Health

Lauren Imparato Quits Job in High Finance to Teach Yoga

by Alyzee | August 12, 2009 at 10:26 am

1444 views | 0 Recommendations | 2 comments

Lauren Imparato, 28, quit her job at Morgan Stanley’s fixed-income group in April after a recent promotion to start a yoga studio called I.AM.YOU. After spending the last 7-years in finance, the Princeton graduate opted for a 180-degree career change and chose to start a yoga brand that catered to her colleagues on Wall Street. Many of her associates on Wall Street have joined to be instructed in by one of their own.

“The fact that she had worked at Morgan Stanley lent some credibility right away,” said Ruiz, president of Carter Bain Wealth Management, based in Arizona and New Mexico.

One of Imparato's goals is to make yoga more accessible to those in high finance, and amends the traditional practice by speeding up the pace: her class playlists include salsa, Notorious BIG, Frank Sinatra and Aerosmith., according to bloomberg.com

“I want everyone to see that you can drink wine and eat fine food and come to yoga the next day and you’ll be totally fine,” said the lithe, 5-foot-11-inch brunette at her Manhattan loft. “You don’t have to become a vegetarian to practice yoga.”

Imparato's choice may not seem so radical when one thinks about how popular practicing yoga has become for finance professionals in New York. Hedge funds such as Karsch Capital Management LP Blue Ridge Capital LLC offers yoga to their employees on site.

Pimco’s Bill Gross has said that he gets some of his best investment ideas while standing on his head.

Traders and analysts from Merrill Lynch & Co., Barclays Capital Inc., Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs support Imparato's new take on yoga, among actors, jewelry designers, venture capitalists, traders and hedge-fund managers.