Our Team
Meet Stacy Smith
Owner & Master Teacher
Stacy is an experienced registered yoga teacher ERYT500 and YACEP with Yoga Alliance and can provide continuing education to currently registered teachers with YA. She is also a certified Thai Body Worker, a Reiki Master, a Holy Reiki Master, a Sound Healer and a Shamin.
Having a degree in education, she decided to write and start her own teacher training school in 2017. This Yoga Alliance registered school’s mission is to spread the yoga love and make yoga accessible to everybody and every body.
Stacy’s fitness career began part time in 1983 while she was in college, with her certifications as a personal trainer, group fitness instructor and yoga teacher. She has taught just about every fitness style there is and brings over 4 decades of experience teaching, facilitating trainings, managing studios and gyms, owning her own studios and coordinating fitness, pilates and yoga programs. She has co-written several yoga teacher training programs and was the Master Teacher for many local studios. She is also a former facilatator for YogaFit, Lifetime Fitness, CorePower and Aerobics and Fitness Association of America.
At the age of 21 she opened her first dance and fitness studio and throughout the years she has studied and taught Ashtanga, Hot Power Fusion, Yin, Restorative, Kundalini, Vinyasa, Children’s Yoga, Chair Yoga, Prenatal/Postpartum, Yoga Nidra and Meditation, plus fusion style classes like Yoga/Pilates, Yoga/Barre, Yoga/Sculpt and special populations.
Outside of the wellness world, she loves the beach, painting, dancing, traveling and spending time with her family.
Meet Karla Jo Renee
Studio Teacher
Karla has traveled the world and has known she wanted to be a yoga teacher since she first stepped onto a mat at the age of 17. She’s originally from Portland Oregon and her adventures led her to Southport in 2020. She loves what yoga offers; both the physical and spiritual enrichment. She says, “It changes you in subtle ways.” It has also changed her life in big ways; losing 45lbs, gaining muscle strength, flexibilty and balance, which is why she knew now was the time for her to become a teacher!
Karla recently graduated from Yoga Unlimited’s 200 hour teacher training program and is a registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance. She is continuing her education with Stacy to become a registered YTT500 teacher and a Reiki Practicioner.
Outside of her teaching and yoga practice, you can find her walking and playing with her dogs, golfing, gardening, painting and spending time with her husband.
Meet Debb Keller
Studio Teacher
Debb Keller is a registered nurse who embraces alternative healing practices as part of a holistic approach to health and wellness. She is a YTT 200 teacher after achieving her certification here at Yoga Unlimited.
In addition to being a yoga teacher, Debb is a Level 2 Reiki Practitioner and a Certified Sound Healer. Priding herself on being a lifelong learner, Debb is currently completing her master’s degree to become a Family Nurse Practitioner as she also moves forward with her YTT 500 training here at Yoga Unlimited.
Debb enjoys teaching evenings and weekend classes that are laid back and accompanied by music by up-and-coming artists of all genres. She incorporates yoga breathing techniques into all her classes and loves to teach individuals who are newer to yoga. She also loves teaching private beach yoga classes, making it special for bachelorette, birthday person or girl’s weekend events.
Debb lives on Oak Island with her husband and their son and her four dogs, and two birds.
Meet Cindy Brown
Studio Teacher
Cynthia (Cindy) is a versatile instructor, and not new to fitness. After moving to the area in 2020, she began to take fitness classes at her neighborhood gym. It was a great way to stay motivated and meet new people. It was there that she was approached by an instuctor, who was in charge of the fitness programs and encouraged her to get certified. Cindy is certified through ACE and teaches water aerobics, strength and balance, chair yoga, total stretch and TRX.
Cindy is no stranger to hard work. Proir to becoming a fitness instructor she served a 28 year career as a fulltime fire fighter and paramedic for the Fairfax, VA Fire Department. When she joined the department in 1990, she was one of the few women who worked there. She proved she was a valuable member of the squad and through hard work, passion and dedication she became a Captain. Cindy translates her love of physical movement and helping others into every class she gives.
When Cindy is not teaching, you will find her going for a walk in her neighborhood, taking classes at the studio, enjoying the beach, and spending time with her family and friends.
Joey Fowkes
Sound Bath and Meditation Teacher
Joey’s journey with yoga began in 2009 while living in Alaska, as part of her healing path following a breast cancer diagnosis. Over the years, she found deep peace and connection through Sound Bowl workshops, which ultimately inspired her to pursue certification under Stacy’s guidance. Now a certified Crystal Sound Bowl Healer, Joey is honored to share this sacred practice with others. She is currently pursuing the Meditation certification as well.
Outside the studio, Joey enjoys running, walking, cooking, baking, time with family, and the calm of her new home in Southport. She works full-time as Director of Planned Giving for Operation Smile and recently took part in a Women in Medicine surgical program in Mossoró, Brazil.
Joey is thrilled to join the Yoga Unlimited team and warmly welcomes you to her Sound Bowl workshops.
Ellen Bennett
Studio Teacher
Ellen first discovered yoga as an antidote to physical discomfort and emotional stress that had been sneaking up on her over a period of years. Though she had always looked to physical activity to relieve anxiety, yoga proved to be the perfect balm for body and soul. Her journey from avid student to instructor was a profound life shift for which she is immensely grateful. Ellen completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training through Simon Says Yoga in Bethesda, Maryland in 2016 and began teaching soon after.
Ellen earned an MS degree in Public Horticulture and worked in the field for 28 years, retiring to Southport in May 2025. Ellen is reminded on a daily basis of the healing qualities of nature, often referencing the natural world in her classes and syncing class themes with the seasons, which so often affect our lives in tangible and sometimes unexpected ways.
With a focus on alignment and self-compassion, Ellen seeks to lead her students through a safe yet challenging practice. She incorporates meditation, pranayama and asana into her classes, emphasizing the importance of the breath while weaving in the beautiful lessons of yoga philosophy.
When not teaching, Ellen can be found exploring her new community with her husband, walking, riding bikes, enjoying the beach, and practicing balance on her stand-up paddle board.