The Casa D Hot Yoga Team
The Casa D Hot Yoga Team
Meet Our Team
Passionate instructors dedicated to your wellness.
Passionate instructors dedicated to your wellness.
LAURA VANESSACo-owner and Teacher
Laura is dedicated to living a healthy, balanced lifestyle and fostering a community rooted in mindfulness, kindness, and compassion. With a background in Acroyoga and Yin Yoga, she brings a unique teaching style that emphasizes alignment, strength, and flexibility.
Her mission is to guide students toward deeper self-awareness, helping them cultivate inner peace both on and off the mat. Through her yoga practice, she integrates the 8 Limbs of Yoga, focusing on pranayama (breathwork), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), and dhyana (meditation) to create a holistic experience.
In her Pilates classes, Laura emphasizes strength through slow, intentional movements and proper alignment, empowering students to build a strong foundation for their practice. Whether through yoga or Pilates, she encourages her students to take their lessons beyond the studio, restoring peace, health, and balance in their daily lives.
Teaching Since: 2014
Trained In: RYT 500Hr Hatha yoga, Reiki 1 and 2, Restorative Yoga Training at Om Joyful Yoga
AcroYoga Certified through acroyoga.org in Thailand.
Mat Pilates Certified through Equinox
ERIKA FERNANDEZ
Co-owner and Teacher
Erika is a giver by nature and enjoys guiding others to live their best life by following their heart. Her love of the holistic lifestyle has guided her to work in the chiropractic field for over 25 years. This lead to a certification in aromatherapy, yoga, reiki and plant medicine.
In 2019 she began helping others break away from the toxic cycle and guiding them toward a more natural way of life through nontoxic living and a more natural lifestyle.
Teaching Since: 2014
Trained in: 200 Hour Hatha Yoga, Reiki 1 and 2, Restorative Yoga, at Om Joyful Yoga.
PATY RENDA
Teacher
Yoga teacher, journalist and human being who's life path has been to guide people towards their best version via yoga, meditation, dance and other wellness modalities. I am passionate about empowering each person to live their best life as they continue to learn and grow. I believe we learn better through play and with the support of loving guidance.
Teaching since 2001
DALLAS GEORGIANNA
Teacher
Dallas has been teaching HIIT since 2018. She will motivate you throughout the entire class. Her classes are welcoming for all fitness levels. Beginner, intermediate and advanced. She will push you to keep going and you might even find yourself singing along to some of the songs on the playlist. Dallas’ positive energy radiates through the room. There is no doubt you will get a great workout and sweat a ton! It might be tough but it’s worth it and you will feel great after class.
Teaching since 2018
Trained in HIIT
JESSICA CEROVIC
Teacher
Jessica began her fitness career in 2012. She is certified in Pilates, Barre, Yoga & holistic health coaching. She also teaches ballet, jazz & tap dance & is a certified travel advisor with her own travel agency called North Coast Croatia.
Teaching since 2012
PENNY ITZKOVITS
Teacher
Penny Itzkovits started her yoga journey at The Yoga College of India in Hollywood, Florida in 1997. She became certified in early 1998 and became an E-RYT by the end of 1999. Penny also has a Bachelors of Science in Special Education. She taught high school kids with developmental disabilities for 7 years prior to making the switch to a full time yoga career. In 2005 Penny also earned her E-RYT 500 certification with over 2000 hours of teaching while raising three small children with her husband (of now 29years).
Penny has taught in many South Florida studios and has met and connected with thousands of yogis throughout her 27 years of teaching. Helping people connect to themselves and each other is Penny’s passion. One of the most valued gifts in her life has been meeting the most amazing people, many that have become lifelong friends.
Teaching since 1997
ISABELA OLIVIERA
Teacher
An artist at heart, Isabela moved from Brazil to the U.S. in 2002. She began practicing the 26 + 2 Yoga series in 2004 and in 2019 she did the teacher training. She has fallen in love with sharing her love for the practice with others and has been teaching yoga full time. She believes yoga is in full alignment with who she is at heart and is passionate about sharing it!
Teaching since 2019
Trained in: 26 & 2
JOSEPHINE MAHABIR
Teacher
Josephine earned her 200-Hour Teacher Certification from Skylight Yoga Ashram in Miami, FL. She integrates her background in Healthcare Administration and MBA with her yoga teachings, creating significant value and purpose for her professional growth, which spans to corporate settings and on the mat. Josephine actively serves her community at the City of Sunrise and enjoys connecting with and inspiring people through her practice of breath and meditation. Teaching since 2021
AURA FRANCO
Teacher
Aura is a dedicated and self-motivated fitness enthusiast and movement advocate. Starting her fitness journey over 15 years from Muay Thai, kickboxing, capoeira, yoga, surf, jiujitsu, running, wake boarding, etc. if it involves movement, she’s up for it. Her passion for living a healthy lifestyle and helping those around her, motivated her to become a certified personal trainer, a 200-hr yoga instructor, and develop a functional online training program. Her fearless personality allows her to challenge her self and her body; she isn’t afraid of failing and trying until it becomes easy. Her energy is contagious and her workouts are fierce. She’s aura this world. She likes to mix her teachings from other sports to make her classes functional. She enjoys a high-paced, high-energy workout with a calm and relaxing cool down. She loves a high beat song that will make your body move.
@fearlessfiercefit
ANDRES PATIÑO
Teacher
Andres moves a lot, the foundational practice comes from Hatha vinyasa, exploring Ashtanga, Bikram, and even some Iyengar.
Eventually he started mixing things together and grabbing some others from animal flow, and even capoeira, now he doesn’t really know what to call it.
It’s fun, challenging, rewarding, every time a little different, he enjoys leading each practice and people love it too.Teaching since 2018
Tazz Carter
Teacher
Tazz Carter, a 41-year-old California native with a diverse background, found yoga in 2009 through personal training.
His Hatha vinyasa style emphasizes alignment, foundation, functional movement, and power through breath, incorporating primal flowing transitions.
He focuses on teaching the foundations to enable broader experiences.
His philosophies include embracing opportunities, letting go of unnecessary burdens, and recognizing the importance of the present moment.
Brittany Murphy
Teacher
Brittany Murphy found her passion in yoga while studying Exercise Science and Health Promotion at FAU. She completed her 200 hr Yoga Alliance training in 2015 through All You Can Yoga (Yoga Alliance RYS200) and has been teaching ever since. In 2024, she completed her 300 hr Yoga Alliance training through World Peace Yoga School (RYS300) in India certifying her as a 500 hr RYT. She teaches yoga for adults as well as kids yoga. She incorporates her background in Exercise Science into her Vinyasa-style classes to improve strength and alignment. Some of her other trainings include Yin Yoga Alliance 15 hrs, and Anuttara Bhakti Yoga Alliance 100 hrs. In addition, she is also a Reiki Usui/Holy Fire III Master Practitioner. While in India, Brittany did an additional reiki training level 1 & 2. She also did a prenatal and postnatal Yoga Teacher Training 85 hr Yoga Alliance with World Peace Yoga School (RPYT). Brittany emphasizes the importance of self-love by helping her students connect with their own essence and their "oneness" with everything through her words and adjustments. By connecting breath and movement, she strives to reawaken the emotional, spiritual, and physical body with beautiful moving meditation inspired by nature and the universe. She is always learning and absorbing yoga through self practice, working with students, and workshops.
Angela Marano
Angela Marano is a dedicated yoga and meditation teacher with extensive experience guiding others, and over a decade of personal practice. A 500-hour, trauma-informed, RYT and certified Yoga Nidra facilitator, she specializes in Vinyasa, Yin, Slow Flow, and Yoga Nidra practices. Angela is also a professional astrologer offering in-depth natal chart readings and astro-embodiment practices to integrate these insights into everyday life. Her most heart-aligned work is in cultivating transformative experiences and retreats for her students. She believes that our outer world is a reflection of our inner world and is dedicated to helping students recognize and nurture this connection. Her work is rooted in helping students cultivate a deep connection to their innermost self and guidance system, and harmony between mind, body, and spirit.