Our Team
Dedication, Expertise, Passion. This is what our teaching team offers for the 85+ classes per week on our schedule. And we continue to practice as students along with you.
Our Original Hot Yoga teachers have all participated in a rigorous intensive training which allows them to effectively cue students in this set sequence of postures while offering their unique perspectives and personality into this very consistent practice. The effects of the Original Hot Yoga method are vast: repetition breeds mastery.
Our Vinyasa teachers teach what inspires them based on their training background, so each class/instructor will have a slightly different flavor. Do expect classes to include fundamentals of Ashtanga/Rocket, Baptiste, Forrest, and Ghosh lineages, as well as a specific attention to how breath coupled with movement creates Flow…
Zeb Homison has been teaching and practicing yoga full time since 2007. Before that he had an on and off relationship with the practice going all the way back to when he was a young child, copying postures out of a book with his mother and chanting “om” around the house.
As a 2014 International Asana Champion, Zeb placed in the top four of the USA Yoga National Finals from 2008 to 2014. Bringing with him a deep knowledge of yoga technique, Zeb also has an extensive background in dance, physical theater, mask work, and the performing arts, holding a BFA in Theater Arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Zeb is a level 3 teacher with OHYA, a 200hr E-RYT with yoga alliance and has travelled the world teaching and training in yoga. He is the owner of Yoga Factory Pittsburgh, Yoga Factory Teacher Training, and more.
M.A., M.S., LPC, NCC, E-RYT 500+.
Angelica is a dancer turned yogi and has been a movement enthusiast since she was 5 years old. She teaches multiple styles of yoga with a particular passion for the Original Hot Yoga method (which she was introduced to in 2008), and Ashtanga (which she fully embraced as a new love in 2022) both of which she continues to study intensively. With her life partner Zeb, Angelica coordinates domestic and international retreats through Ascension Yoga Retreats, facilitates all of the Yoga Factory Teacher Trainings, and manages her own private practice as an LPC, Reiki healer of both the Usui and Jikiden methods, and soon-to-be yoga therapist.
- RYT 500 (Original Hot Yoga-2012)
- RYT 100 (Yoga Nidra-2020)
- RYT 200 (Int/Adv 84 Hatha-2023/2024)
- RYT 200 (Vinyasa-2023/2024)
- Master Certified Sound Healer (2020-2024)
Over a decade ago a friend dragged me kicking and screaming to my first yoga class. I was a hard core athlete who thought stretching was for wimps. But after class I was really relaxed! It became a driving force in my life. I spent the next few years trying any and all styles from cranial sacral therapy to Zen archery. I changed the way I looked at everything. I let go of stuff, physical and emotional. Even made my way to a hot yoga class…It was perfect—the heat, the guidance, the breathing, the repetition, the stillness. It took a lot of guts to get through that 90 minutes, but I made it. Immediately after final savasana I wanted to shout from the rooftops; “come to class!” Everyone in the world should know this feeling!
There are no prerequisites. Come as you are, start where you are, and let the yoga work on you.
Certified Hot Yoga Instructor (RYT 200), teaching the original hot 26 and 2 sequence.
RYT 500
Sharing love and light, creating and holding space, plus uplifting the vibration of the planet are 100% aspects of my dharma. Full time teacher since 2012. Student for life. Trained in several styles and lineages. Loving mom and wife. Passionate about traveling the world.
RYT 500+
Nikie, a Pittsburgh native, was introduced to yoga in 2007 while playing lacrosse. She continued her practice when she moved to NYC in 2009 to attend NYU. Upon graduation in 2014, she completed a 200-hour Vinyasa training with Yoga to the People. While there she was introduced to the Traditional Hot Yoga Method which she found to be an extremely powerful mental and physical practice.
In 2017 she completed training with Yoga Factory in the 26+2 series.
In 2019 she studied with David Kyle’s Progressive Ashtanga Vinyasa School and in 2020 completed Level 2 Rocket training.
Nikie loves practicing and sharing yoga and is grateful to Yoga Factory for offering the opportunity to explore different styles and methods of practice.
“Yoga is for everyone, all bodies, all minds; an active mediation that can allow one to find strength to go within and create space for change and acceptance.” – Nikie
RYT 500
Ansley began practicing Vinyasa at age 15, with her first instructors on VHS cassettes in her living room. She found Hatha yoga while studying abroad in England. After graduating from Georgetown University in 2001, she found the 26 & 2 in San Francisco and traded washing the mirrors so she could practice every day. She fell head over heels in love with the series and its benefits. From then on, she has practiced yoga all over the world, especially in New York, Washington DC, Florida, Mexico, Thailand, and Pittsburgh, where she moved in 2013.
She became a certified Hot Yoga teacher in 2022. She is also a retired NY/NJ attorney at law, a PA Licensed Esthetician, a certified Microblading artist, and runs a small dog boarding business out of her home. She loves her work with all her heart. She is proof that if you follow your true passions, you can live the life of your dreams. Namaste!
RYT 500
Mark is a Pittsburgh native who has been involved in sports and athletics for most of his life. He was involved in high school swimming and track as well as collegiate swimming. After college, he moved onto martial arts, earning black belts in two styles. In September 2007 after recovering from cancer, he tried various at-home intensive exercise programs; but, he was not reaching the fulfillment he desired, so he started a home yoga practice relying heavily on Rodney Yee Vinyasa yoga videos.
Mark took his first Hot Yoga class in May 2013 and knew from the first class that it was physically challenging. After several weeks he noticed that he was not only improving in strength and flexibility, but also emotionally, feeling much calmer. In 2019, with the support of his wife, son, and daughter, Mark successfully completed his first Yoga Factory Teacher Training. He hopes you will join him on the mat soon!
Carolyn bio coming soon.
By bringing attention to what Yoga really is and how it works for us, Michael helps his students to transcend the physical practice and make positive shifts in their lives.
Practicing since 2010 and teaching since 2011, he completed his first 200 hour training with Yoga to the People in NYC, his 500 hour training with Philip Urso and Live, Love, Teach, with whom he is presently a facilitator-in-training.
Studies have led him to Lebanon, Hawaii, and New York while continuously teaching group and private classes in his hometown, Pittsburgh.
Michael’s teaches several different styles of Vinyasa and Restorative Yoga and meditation including his signature style called Synchronized Vinyasa which unifies the entire class in a state of flow, with a moving meditation linked to pranayama.
Michael is the 2016 an 2017 USA Yoga Asana Championship PA state champion. Off the mat, Michael is a musician and poet and has opened for national acts such as The Flaming Lips, Wiz Khalifa, and Andrew WK.
RYT 500
Patrick came to yoga after many years of training and competing in ice dancing. The combination of power and calmness that is central to Vinyasa yoga immediately resonated with him.
He is a Certified Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga Teacher, Ayurvedic Health Counselor and Unified Mindfulness Teacher. His profound experiences with daily meditation and pranayama practices over the past 17 years have led him to numerous retreats and workshops to help him deepen his practice. Patrick is currently helping do research on the relationship between breath and meditation at Carnegie Mellon University’s Health and Human Performance Lab.
Over the past 15 years he has taught thousands of hours of classes ranging from gentle chair yoga to vigorous power yoga along with numerous 200 hour yoga teacher training programs.
Patrick’s classes are a powerful vinyasa flow that is informed by current research on mindfulness and movement along with the wisdom that has been handed down from deep wisdom traditions. Woven into this framework, he adds space for breath and deep stretching along with some fun.
RYT 200
I love yoga and have been teaching this amazing practice for five years after completing my RYT 200 training with Michael Lubbert. As a critical care nurse, I believe you can only care and uplift others if you are in a good place yourself. Yoga has helped me deal with the everyday stressors of life. I am excited to share with others the beautiful practice of linking breath with movement to help students feel relaxed, stronger, and more peaceful.
RYT 500
Charissa is a passionate yoga instructor certified in Original Hot Yoga (2024) and Vinyasa (2023). She read yoga books and practiced with videos as a child, but her teaching journey began in 2018 in Spokane, WA, as a therapeutic response to health issues from a 20-year tattoo career.
Inspired by yoga’s healing power, Charissa pursued extensive training: RYT 200 certification from Spokane’s Abide Yoga Academy under C. Taylor Ring; Yoga Factory’s Vinyasa Teacher Training (2023), Original Hot Yoga Training (2024), and the Mehkala Green Belt program in Vedic meditation and pranayama. She focuses on sequencing and teaching with an emphasis on breath and body awareness.
In her free time, Charissa enjoys nature, leisure cycling, vintage vinyl, cooking, gardening, and spending time with her cat, Jaeger. She also studied Holy Fire Reiki Levels 1 & 2 and has held a master-level Usui Reiki attunement since 2002.
Yoga has been very healing for me both physically and mentally. When I started practicing, I had a knee injury. Yoga has allowed me to heal and stay healthy physically. It has also provided me with stress relief and a space where I can make room wherever I need it in my life. I have been practicing and teaching yoga since 2006. I earned both my 200-hour teaching level1 and 200-hr level 2 certification from Amazing Yoga.
RYT 300
Sydney came to the Yoga Factory for the physical benefits, but stayed for the mental benefits. Originally thinking yoga was just an exercise class, she soon realized it was so much more. Practicing the 26 & 2 series is a passageway to self-discovery and has helped Sydney realign her life. It provided a space for her to be present and connect with her true self. This has tremendously improved her mental health and quality of life. She believes in the powerful healing abilities of this practice and is excited to share it with others!
RYT 200 (Original Hot Yoga -2025)
Britney has always felt most connected through collective movement. Growing up in Cleveland as a competitive dancer, she discovered yoga along the way—and it quickly became a steady presence in her life.
When she moved to Pittsburgh in 2021, her practice came with her, but it wasn’t until she found Yoga Factory that her love for the original Hot Method truly deepened into a daily ritual—a source of joy, grounding, and self-love. That spark led her to complete her 26×2 YTT in Cost Rica in 2025. The journey has been one of profound growth and inner expansion.
Britney is endlessly grateful to now share her heart and practice with the inspiring Yoga Factory community. For Britney, a day feels incomplete without the grounding connection of practice. She’s honored to guide others on their journey home to themselves. Through practice, we awaken, shine, and carry light—not just for ourselves, but for the world around us. To her, yoga is a path to freedom.
