Meet The Owner

Haley Picotte-Stozek, an avid music educator and Yoga enthusiast, is the founder of Haleybird Studios.

Haley was born and raised in Wauwatosa, WI. She has studied the cello since the age of nine. She began teaching private lessons during her junior year of high school. This experience guided her pursuit of a career in Music Education.

Haley studied Music Education at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, graduating with honors. While pursuing her Bachelors, she performed with the University Symphony Orchestra, participated in chamber ensembles, and performed and recorded with local bands.

Presently, Haley teaches elementary strings in the Wauwatosa Public School System as well as private lessons. She is known within the schools for her creativity and infectious enthusiam!

Haley’s passion for music is matched only by her belief in Yoga’s ability to improve one’s health in body and mind. In addition to completing a 200-hour RYT Yoga Training Program, Haley believes Yoga to be a life long journey and has enjoyed continuing her studios. She has attend workshops & seminars with Yoga masters including Seane Corn, Rodney Yee, & Paulie Zink. Haley has also completed 36 hours Yoga Therapy Training and looks forward to continuing her Yoga Therapy Studios. In February of 2010, Haley had the amazing opportunity to begin an advanced teacher training program with Shiva Rea. Haley is proud to incorporate Shiva's teachings on Vinyasa Yoga into her teaching.

Haleybird Studios is committed to ENRICHING THE LIVES of the residents of Wauwatosa and its surrounding communities through music-based education and hatha yoga.

Christine Eckblad: Yoga Instructor 200 RYT
Christine has completed a 200 hour Yoga Training and been teaching yoga for 6 years. She is also ACE Certified in Personal Training. She enjoys teaching fun and challenging classes that will work one's mind, body and breath. Christine's style tends to be a mixture of Vinyasa (poses flowing together) and Iyengar (alignment focused). She welcomes all levels to her classes as she encourages everyone to listen to their own bodies and tailor their practice to their needs.

Christine also enjoys the theraputic side of Yoga and working one-on-one with people helping them to find their "Yoga edge", a place where they are physical challenged while maintaing mind & body awareness. We invest in a lot of things in life, our money, our time but we need to start with our bodies, the foundation of it all

Molly Sommerhalder: Yoga Instructor 200 RYT
Since Molly’s introduction to Yoga over 7 years ago, she has had the privilege to learn a variety of styles of Yoga with many great teachers.  In addition to completing her 200 hr certification in Vinyasa Yoga, Molly participated in an apprenticeship at Turbodog Spirit Center in Chicago in the summer of 2009.  At Turbodog, she studied Yoga assisting with Steve and Talya, senior Forrest Yoga teachers.   During this time, Molly learned the practice of Forest Yoga and found the healing force of yoga.  She believes if that if you put your practice first, everything in life will follow the way it's supposed to.  Molly brings her love of music to her classes, as she encourages her students to create their own music with their breath. She teaches her students to utilize their Yoga practice as a source for healing and to travel inward and explore their emotions using their body.  Molly’s classes invite all to let go, smile and find inner happiness! .

Elizabeth “Biz” Casmer, Certified Yoga Instructor, RYT 200
Biz recently moved to the Milwaukee area from Saint Paul, MN with her husband Ian and their two dogs, Walter and Willow. With her recent move, she decided to focus more of her energy on helping people get closer to their true self through the practice of yoga. Biz has been teaching yoga for almost five years and practicing for over ten and she is very excited to dedicate more of her time and energy to sharing yoga with her students. 

In her free time, she loves spending time with her husband, her dogs, practicing yoga, learning something new about yoga and/or sharing yoga with others. She also enjoys running, biking, cooking, gardening, reading and spending time with her friends and family. 

 Biz is currently pursuing her 500 hour Professional Yoga Therapist certification through Integrative Yoga Therapy and will be a certified Yoga Therapist in October of 2010.

Certifications and professional credentials:
- BA in Business, Advertising and Spanish from University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, MN
- Registered Yoga Teacher (230 hour) through Yoga Center of Minneapolis & Yoga Alliance
- Certified Group Fitness Instructor through American Council on Exercise (ACE)
- Certified Pre & Post Natal Yoga Instructor through Global Yoga Center of Chicago
- First Aid, CPR and AED certified through American Heart Association
- Currently Pursuing 500 hour Professional Yoga Therapist Certification through Integrative Yoga Therapy

Nikka Pamenter : Yoga Instructor 200 RYT
Nikka Pamenter's experience includes over 14 years of dance training at various schools including: Foerster Academy of Dance in Sheboygan, Autumn Creek in New Holstein, Mirror Image Dance Academy in West Bend, Milwaukee Ballet in Milwaukee, Art In Motion, Deva Houston's School of Dance in Milwaukee, Danceworks in Milwaukee, and is seeking a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dance at Peck School of the Arts at UW Milwaukee. She specializes in the areas of modern, ballet, hip-hop, tap, jazz, belly dance, and is certified and registered with the National Yoga Alliance as Hatha instructor.  Pamenter has taught for the Foerster Academy and Autumn Creek. She has also taught and coordinated Yogadance and Hip-HopYoga classes at the YogaLoft for three years. In addition to Yoga, Pamenter has worked with the Theater for Young Audiences as a choreographer, with Art in Motion School of Dance in Milwaukee, and with Reel Yoga Center in Plymouth.  She is credited for starting the Hip-HopYoga Dance Camp for pre-teen girls at the YogaLoft in Sheboygan. She is currently pursuing a career in dance performance and movement therapy.

"My goal is to help guide people in learning how to relax, have fun, and be healthy!"

Pat Layton: Mediation Instructor & Ayurvedic Practitioner
Patricia Layton has been a student of yoga and Ayurveda for many years.  She began teaching yoga in 1974 and has taught in various venues around the country.  She has been training Ayurvedic practitioners for the past ten years and currently teaches at the Bhavana Institute for Yoga & Ayurveda Studies in LaGrange, Illinois.