Francesca is the founder and caretaker of a local community center called Breathe Ojai. She was initiated into the Sri Vidya/Himalayan Yoga Lineage (Swami Rama) in 2010. Swami Rama encourages students to “not leap ahead... tread the path systematically. Practice faithfully and let your life unfold in its own time," and teaches that experiential meditation and self-inquiry are keys to understanding life.

As an undergraduate at Carlow University in Pittsburgh, PA, she learned about and aligned her life around the teachings of the Irish Catholic Sisters of Mercy. Founded by sister Catherine McAuley, they emphasize service to others and inclusion as some of the highest aspirations in life. Francesca founded two groups: Students for Peace and Justice and a chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops and completed a degree in Psychology with minors in Philosophy and Public Policy and Leadership.

She holds a Masters Degree in Yoga Studies with honors from Loyola Marymount University and is a clinical Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT). Her masters thesis was titled: The Influence of the Upaniṣadic Pañcamayakośa Schematic in Contemporary Yoga Therapy. She has taught Yoga mostly full time for over 15 years (practicing since her teenage years) and has lived in Ojai for 12 years. Her graduate degree includes the study of Sanskrit and the historical, cultural, religious, and sociological dimensions of Yoga. She was most interested to work toward this level of study for the discipline involved and to understand the history of what we call yoga in the modern world.

Her Yoga Therapy training includes in-depth training in anatomy, physiology, psychology, Ayurveda, mindfulness-based stress reduction, clinical research, mental health, biomechanics, neurology, and many other areas. She’s studied and practiced Zazen Meditation, Shambhala Tibetan Buddhism, Krishnamacharya/Iyengar/Ashtanga, Yin/Restorative, Hatha Yoga, Gendai Reiki Ho, Ayurvedic diagnosing methods and skills and principles of physiology and more. She's taught Yoga for teens, children, and other special populations, dual diagnosis clinics, and local schools.

She’s taught in the midwest, east and west coast, at multiple local universities, and in India and teaches in 200 and 300 hour teacher trainings across the world and through ‘Gold Yoga School’ in Ojai.

She moved directly to Ojai in 2012 to engage in a year long self-inquiry practice at the Krishnamurti Foundation and has led Self-Inquiry and Yoga retreats here for the past decade. Pre-pandemic, she spent two years (off and on) living, studying, and traveling solo in India and visited again in 2023. She is the co-founder of The Vriddhi Foundation which empowers young women to attend college in rual India.

She competed five times at the national roller figure skating championships (in addition to hundreds of local and regional competitions over two decades) and ended her skating career competing at the World Class level. She began skating at age 4, immediately fell in love, and would train up to 30 hours a week. She leads classes and hosts meet-ups through Ojai Skate Club since 2020 and at Skating Plus since 2012.

Personally, she’s overcome immense personal challenges (Complex-PTSD, severe major depression, panic attacks, self-injurious behavior and suicidal ideations) with the support of a strict yogic lifestyle, Ayurvedic interventions, and a lot of outside support and has been sober for over nine years. The grace, education, and privilege she’s been granted will only continue to flower and be worth anything if she can unconditionally share it with others.

She’s really good at growing tomatoes and attributes this to being a nearly one quarter Italian. She is genetically over 77% Irish and has been diving deeper into the indigenous spiritual practices of her heritage. She is basically a fairy on wheels.