Yoga International Reaches Global Audience from Downtown Honesdale
Headquartered in historic downtown Honesdale, Yoga International is one of the fastest growing companies in Wayne County, PA. With 30 full-time employees, the company has rapidly expanded, adding jobs at a rate of approximately one every two months.
The company’s roots go back nearly 25 years when the renowned Himalayan Institute, located just north of Honesdale, published Yoga International magazine, which grew to be one of the foremost yoga publications world-wide. Responding to the demand for online content, the Himalayan Institute developed a web-based version of the magazine, which ultimately spawned Yoga International as a separate company in 2013.
With a global following, Yoga International streams high-quality yoga classes, workshops, and courses to hundreds of thousands, including over one million followers on Facebook, of dedicated yogis every month.
Yoga International covers a broad spectrum of topics including, beginners through advanced yoga, yoga for veterans, reducing stress and anxiety, and therapeutic techniques for back, neck, and shoulder pain.
While the focus of the company is yoga training and wellness, it can be viewed as a tech start-up with a core value of embracing technology to share yoga more widely. The company has its own in-house A/V, creative and marketing teams. Filming and production takes place in their studio, as well as far off places such as Hawaii or California. The opportunity to work in a small downtown community yet collaborate on projects with an international scope is an employment draw.
Along with developing digital content, the company offers a full schedule of classes at their Main Street location. The first floor of their building also houses a café and boutique, both featuring locally-produced products.
With Yoga International’s growth came the need to renovate their work space to accommodate new employees. Relocating an entire work crew presented a challenge, but Yoga International didn’t have to look far for a solution. The co-working space at the nearby Stourbridge Incubator offered a temporary work place with high-speed internet access and a modern, open-office environment.
"We were fortunate to find the Stourbridge Incubator," said Travis Head, Chief Business Officer at Yoga International. "It provided all of the convenience of our office and combined it with a beautiful outdoor space that helped our staff stay active. Our team didn't miss a beat!"
The Stourbridge Incubator is a community-based business incubator/accelerator with a technology focus. Funding partners, which include the Appalachian Regional Commission, USDA Rural Development, Commonwealth Financing Authority, the County of Wayne, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, and local community, have invested over $1,075,000 to the development of the incubator facility. The co-working space opened in July 2015 and averages 16 unique users and 1,000 hours of use per month.
Wayne Economic Development Corporation (WEDCO) manages the facility on behalf of community partners. WEDCO executive director Mary Beth Wood stated, “the coworking space provides a wonderful boost to entrepreneurs who need a robust broadband connection and access to specialized software and equipment that are generally not found outside an academic setting. Hosting Yoga International for a few weeks so they could make room for more tech jobs was a perfect partnership.”
For more information on either of these exciting community assets, visit yogainternational.org or thestourbridgeproject.com.
Story Credit: Mary Beth Wood, Executive Director, Wayne Economic Development Corporation
Photo Credit: Troy Bystrom
