by MK
Every Saturday we’re spotlighting remarkable local females who could change the way we look at the world. This Saturday is Clara Cleo’s turn, dancer, yoga instructor, entrepreneur and a mother of two who opened a hot yoga studio together with her husband in Trieste, making the city her home.
Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Milan. I was studying to become a journalist at university when I picked up burlesque dancing. I quickly fell in love with this form of art and after graduating I began traveling around the world working as a burlesque performer. I would go to China, Australia, United States, everywhere really. But my base was always in Milan where my parents live. It was great times as I was able to combine my two passions: dancing and traveling.
It sounds amazing.
It was but after almost ten years on the road it started getting tiring and I decided to look around for something else. I thought about it for a long time and I came to the conclusion that making art and not being inspired is just like being at an office. And at that point I preferred working at an office because it wouldn’t mean living out of a suitcase.
True.
I would always do yoga everywhere I went as it grounded me and helped me get through long working hours and traveling all the time. So I started thinking about becoming a yoga instructor and after coming back to Milan, I found a yoga teacher’s training in Thailand. It was an intensive 9-week course and it changed my life in many ways.
How so?
Well, first I was able to follow my dream of becoming a professional yoga instructor. And second (or perhaps, first) I met my American husband Ben. We fell in love and discovered we both shared a dream of opening up our very own yoga studio. After Thailand we embarked on the adventure of searching for the “right one”. We rented a car and drove from San Francisco to Key West, stopping at yoga studios along the way. We went to Hawaii, back to Thailand, India, London, Austria. We basically went everywhere. But nowhere seemed quite right. Eventually we decided to go back to Milan and started teaching there.
Back to the roots.
Yes. One day a friend of mine told me about a puppy he had and since we were looking for one we decided to jump on the opportunity of adopting it. The puppy was born in Basovizza. It was my third and Ben’s first time in Trieste. We drove up to Obelisk in Opicina and saw the beauty of our city underneath. It literally took our breath away. We looked at each other and said, “why not Trieste?”
Serendipitous.
Back in Milan we went online and started our research about Trieste. After Milan’s prices, the city seemed more than affordable. We could have the life we wanted – a family in the city by the sea, a bigger place and live off yoga teaching. We knew we would have to invest a lot in our studio as for the kind of yoga we do we have to have a certain type of heating, showers and so on. Back in Milan, we wouldn’t have been able to have the life we have here. Anyway, when we went back to get Athena, our pit bull puppy, we stayed for a couple of days and fell in love with the city. The rest is history.
Was it easy opening up a studio here?
Yes and no. We are the only hot yoga studio in the city, so we instantly got clients. Plus, Ben teaches all of his classes in English so we have a big multicultural crowd. But of course in the city like Trieste it takes time for the locals to warm up to you. I think it took us a good year and a half to really get our name out there.
Do you feel at home in Trieste?
Absolutely. We opened the hot yoga studio 6 years ago and a year later Saverio was born. And then Agatha followed 10 months after. I always wanted to have a family and to live by the sea so in many ways I am living my dream.
Do you speak Triestino?
Not really but Saverio does and he teaches me. They speak Triestino at his primary school and he’s the first Triestino in our multicultural family. Apart from Athena, of course.
Future plans?
Just continue doing what we’re doing with even more love and dedication. We are also thinking about maybe opening up another studio or making ours a little bigger. We’ll see. Whatever we do, we’ll definitely stay in Trieste as this is our home now.
To learn more about Hot Yoga Trieste, please visit their website and Instagram accounts.
