Commune, Port Washington’s new wellness space at 307 Main St., seeks to enable independent instructors to grow their businesses while promoting community wellness through classes and workshops.
Cari Gatto Huszar, Commune’s founder, has been a Port resident for almost 16 years. She is also the founder of Swell Marketing Partners and has worked as a marketing executive for American Express and Nestlé.
She said her work centers on giving independent instructors and practitioners a platform to grow. Conceptualized during the COVID-19 pandemic, Commune combines this with her love for yoga.
“I knew [yoga instructors] that were going into people’s homes, and then they are making all that money, but they have no overhead,” said Gatto Huszar. “So it’s really meant to enable people to do that. To build their business and work independently and really be able to build a thriving business.”
Commune currently offers a variety of small-group yoga, Pilates and Reiki classes. There are currently 12-14 sessions offered per week, but Gatto Huszar expects this number to grow.
A wellness practitioner and advocate, Gatto Huszar sees this new venture as a way to give back — not as a moneymaker.
“I’m not a yoga teacher, but I’ve practiced yoga pretty much my entire life. I started as a young kid,” she said. “We hear so much about mental health with the pandemic and it’s a concern, especially a concern for our children. So for me, it was just making that more accessible to people.”
She said Commune’s growth would entail bringing in and providing more resources to wellness instructors and practitioners.
“For me, if I break even, I’m good,” Gatto Huszar said. “If we rent out more space and we can hire someone to do more social media or email campaigns, that would [be good]. The growth isn’t necessarily a bigger space for me. The growth is those instructors having their classes full and then being able to make more money.”
If interested in taking part or hosting a class, one can visit Commune’s website or contact [email protected].
