How Lauren Porat Ignited her YogaSpark Business After a First Act in Finance

Lauren Porat is the owner and founder of YogaSpark, a hot power yoga studio with locations in New York City and Westchester County, NY, however she started her career on Wall Street in investment banking and investor relations. A major pivot! Unlike many Bucket List Careers guests, Lauren never found any of her career choices to be unfulfilling. She loved working in finance and loved working on her first startup Urban Interns - perhaps that's what makes her such a successful business owner. Lauren says she’s been lucky enough to view each of her roles as her dream job in that moment in time. So what prompted her pivot to entrepreneurship through yoga? She said it was “like a calling.” And that call to action has resulted in yoga studios that offer an amazing fitness experience, in a super fun, upbeat environment. At first Lauren said she did it for her and for the workout. But within a few months of opening, she realized something more was going on - creating a community, improving and changing lives. And slowly the mission became a less selfish one: to spread the Spark to more people!