Before becoming the CEO of CorePower Yoga, Niki Leondakis led three hotel companies and worked as the CEO of Equinox.
Roughly a year into her tenure at Equinox, she stepped down after her home burned down in a wildfire. Then, exactly a year after that, her husband died of a sudden heart attack.
“I found myself in this 12-month period without a husband, without my career, and without a home,” Leondakis told Business Insider.
Leondakis, who joined the yoga chain in 2020, said she wouldn’t have re-entered the corporate world for just any opportunity. She said becoming the CEO of CorePower Yoga was her “dream job,” even before it was offered to her.
A core part of her life
Prior to leading CorePower Yoga, which has over 220 studios across the country, Leondakis said she always had a “strong discipline around physical activity.” The CEO said she’s been practicing yoga for over three decades.
“I started yoga because I thought it would help my running when I was marathon training,” Leondakis said. Eventually, though, she said she found herself doing less running and more yoga.
Leondakis became so passionate about the practice that she received her 200-hour yoga certification — not because she wanted to become a teacher, but because she desired a deeper understanding of the history and philosophy behind it.
When Leondakis found herself in a turbulent period following the loss of her husband and home, yoga became key to her healing process. Yoga, she said, helped her find gratitude for what she had, rather than focusing on what she lost.
“The one thing that anchored me, grounded me, and helped me process all my emotion was getting on my yoga mat every single day,” Leondakis said.
The CEO said she’s been practicing with the same yoga teacher for over a decade, and at the time, she was also practicing at CorePower Yoga, near where she lived in San Francisco.
“It carried me through the most difficult times,” Leondakis said.
Getting the job
Leondakis had her eyes set on leading CorePower Yoga before she knew there was an opening.
After the loss of her husband, the CEO said she was trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. When her sister asked her: “If you could lead any company in the country today, what company would it be?” Leondakis said she responded immediately with “CorePower Yoga.”
Her sister then went on LinkedIn to find out who the current CEO was.
“I looked at his profile and said, ‘Well, he’s been there just a couple of years, and this is a great job, based on what he’s done in his past. He’s not going anywhere,'” Leondakis said. “And I didn’t think another thing of it.”
Sixty days later, in July of 2019, Leondakis said she got a call from a search firm asking if she was interested in the CEO position.
“I really, truly felt like it was a calling,” Leondakis said. “The universe kind of punched me in the stomach a few times. I was struggling with that, but I felt like it was sending a bluebird my way.”
CorePower Yoga’s founder, Trevor Tice, wasn’t the company’s most recent CEO, but he passed away in 2016 from an accident. Leondakis said she felt a sense of purpose in joining the company and believed she had the skills to help build its brand.
“The company had its own tragedy, and I just felt like it was a calling for me to come lead this company into its next chapter,” Leondakis said.
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