Meet Carla

Hi, I'm Carla!

I have been working in the fashion industry for almost 30 years - and I'm completely passionate about helping women look and feel their best!

My fashion boutique Yoka Fashions has gone through many transformations since I first opened it in 2001.

I am so proud to introduce “Yoka by Carla” - now a fully online experience.

I’m here to style and guide you through the online shopping experience - from curating the high quality, unique fashion pieces Yoka is known for, to helping you find the perfect size and fit for your body type, to guiding you through styling your pieces.

In short, I want to help you take the guesswork out of online shopping, by doing what I love - which is making sure you look and feel your best.

I hope you’ll join me for this exciting next chapter!

The Yoka Story:

I grew up in a fashion family splitting time between Toronto and the Netherlands, and spent much of my teenage years traveling the world to find unique, high-quality fashion pieces for my family’s boutique.

I brought my love of fashion with me to my own endeavours, and opened a mall fashion cart in 2001, naming it after my mother - Yoka.

Two years later I opened YOKA as a storefront boutique on Toronto’s busy Queen Street East in the Beaches neighbourhood, where YOKA flourished as a Toronto style institution for over 20 years.

In 2020, pandemic lockdowns meant I had to find a way to run my small business that wasn’t dependent only on foot traffic - and Yoka’s online store was born.

But I missed connecting with my customers, so in April 2020 I did my first Instagram Live sale - and it was a huge hit!

From that point onward, Yoka’s amazing community got together for weekly “Friday Night Lives” on Instagram and we all found a place to connect, have fun, and enjoy fashion together without needing to shop in-person.

During the pandemic I made the big decision to shut down my Toronto storefront and relocate the boutique to Niagara-on-the-lake, where I have been living with my family since 2012.

After two years of operation in Niagara, I’ve decided that time for Yoka to transform once again - into “Yoka by Carla” - now a fully online experience!

This latest evolution of Yoka Fashions will continue to offer our cornerstone high quality, unique fashion pieces, but you can expect more time and focus on a personalized shopping experience - and on the Instagram Live shopping shows that have continued to grow in popularity ever since the pandemic.

I can't wait to share this next stage of Yoka with you!