Mika Street '01 left a promising corporate job to stretch her own entrepreneurial power. In March, the Union history major and fitness enthusiast opened Uptown Pilates, a luxury studio on Manhattan's Upper West Side dedicated to the teachings of Joseph Pilates, the German-born performer and nurse who espoused the mind-body connection.
Like Mika herself, Uptown's 12 instructors all have their 600-hour Authentic Method™ certification. The studio, at 72nd Street between Amsterdam and Columbus avenues, is full of activity, and the clientele varies from 16-year-old American Ballet Theatre students to health-conscious nonagenarians.
“I absolutely love it,” says Mika, who worked at a global consulting firm before striking out on her own. “I had a good job, but I knew from day one it wasn't right for me. I definitely credit Union for helping me to keep striving for more in life and to never settle.”
Mika's business spirit may have a genetic component. Her South African parents met in Israel, where Brian, a developer, owned a boat chartering business. He and Linda, an all-round creative spirit, sailed around the world for three years with young Mika and her older brother, Alon, before coming to the States. Now a developer, Alon has his own business in Washington, D.C.
At Union, Mika took dance, played lacrosse, joined the outing club and enjoyed Professor Stephen M. Berk's classes. “He really cemented my passion for history,” she said.
Her international roots exerted their pull, too. She spent two terms abroad, one in Israel and one traveling to Japan, New Zealand, Australia. After graduation came the consulting job at Accenture, but she soon left to explore Central America.
Now Mika, 25, feels at home in New York City. And if her new business sounds very centering, it should. Developed in the early 1900s, Pilates uses breathing techniques and repetitive exercises to tone, stretch and balance.
“Pilates is for everybody,” Mika says. “There are more than 700 exercises with variations. It's trendy, but it's also been around for a century. The purely Authentic Method™ will be here forever.”
Mika was teaching and envisioning her own studio when the Pilates center where she earned her certification closed. The need for a new space was there — and so was she.
“I do believe opportunities are something you create,” she says. “I knew I wanted to start my own business, and I'd been dabbling in a few things, but the passion wasn't there. Then it all became clear: this studio really was the most perfect fit.”