: long work hours, marriage, and two weeks off each year. At just 22, with a degree in International Business Trade in hand, she realized she wanted more. She left Argentina and landed in California, where her journey of self-exploration began. Life, to her, became a canvas — one she would paint with intention, care, and creativity. A chance encounter with a spiritual teacher in San Diego sparked a fascination with ancient teachings. Her yoga practice began with a book she discovered years later, practicing daily in her living room. That humble start led her toward a life rooted in clarity, purpose, and deep transformation...
Yoga Business CoachBefore yoga became her anchor, Paula Richardson’s life was a whirlwind of responsibilities, reinvention, and resilience. She’s a woman who met early menopause like a head-on collision, while juggling family life, creative ventures, and a string of “sensible” jobs. A massage therapist by training and a seeker by nature, Paula always felt pulled toward what truly helps us feel better as we age. Like many women, she spent years putting others first—until her own body’s signals became impossible to ignore...
Teacher TrainingYoga didn’t come into Katherine Sheridan’s life as a lifestyle trend or a wellness goal—it came as a lifeline. After losing her sister in 2019, she found herself in a space of deep grief, struggling to feel whole. In the midst of that pain, yoga offered her something she had lost: breath. “Yoga gave me breath when I forgot how to breathe,” she says. It helped her feel safe in her body again, trust herself, and gently begin to rebuild...
Studio OwnerI’ve always been into movement—splits, bridges, and headstands came naturally because I was a gymnast by age five. Around thirteen, my spiritual curiosity started to awaken too. My mom was a big influence—she’d take me to breathwork, Reiki, astrologers, and fill our home with spiritual books. I was open to it all, even if I still wanted to fit in like any other teenager. When she became a yoga teacher, I resisted it completely. Instead, I chose nursing, thinking it would let me help people—but I quickly saw how the system only treated symptoms. It didn’t sit right with me. I wanted to support people in a deeper, more holistic way...
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