We are perched upstairs from Goldfish Properties in Incline Village in a beautiful Tahoe-esque wooden-framed fitness center. Lauren Salveson is in the childcare room of Ivy Studio trying to keep her little ones entertained before the next class. The kids’ room is modestly adorned with a mini treadmill, mini climbing wall, napping crib and a few toys. To the right, Tim Salveson is in his open-air office, probably taking care of business with his IT consulting firm.
The Salvesons were living in the Bay Area when they met. Tim took Lauren’s yoga stretch class in Redwood City. As a lululemon athletica ambassador, Lauren taught different styles of yoga at local universities and Vinyassa-style flows that mixed fun music with challenging sequences at Studio Rincon in Menlo Park.
“We wanted a family environment where we could watch the kids and take classes.”
–Tim Salveson
Tim and Lauren married and had a girl named Halle. “After having our first child, we wanted to get out of the pressure and intensity (the city) puts on kids,” Tim said.
Lauren and Tim were familiar with Lake Tahoe. Tim had friends in Carson City and Lauren used to spend every summer with family in Tahoe City. So moving their businesses and family to Incline Village in June 2014 seemed perfect.
“It’s a tight-knit community, but not too small,” Lauren says.
After the move, Lauren became pregnant again. She spent the first couple of years getting adjusted and taking care of the kids. Although it was a little hard to take time away from her yoga practice, she didn’t want to build up a following in Incline Village and then have to take time off. Lauren looked into teaching at other places, but always needed to find daycare.
Since Tim already had another business, they decided that they needed a place with a family like atmosphere. They founded Ivy Studio. Subsequently, they opened in March and started hosting yoga classes, Pilates, kickboxing, TRX and more.
Local instructors and Lauren are what makes Ivy Studio a great place with a community-like feel.
“We wanted a family environment where we could watch the kids and take classes,” said Tim. “We want to give kids a safe place to do homework and have instructors they can talk to.”
He adds that Ivy Studio has plans to host movie nights in an attempt to create a more fun, community atmosphere. As parents, Tim says that they get the most enjoyment from giving back to the community through participating in fundraisers and donation-based events.
Another way that Ivy Studio is catering to families is by giving space for Peanut Butter & Jellyfish classes, another local business that entertains ages 1 to 12 with swimming, climbing and yoga activities. In the coming months, Ivy Studio is looking to bring on an Incline High School star soccer player to teach kids soccer.
One of the biggest perks is definitely Ivy Studio’s childcare services, currently available for a select few classes. It is easy to pre-book a childcare session and a yoga class at the same time through the Ivy Studio Smartphone app. The mothers at Lauren’s Monday noontime class are able to take furtive glances into the childcare room through the big, wide windows while practicing yoga.
Lauren and her staff bring different styles of yoga to the studio, but they emphasize that Ivy Studio’s small atmosphere and healthy family environment is what makes everyone happy to be there. The Salvesons focus on offering quality classes over the quantity of them, and to share their passion with people who have the same vision.
For more information, visit ivystudio.com.
