Real founders. Real stories. Real impact.

Meet the foundersshaping thebusiness of yoga.

Behind every yoga business is a founder with a vision. Explore their journeys, lessons, and strategies to build, grow, and make an impact.

Shawna Krueger, yoga founder featured by Yoga Founders Magazine
Simon Borg-Olivier, yoga founder featured by Yoga Founders Magazine
Kimi Hajian, yoga founder featured by Yoga Founders Magazine
Eddie Arpin, yoga technology founder featured by Yoga Founders Magazine
Sage Rountree, yoga teacher and founder featured by Yoga Founders Magazine

82+Founder stories

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Business insightsLessons that drive growth

Built forYoga entrepreneurs

Portrait of Sage Rountree, Studio Owner behind sagerountree.comYoga Business Coach

Sage Rountree: PhD Scholar Turned Yoga Entrepreneur with 13 Books, Strong Legacy

I come to yoga from a very different world. I spent seven years in graduate school and earned a PhD in English literature from UNC Chapel Hill. My professional life started in academic publishing, where I worked for a dozen years with Duke, Cambridge, and Oxford University Presses. Along the way, I spent six years as a public radio announcer at WFDD and WUNC, which gave me production skills I still use today for podcasts and audiobooks. Outside of work, I’ve always been an athlete. I’ve competed in everything from 400-meter sprints to ultramarathons and triathlons of every distance, even racing on Team USA for the 2008 World Triathlon Championships. I’m also a certified endurance sports coach through USA Triathlon, USA Cycling, and the Road Runners’ Club of America...

Portrait of Joyce San Pedro & Amy Reed, Studio Owner behind theyogahouseny.comYoga Business Coach

Two Women, One Lifeline Practice: The Story Behind The Yoga House’s Remarkable Growth

Joyce grew up in Queens, New York, the daughter of immigrant parents from the Philippines. After graduating from NYU, she worked in publishing and later in film development at Sony in Los Angeles. Eventually, she returned to New York to be closer to family, got married, and moved to the Hudson Valley in search of a different pace of life. It was here that she deepened her yoga practice and met Amy in a Poughkeepsie studio, which, in a full circle moment, became the location of their newest studio years later. For Amy, yoga has always been inseparable from her life. She lives in Kingston, NY with her wife and daughter and is deeply rooted in the Hudson Valley community. She describes her personal and professional life as fully integrated, with yoga serving as the foundation. Her home, friendships, and professional work all revolve around building inclusive, supportive spaces. When Joyce and Amy met, their friendship quickly extended beyond the mat, setting the stage for a powerful partnership...

Portrait of Kendall Knight, Studio Owner behind homeyogandfitness.comYoga Business Coach

Why Building a Yoga Business Is Less About Walls and More About the Heart You Bring

Who am I outside of yoga? Honestly, the same person you see on the mat. Yoga has never been just about the asana for me. It’s always been a way of life. I carry the 8 limbs everywhere I go, not as rules, but as a path to live with presence, kindness, and joy. Off the mat, I’m still loving, still kind, and still laughing (probably way too loudly). Whether we’re in a deep yin stretch, sharing coffee, or just crossing paths, you’re getting the real me, always. I was 18 when I took my very first yoga class. By then, I’d already been working at a gym since I was 14, teaching group exercise classes and loving the energy, music, and movement. But yoga was different. From the first breath and the first stretch, it lit something deep inside me. It wasn’t just about working my body, it was about connecting mind, breath, and heart in a way i had never known before. That spark still burns bright today. The biggest challenge in those early years was being young and stepping into teaching at a time when most people my age didn’t yet understand yoga. But I was fortunate to find a mentor — a chiropractor and yoga teacher — who took me under his wing. He saw something in me, guided me, and opened doors I didn’t even know existed...

Portrait of Lorraine Taylor, Teacher Training behind lorrainetayloryoga.comYoga Business Coach

Why The Strongest Yoga Businesses Are Built From Inner Work, Not Marketing Tactics

I grew up in the UK but left home at 17 with a thirst for travel, spending two years in Paris before returning to London’s music industry. I worked in artist management, organising tours, and supporting radio and TV promotions for an independent record label. Music was always a guiding force, yet beneath the surface I longed for something deeper. I wanted to understand happiness, peace and the inner layers of life. At 21, while working in London, I attended my first Iyengar yoga class. As a lifelong gymnast, I expected movement, yet the class felt still and even dull. But when I left, something had shifted. I felt lighter, clearer, more alive—and that mystery kept me coming back. Yoga became my portal to alternative therapies, yogic philosophy and new ways of seeing healing and life...

Portrait of Sarah Haghighi, Wellness Founder behind Wellness FounderYoga Business Coach

Why Small, Uncertain Steps Can Lead to Transformations Bigger Than Any Master Plan

My name is Sarah, I'm 35, half French/half Iranian and I've lived in Milan for 11+ years. For years, I chased a successful career in finance. On paper, everything looked great, goals met, promotions and strong performance. But deep down, a voice kept whispering: this isn't your path. When I found myself on the edge of burnout and received a few signals from my body that something wasn't ok, I knew it was time to pause and truly listen. Yoga became a lifeline in that period and deeply transformed my point of view on life. What started as a stress management practice, led me to experiencing inner spaciousness independently of external factors. A few years after starting to practice yoga, I also reached out to a life coach because I knew it was time to dare looking within. The journey with the coach helped me gain clarity and surpass the fear of making a radical shift in my life. gain clarity and surpass the fear of making a radical shift in my life. I realized that I needed a break from what I already knew, to be in the position to discover what I truly desired. So I quit my safe and well-paid job in finance and went to Bali to complete a 200h yoga teacher training...

Portrait of Dalia Gencher, Teacher Training behind daliagencher.comYoga Business Coach

How Dalia Gencher Created a Yoga Business That Keeps Expanding From the Inside Out

Yoga was always quietly present in my life. As a child, my mum used to sing the Gayatri mantra with us on the way to school, planting seeds I didn’t fully understand at the time. It wasn’t until I left the dance industry that yoga truly opened its door. I was desperate for a new way to move, express, and connect. I found myself in a studio filled with ex-professional dancers who were clearly on the same search. My journey began in the body, with movement. But the deeper I studied, the further inward I traveled. Meeting my teacher, Anand Mehrotra, was a pivotal moment. His integrated practice fulfilled something I’d been yearning for. I honestly feel like there’s no “outside of yoga” for me. It’s not separate from life, it is life. The path continues to evolve. I’ve been fortunate to study with many teachers and masters in Ayurveda, Self-Knowledge, and Earth-based traditions, all of which are now weaving into my own teachings. What a path this is to be devoted to. Every day, I thank yoga for the graceful way it brought me home...

Portrait of Stefan Camilleri, Studio Owner behind stefancamilleriyoga.com and lankayoga.lkYoga Business Coach

How Stefan Built a Yoga School That Trains the Next Generation of World-Class Teachers

I grew up in Melbourne, Australia, in the suburbs. At school and in my early life I was mostly interested in music. I was a musician — I played drums in bands, taught music, and taught drums. Then I developed a repetitive strain injury in my arms and needed a career change. I decided to become a mechanical fitter, an industrial engineer — a practical industrial engineer, fitter and turner. I lasted less than a year before I badly hurt my back. That’s what led me into yoga. It was through injury and trying to rehabilitate my back. An exercise physiologist gave me cat-cow and some basic stretches, and a friend encouraged me to come to a proper yoga class at a gym. It was very daggy, very uncool — but it made me feel so much better, both in my back and in myself...

Portrait of Rachel Scott, Teacher Training behind rachelyoga.comYoga Business Coach

She Built Top Teacher Trainings for a Company Then Walked Away to Build Her Own Legacy

Beyond yoga, I am really just a left-brained geek who also loves the expressive arts. I've always loved teaching (primarily because teaching is an excellent way to learn) and I've also always enjoyed performance. Before yoga, I earned my MFA from ACT in San Francisco and was an aspiring (and very occasionally paid) actor and director in NYC. Like many things I loved, I gravitated towards teaching and also taught stage combat, acting, movement, and voice. I attended my first yoga class in NYC in 1998 on the recommendation of my boyfriend and loved it. It was a relief to me that yoga was NOT performance-based, but rather about my own experience on the mat. Unlike the dance classes I tried to hack my way through, I didn't have to worry about getting the steps right or impressing someone else...

Portrait of Anthony Fontana, Teacher Training behind amfpeakperformance.comYoga Business Coach

How a Former Casting Director Built a Yoga Biz Without Following Anyone’s Blueprint

I found yoga just after finishing undergrad at UC Irvine. As a lifelong martial artist, I was drawn to it for the physical benefits. At first, it was just something I did at CorePower Yoga to stay flexible. But I didn’t stick with it. It wasn’t until 2019, during a tough chapter in my life, that yoga returned—this time with purpose. I’d been deep in the entertainment industry for years as a performer, casting professional, and talent rep. I was burning out. My roommate dragged me to a class. I hated it at first. But after a few weeks, something shifted. The practice wasn’t just helping my body, it was helping me breathe again, quiet my anxiety, and start to rebuild. That summer, I enrolled in a 200-hour teacher training. The more I practiced, the more I felt like I was coming back to myself...

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