Meet Our Instructors
Kristin Venema
Kristin is the owner of Black Coral Yoga. She has been a student of yoga for over 20 years and teaching yoga on Kaua’i since 2015. She holds over 600 Hours of Certification through education with teachers in San Francisco, CA and Bhavani Maki of Yoga Hanalei on Kaua’i. In 2021 she founded Black Coral Yoga in the former Yoga Hanalei space with the intention of keeping the tradition & lineage of these 2.500 year old liberation teachings alive in Hanalei, while at the same widening the range of complimentary practices which fill up and fortify our community body, mind & spirit. She continues to study yoga asana & pranayama today with her teachers Eddie Modestini, Kristin Bosteels, and H.S. Arun. Kristin is also a student of Vipassana Meditation in the tradition of her teacher S.N. Goenka.
Classes with Kristin invite you to dive deep and expand your awareness of self through an unwavering and compassionate inquiry. They are strong and supportive, paced & rhythmic, and centered on steady effort with the intention of moving towards what is sacred or most important to us. She places attention on alignment, breath, and the freedom found through the fluidity of a smooth and even flow.
Kristin's Vinyasa is a woven progression, offering a balance of form and formlessness that allows each student to explore their edge and leave feeling both contained and spacious. She builds strength, discipline, and focused awareness through skillful sequences and intentional movement, while at the same inviting a sense of calm, balance and ease through a relentless practice of letting go. She imparts wisdom and authenticity and will challenge you physically while weaving dharma and the principals and passion she has for yogic philosophy throughout practice.
Kristin feels deeply honored to share her love of Yoga as a teacher with the beautiful community of residents and visitors to Black Coral on Kaua’i.
Dylan Roman
Dylan was trained in Vinyasa and Hatha Yoga in New York City. Her classes sync movement, music and breath to stimulate deep focus through playful and challenging sequences.
Dylan’s paced vinyasa flow always includes elements of restorative, yin and meditation, emphasizing the importance of both effort and ease. Dylan aims to hold a space to uplift, strengthen and connect students to themselves and each other.
Outside of teaching yoga Dylan is a tattoo artist who works with her clients to reconnect with their bodies through art and creativity.
Jenny Harris
Jenny is the creator of Honey Pop and a powerhouse in the movement space on Kaua’i. She has an infectious energy, magnetic teaching style, and ability to make every class feel both challenging and fun.
Jenny’s classes are a blend of athletic training and expressive movement—students not only get stronger, but feel more confident, coordinated, and alive in their bodies.
She brings over 20 years of experience as a personal trainer and 15 years as a massage therapist along with a degree in Exercise Physiology and NASM certification. Jenny’s deep understanding of the body shines through her classes where she creates a high-energy, supportive environment that feels accessible, safe, and seriously fun.
Jess Chirco
Jess fell in love with yoga at the age of 17 while taking classes offered by her high school PE. Yoga has served as an anchor through the various seasons of her life, providing stability and support physically, mentally, and emotionally.
In 2016 she began studying with Bhavani Maki in Hanalei, learning the foundations of Ashtanga vinyasa and Patanjali’s yoga sutras. Since 2018 - present day, Jess has studied in depth with Eddie Modestini and Kristin Bosteels, learning an Iyengar influenced system that uses props and alignment to address injuries and gain access in the body.
Jess has been teaching yoga in Hanalei since 2017, though she considers herself a “forever student”. Her classes are foundational yet challenging, inspired by her various teachers and life experiences, with a strong emphasis on alignment and the individual. More than a series of physical postures, Jess believes in the power of yoga to provide insight into the inner and outer workings of one’s life.
Jesse McCann
Jesse has been passionate about health and wellness for over a decade, dedicated to bettering himself and helping others achieve their fitness goals. His fun, upbeat approach to training creates an energetic environment that motivates students to challenge themselves while still learning how to move properly and enjoy the process. With a focus on functional movements and longevity, Jesse prioritizes effective movement patterns that build a solid foundation of strength, endurance, and durability. Whether your goal is to improve your athletic performance or you simply want to increase your energy to live a more fulfilled life, Jesse’s classes will help you develop the habits you need for lasting success.
Jessie Austin
Jessie grew up on the beautiful island of Kaua’i and has been a student of yoga since 2005 when she took her first Hatha Yoga class in high school. She immediately fell in love. In her early 20’s she found the Ashtanga Vinyasa practice and was a vigilant ashtangi for about seven years. Ashtanga guided Jessie more deeply into proper alignment, and helped her with the steadiness of effort and the consistency of her practice. She was subsequently inspired to dive deeper into other modalities of Yoga asana including vinyasa, hatha, yin, and restorative. In 2019 she started studying Yoga and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra with Bhavani Maki on Kaua’i and in 2022 she finished her 500 hour Yoga Teacher Training with Bhavani.
Each class with Jessie is inspired by her own practice and experiences with asana, pranayama, and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. Classes are centered around alignment and breath. Focused on foundations, isolating & using specific muscles, observing your own patterns, the subtleties of your body, and entering into poses safely and correctly. Jessie is honored and grateful to be a part of such a rich lineage, and to share her love & passion for yoga with others. To her it is the greatest gift to get to guide others to learn & discover more about themselves through Yoga Asana and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra.
Leah McCann
Leah is an ACE certified personal trainer, fitness enthusiast and dedicated yoga practitioner at Black Coral. Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, Leah’s journey into fitness started during her career as an ICU nurse, where she found her passion for helping people take control of their health. In 2019 Leah moved with her family to Kaua’i and immediately became a regular student at Black Coral - she has been a fixture in the studio ever since and we are so stoked to now have her on our teaching team!
Specializing in functional strength training, Leah believes that fitness should be fun and accessible to everyone. She is dedicated to making every workout enjoyable and hopes to inspire others to make health a priority in their own lives. When Leah isn’t teaching at Black Coral, she enjoys adventuring with her family and new baby, traveling, and focusing on her own health and wellness.
Lizzy Benson
Lizzy’s relationship with yoga reaches all the way back to her childhood. But It wasn’t until college, when she took to yoga as a refuge for healing, that she really fell in love with the practice. During a very difficult time in her life it felt like a homecoming, and became a catalyst for her life path in wellness.
Lizzy completed her first yoga teacher training in 2014, and throughout the last decade she has accumulated over 800 hours of training, exposing her to many teachers, styles, and techniques. Lizzy is also licensed massage therapist, certified posture educator, and birth doula. The combination of yoga and bodywork inspires her to share a holistic and embodied practice.
Her class is a cocktail of self inquiry, functional movement, and playful sequencing. In all her offerings, she is a forever student, and her intention remains
“Teach to learn” - Baba Hari Dass.
Mary Mailhot
Born into a world of music and movement, Mary grew up singing and dancing as a way of life. Now a trained musician, dancer, devoted yogi, and mother, she blends the sacred arts of Kundalini, Hatha, and Bhakti yoga with mantra, sound, and embodied flow to guide others into their inner rhythm and radiance.
Mary’s classes blend Hatha, Kundalini, breathwork, flowing movement, and sound into a sacred, creative experience. Her teachings invite students to explore radical self-love and awaken their inner light. Guided by spirit, Mary’s offerings are a blend of prayerful movement, devotional music, and intuitive healing, inviting others home to their own divine essence.
Her yoga training includes a 200-hour Kripalu Hatha Yoga certification, 100-hour Advanced Anusara Hatha, 220-hour Kundalini Yoga, 100- Yin Yoga and a 62-hour Level 2 Advanced Kundalini training. She is also a Reiki Master and teacher, offering private sessions, group healings, and attunements.
As a recording artist, Mary has released three albums, including her latest Kundalini mantra album, Angels and Space. Her music, under the name MM’Honey, is available on Spotify and other streaming platforms..
Michelle Minor
Michelle’s journey with yoga began in 2008 during her studies at college in Santa Cruz, CA. She became instantly hooked on the physical elements of the Vinyasa style of yoga, and the dance-like grace she felt she was able to embody on her mat. She would later become aware of how much more the practice was than just physical movement; how calming and centering it was to her nervous system and overall, how healing it was during challenging situations in life. It became a salve for her in times of intense anxiety, heartbreak, and moments of seeking clarity and surrender.
Michelle’s classes are creatively fluid and rooted in conscious and safe alignment. She is deeply grateful to all of her teachers she has been able to train with over the last 10 years including Mark Stephens, Eoin Finn, Stephanie Snyder, Hannah Muse, Kenny Graham, Seane Corn, as well as her students who she considers her teachers as well. Michelle recently completed over 200 hours of the BASI Pilates Foundations Mat & Reformer program in addition to holding over 1000 hours of Yoga Teacher Training & Continuing education.
Michelle’s strives to make all who come to class feel comfortable and welcome in the space. To her, yoga is a compassionate, introspective practice of remembering and coming back home to truth and ultimately, to love. She feels immense gratitude to be able to share her love of this practice with the community on the North Shore of Kauai- her favorite place to BE.
Samantha Nordstrom
Sam’s teaching style is intuitive and heart led. Her mission and vision stem from having been through her own healing journey— she strives to bring all beings an embodied experience of inner peace through the body’s intellect. Sam is inspired by the power of each unique individual and their ability to access joy, empowerment, and wholeness through ancient practices like yoga, meditation, breathwork, reiki, and mindfulness. Her offerings are a blend of nourishing movement and soothing sounds. She uses the power of sound to bring people into a deeply healing, restorative, meditative state of being. She has found using crystal sound bowls to be an incredible tool to bring stillness, inner peace, and harmony in our lives. Each class is a loving prayer and an invitation to joy.
Sara Folsom
Sara is a group fitness instructor and personal trainer with over 10 years of experience guiding students on the North Shore of Kaua’i and a foundation in strength training. She has taught multiple fitness modalities and is known for creating well-structured, challenging workouts that build both physical strength and inner confidence.
Sara believes in body autonomy within a clear framework, inviting authentic expression, while offering strong coaching and purposeful progressions. Her goal is for each participant to truly enjoy the challenge and leave class feeling more alive.
Ryan Peterson
Ryan is a veteran of our Dynamic Strength program - he has attended nearly every class we’ve offered, pausing only to train for and run a 100K ultra marathon in the spring of 2025. His dedication combined with the positive personal benefits he has experienced through this work led him to complete his ACE-certified personal training accreditation in 2025.
He has been a student at Black Coral since 2023 and part of our Kaua’i community living & working on the North Shore since 2016. Ryan teaches strength and functional movement with a light touch and a lot of heart. He believes consistency beats intensity and that showing up counts more than being perfect. With an emphasis on thoughtful progressions, breath, and body awareness, his classes are welcoming, practical, and rooted in the idea that movement can not only help you move better physically but feel clearer mentally.
Expect smart coaching, good laughs, and a reminder that taking care of yourself doesn’t always have to be so serious.