Founder story category

Studio Owner Stories

Studio Owner stories from Yoga Founders Magazine.

26 founder stories

Portrait of Rowie Geraerts, Studio Owner behind spiritualpretzel.com & www.shizencollective.com

#7520256 min read

The Founder Who Found Freedom by Holding It Lightly: Insights from a Grounded Yogi

A life outside of yoga? For me, everything is yoga. That’s why my Instagram blurs the line between professional and personal. My dad brought me to my first yoga class when I was sixteen, a rebellious teenager who didn’t expect to fall in love with it. I’ve been practicing ever since. The rebellion is still there, but now it’s more focused, more useful. Part of me moving to Japan was rebellion too—it was probably the last place anyone expected me to end up, including myself. I’ve always been a traveler, and yoga has been my grounding force no matter where I go. I completed my first 200-hour teacher training in India at twenty-one, and since then, yoga has been part of my everyday life. Over the years, I’ve logged more than 1500 hours of teacher trainings as both student and facilitator...

Portrait of Sage Rountree, Studio Owner behind sagerountree.com

Yoga Business Coach

#7420255 min read

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.com

Yoga Business Coach

#7320255 min read

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...

Studio Owner

#6920254 min read

From Rock Bottom to Pura Vida: How Carol Turned Struggle Into a Thriving Community

I’m Carol Schoonhoven, 34 years old, born in Colombia. For as long as I can remember, I carried the weight of borderline personality disorder, depression, and anxiety. As a teenager, I tried to ignore it all, but over time the heaviness grew. I turned to alcohol and self-harm as a way to cope. Later, I entered a toxic marriage filled with emotional abuse. When that marriage ended in 2022, I hit rock bottom. The depression felt impossible to escape. At that point, I realized I had a choice to make—not just for myself, but for the family and friends who had stood by me. I finally listened. I went to therapy. My therapist encouraged me to try yoga again. I had practiced before but never truly committed. This time, everything was different. I embraced it fully. With every practice, I felt a shift inside me...

Portrait of Kendall Knight, Studio Owner behind homeyogandfitness.com

Yoga Business Coach

#6820255 min read

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 Stefan Camilleri, Studio Owner behind stefancamilleriyoga.com and lankayoga.lk

Yoga Business Coach

#6420257 min read

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...

Studio Owner

#6020254 min read

Why Clare Nicholls Left London to Build a Values-Driven Yoga Space in the Swiss Alps

I live in a beautiful village in the lap of the Bernese Oberland. For eight years I have made Switzerland my home, teaching full time and now project managing a not-for-profit Yoga Shala. Before settling here, I travelled extensively in India and spent several years in Mysore practicing with Saraswathi Jois and Dr MA Jayashree. Before that, I was a midwife and part-time yoga teacher in London. I first encountered yoga as a child through the television adaptation of Peter Brooks' production of The Mahabharata. I remember sitting, wrapped by the stories and characters. At 21, I practiced my first asana class and knew immediately that this would be my life. At 24, I began my first teacher training with the British Wheel of Yoga...

Portrait of Annmarie Murray, Studio Owner behind annmariefitness.com

Yoga Tech

#5720254 min read

She Started Yoga at 30. What Came Next Was a Business Built on Depth, Presence, and Grit

Yoga didn’t enter my life until I turned 30. At the time, I was searching for something deeper—a way to feel grounded and more aligned with myself. I signed up for my first teacher training in Ireland with YogaWorks, and what began as curiosity turned into a turning point. That training cracked something open in me. It showed me that yoga could be both structure and surrender. It became a space where I could move with meaning, breathe with awareness, and live with more intention. Off the mat, I was navigating transitions, uncertainty, and the push to always be doing more. Yoga helped me slow down. It wasn’t always easy. There was self-doubt, fear of being seen, and imposter syndrome. But every challenge deepened my practice—and taught me how to meet life with more grace...

Portrait of Daniela Fuentes, Studio Owner behind byoga.ch

Yoga Tech

#5620254 min read

How a 26-Year-Old Designer Built Basel’s First Yoga Studio and Turned It Into an Institution

Born in Mexico City and now based in Basel, Daniela Fuentes has always lived at the intersection of creativity, movement, and deep inquiry. Her path began as a designer and artist, but yoga entered early and never left. Over the last 20 years, she’s woven together yoga, somatics, and creative disciplines to craft a body of work that’s as intellectually rich as it is deeply embodied. She didn’t just stumble into yoga. It was a calling. As she moved through careers in photography, documentary film, and editorial design, yoga remained the thread that grounded her. By 2006, Basel became her new home—and the birthplace of BYOGA BASEL, the city’s first dedicated yoga studio. She taught in unconventional spaces and watched her early classes slowly grow from a few devoted students to full rooms...

Studio Owner

#5520254 min read

Qing Yu Left Her Career in Shanghai, Lost Her Mum, Then Built a Yoga Sanctuary With Heart

I’m a proud mother to a beautiful three year old girl, a wife deeply loved by a wonderful man, and a daughter to the most supportive parents. I believe in lifelong learning and growing into a better version of oneself. Kindness, joy, and meaningful connections are values I hold close to my heart. Over the years, I’ve worn many hats: academic, technical writer, school teacher. But no matter where life took me professionally, yoga was always part of the picture. It began during university as a way to stay fit. But the more I practiced, the more it gave me — mental clarity, emotional healing, and spiritual growth. After nearly a decade of classes, I enrolled in a 200 hour training with INSPYA Yoga School. At the time, I had no plans to teach...

Studio Owner

#5220254 min read

The Story of Jess Trione and the Creation of a Yoga Studio That Feels Like Family

I’m a truth-teller, boundary keeper, and mom to two incredible boys, Jayden and Jace. I also carry the love of our daughter Raleigh, who lives in my heart and beyond. I grew up in Amarillo, Texas, but it was in Northern California that I became a mother and began to grow into myself. We returned to Texas in 2006, and my work at lululemon reconnected me to community and to parts of myself I had tucked away. Yoga first found me at 19, but it became my lifeline after my mom’s two brain aneurysms left me running from my emotions. Years later, a goal to teach took me to Peru for a month-long training and sacred travel to Machu Picchu, an experience that changed my life. It was there I discovered not only my calling as a teacher but also a deeper purpose—to create spaces where others could heal...

Studio Owner

#5120254 min read

How Opening St. Louis’ Only Mysore Program Taught Ashley the Real Work of a Founder

I’ve always been a curious soul, drawn to learning and trying new things while staying grounded in what feels meaningful. Over the years, I’ve worked in the fitness and service industries, as a flight attendant, in physical therapy, and in real estate and development. Each role shaped me into who I am today. Yoga entered my life in 2013 during a time when I was working long hours at a busy orthopedic clinic, competing in triathlons, and generally living out of balance. I was looking for something that could help me turn inward and reconnect with myself. I found that through the Ashtanga Yoga practice, and soon began seeking out every opportunity to learn from teachers both locally and beyond. In 2017, I completed my first teacher training in medically based therapeutic yoga while continuing to deepen my Ashtanga practice through travel, study, and mentorship with certified and authorized teachers. In 2018, I began teaching two Ashtanga classes a week at a local studio in St. Louis while still working in physical therapy...