Master of Public Health, 500hr Yoga Alliance Lead Teacher
Sue Ann Hamsa Fisher first served as a Karma Yogi at the Centre from 2012-2015. She started in the Karma Yogi program and then the following season served as the Yoga Study and Service Immersion (YSSI) Coordinator. The program was a deeply meaningful experience for Sue Ann, and her goal was to help create a more educationally oriented program for the Karma Yogis that came to the land. After working diligently to bolster the YSSI program in 2013 and 2014, her role at the Centre changed to Operations Manager. In this role, she worked with all the department coordinators, as well as the Centre Director, to help run the daily operations of the residential Centre crew.
As an American, in 2015 Sue Ann decided it was time to return to the States. She landed in Asheville, NC and promptly started getting involved in the yoga community. In her first position in Asheville she worked as the Operations Director at a local retreat and hospitality centre, Om Sanctuary. In 2018 Sue Ann had the opportunity to purchase the local yoga studio where she was teaching. Owning a yoga studio pre-pandemic was a joy. Sue Ann loved connecting with other like-minded people and building community through the teachings of yoga. 2020 came and like most, the studio faced a new challenge. Within the first weeks of lock down, she had the studio’s classes up online. From then on, things continued to change. The local community studio turned into a much more robust business. Sue Ann was able to support the studio to successfully get online programming, workshops and teacher trainings off the ground. Now she owns two businesses, a brick and mortar yoga studio, as well as an online prenatal and postnatal yoga business.
Sue Ann would love to share the lessons she has learned growing her own businesses with the Centre. She has relevant skills in the areas of Curriculum and Program Development, as well as Outreach and Engagement. With many years of experience building Yoga Alliance approved curricula for in-person, online and hybrid offerings, she believes program development and outreach go hand and hand with curriculum development. She would love to work with the Board and committees to advance community building at the Centre.
Most importantly, Sue Ann would love to serve on the Board as a way to give back. The Salt Spring Centre, the practice of yoga and the community she found on the land truly changed her life for the better. She would love to be of service in any way she can because she believes the world needs more spaces of peace and practice.