Why Playing It Safe Was Never the Answer | FT Janicka Arthur | EP28

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Welcome to Be Real with Sarah, Where the b Ma.
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Steing and the Real Never Dies.
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Hey, guys, it is Sarah Busby. Y'all.
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We are back with another episode on Be Real with Sarah.
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Y'all. Do y'all like our new setup here? Okay?
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Because we are, like I feel like again, we are official.
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Not that we wasn't official last time, but y'all, we
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got a whole new feel like a new home.
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All right.
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So y'all know, get comfortable, get quiet, settled down because
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we are about to go on a whole new journey.
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And I'm so excited, y'all because we got company in
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the house in the have all Right, y'all know what
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we do. Welcome to Be Real with Sarah, Where the
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Bee masting but the Real Never dies.
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Ah. I just love when I say it.
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Okay, y'all.
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We have an entrepreneur, We have a leader.
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We have someone that is moving and shaking in her industry.
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All right.
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I'm so inspired because as a person, I feel like
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I have went through my own journey where I feel
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like some of my dreams have been deferred. But she
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is one of the ones that is teaching women and
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people all alike that says, Listen, your dreams are not deferred.
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I've created a place for you to come and live
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out your dream and really pour back into yourself. You're
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like girl, who is that? Well, she is our new girlfriend.
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Y'all.
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Okay, we gotta welcome our guests, Janika Arthur. She is
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the founder and owner of Art of A School of
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Dance right here in Dallas, Texas.
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Thank you so much. That was such a nice introduction.
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Thank you everybody.
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Hello, Hello girl.
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I gotta give you your props. I told you, I said.
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When I saw you, I said, oh, I love to
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see a black woman and we gotta keep it real.
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We are full figured, black, beautiful woman leading the charge
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in our industry, regardless of all the highs and lows.
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And I said, oh.
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Yeah, we got to talk to her.
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So how do you feel today?
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You a good bill, fabulous. Thank you very much, and
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thank you for having me. I greatly appreciate it. It's
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nice to be seen right in that way. Let's just
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be real. Sometimes as an entrepreneur, you are behind the scenes,
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if you will, even though you're in the front of
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the scenes. It's an interesting dynamic where you are not
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highlighting yourself you're highlighting your work, you're highlighting your business,
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whatever the case may be. So for someone to recognize
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you as a person outside of the business is pretty awesome.
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So thank you absolutely.
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And here I like to talk about business life and beyond,
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and I always like to highlight I'm going to have
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an entrepreneur or a professional. I think we have a
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great job of doing our job, but we don't again
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spotlight ourselves or talk about ourselves. But there was a
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there was a drink of before now before the business,
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that sure was, and we need to talk about that.
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So tell us who was her before the big name
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in the studio. Oh, that's cute, that's cute. I was
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always me, to be honest, it's interesting I came. I'm
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from Chicago, Illinois. I am the product of a single
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mother in the home. Right, let's be clear. I did
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have my father, he was president what have you. But
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my mother was a Mary Kay director. She's been Mary
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Kay for over forty something years. Okay, But what was
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important is that she was always on the road, always
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on the go, and.
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She wanted me to have a place where I could prosper,
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I guess, and so she enrolled me in a organization
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called Eta Theater. They had art, dance, music, all of
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the things for students to be artistic, and I just
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fell in love with the dance portion of everything. And
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so my story, I guess, of me being an individual
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started there. I actually was able to learn myself game, creativity,
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my passion, and my love for dance sparked right there
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on the South side of Chicago. Wow.
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And you know, we talked about Chicago is like my
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other little place that I wanted to go to and
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I still want to go. They say, Chicago has it's social,
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beautiful place in the summer.
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Gir you gotta go in the summer. See listen, if
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you go in to winter, good luck to you. But no, ma'am,
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not in the winter. Don't even go in the fall.
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The wind is a mess becoming the summer.
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Coming this summer. Okay, Yeah, I'm gonna definitely have to
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ask you what places to go? Where to go for
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the summer, Okay. But I really connect with that because
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my father passed when I was twelve, So technically I'm
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a product of a widowed mom that wanted to see
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my dreams play out, and so my dream was acting.
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So that's why I connect so much with you creating
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that space like dang, I ain't gonna never be able
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to act, but you create a space where you know, hey,
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you can still do it no matter the age and
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what you do. So did you always have a dream
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of being like a professional dancer or like, where did
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you see yourself?
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That's great. I never wanted to be the dancer. That
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wasn't my thing. What's very interesting, so I talk about
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this a lot with my students, is my mother always
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tried to push me into ballet. So I tell a story. Hey,
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I started with at Eta Theater. I started with West
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African dance with live drumming, live accompaniment. From there I
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moved into modern dance, Catherine Dunham technique, Lester Horton technique.
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These are all styles of dance. My mother's like, hey, Jenika,
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if you're gonna be serious about this thing, honey, you
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have to take ballet. I was like absolutely. By the
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time she got back, I had signed up for jazz class.
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I was not doing ballet. I refused to put on tights.
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The idea of going from like live drums the base
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of the music, to going to like classical Beethoven not
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my thing. Right. So then she's like, Janika, he's down
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the road. If you're going to do dance, honey, you
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have to do ballet. I was like, absolutely, Mom. I
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end up signing up on ice skating, Ince did pre
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alta alphabeta Gamma dance. I wanted myself to all the
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things I just refused. But what ended up happening is
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I wanted to enroll in Chicago Academy for the Arts
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and say arts high school like Fame in Chicago, where
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you did your academics from eight to one twenty in
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your art from one thirty to six, and you have
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to do an audition to get into that school. What
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do you have to do with the audition? Ballet? And
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so here I am going back and saying, Mom, please,
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can you please enroll me in? Like every mother says
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like I told you so, energy right. I don't know
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if there's a school for parenting, yeah, they do the right.
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So I end up going into what is it Gallery
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thirty seven dance gallery in Chicago. I was enrolled in
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there for a little bit of time getting ready for
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this audition. Went to the audition, totally sucked in ballet.
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Let's be clear, they're speaking French you're talking about, you
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know their everything was turned out in dance that I've
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been doing was time in plea, big knees, what have you.
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And so I killed it with all the other stuff,
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that's my story, right, I'd be a fantastic with the
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other styles. Ballet not so much, but they accepted me.
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I did not go that year because it was eleven
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thousand dollars to go to the school. My mother's a
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single mom. She was like, Jenika, I can't afford it, honey.
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So I went to another school called Kirie Metropolitan. It
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was a public school. I ended up taking nothing but
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ballet classes that entire time during that school year, went
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back and I was able to get like a full
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scholarship to the school. So from there, it just took
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off from there, from being with Alvin Ailey School of Dance,
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Or's summer camps in Chicago's being with Gallery thirty seven
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in Chicago, being with Jockhly ballet classes, doing ballet Chicago,
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deeply rooted productions, all the things. I end up getting
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my degree at Southern METHODICT University and dance performance. That's
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like the trajectory of how things happened. Wow, as far
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as dance was concerned. But I say that to say,
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when you're dancing and when you're learning, you have to
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do auditions. And there were two major things for me.
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One my name was Jenika Arthur, so my last name
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A That means I'm always at the beginning of any
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audition line right, I'm either gonna be the first, the second,
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or the third. So I had to be on my
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p's and q's always right. I didn't have a chance
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to watch everybody else show me for me to learn
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it later. I had to either know it or I didn't.
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It was that type of energy and so that was
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one aspect of how I felt about being a dancer.
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But it's because there were other students that didn't get
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my training one and other students that were spending years
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and hours inside studios but weren't getting the correct training
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to stay in the audition and they were getting called out.
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I was like, I fell in love with the idea
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of teaching. I was like, I never want any of
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my students to feel like they've been spending years and
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time in my studio but they're not able to get
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through the audition. And so that's where my passion came
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in to play where I was like, I don't want
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to dance. I want to help dancers.
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Oh wow, just to hear that, like all that experience
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that you have, the curriculum, the education, yeah, and then say, yeah,
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I don't want to be in it that way. I
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want to teach, poor cultivate. And you said something so
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interesting because my last name was a B. So even
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though it wasn't an A, I said it was up
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closed always. And I think that mindset carries on even
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in business and in your professional life, like you always
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gotta be on, like I gotta be ready, like I
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don't have a blueprint.
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So kind of taught me.
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Did you in life business did you see other entrepreneurs
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or did it come from your family or you're just
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like I'm the first one.
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That's great. I always tell people because my mother was
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another k director. I've been selling since I've been in
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a womb, right, so I had the opportunity to have
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a front row seat to hear my mother talk to
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her consultants, talk to her clients, to talk to them about,
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you know, making sure they felt good, they felt beautiful,
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and then sell the product. And so I always had
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that aspect of things. But outside of my mother, No,
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I didn't have any guidance in business. Even in college,
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being getting your dance degree, they don't teach you entrepreneurship
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while you're there. I end up learning from an influencer
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that I ended up working for later on in life.
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But I did have a front row seat in a
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multimillion dollar company to sit as a product manager, and
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so that's how I also learned about business.
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Oh my gosh.
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And so looking back, talking about yourself, now, did you
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ever think you would be sitting here, girn't know?
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Not in ballet, like absolutely not. Like if someone would
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have told me that I would have been a ballet instructor,
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I would have laughed in their face. Right. However, I
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think what sparked that for me is that ballet, because
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I came into ballet later on in life. If you will,
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starting at like what eleven twelve years old in the
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dance world, that's that's late in my world, and art
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of eights world, that's not late, right, you just get
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beginning at forty, So it's fine. But for me, girl,
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what was the question? Look, I'm thinking things.
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So talking about yourself back then?
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Oh no, for me, the reason why ballet stuck out
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is because ballet taught me more about myself than anything.
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I could just dance, be free with the other styles
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because I grew up in it, I was six years old, whatever,
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But ballet, I was having to learn terminology. Being the
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only like black in the classroom, being curvy, having the breast,
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having all of those things. I had to be totally
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totally different and see myself, look at myself in the
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mirror and not compare myself to the girl next to me.
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I had to say, Genika, it's okay that you don't
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get this today. Stay with it, stay with it, be consistent.
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I had to really dive deep. And I think that's
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what I instill in my students. Yeah, you learned the choreography, Yes,
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learned the terminology. Yes you can put on the pink
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tights and the leotards, But how do you walk into
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the studio? What do you say to yourself? And how
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do you walk out of the studio? How do you
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dance in the studio and how do you dance outside
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of the studio. That's what I care about were than.
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Anything, And I think hearing that, I don't think what
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you're talking about that you do with your students and
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cultivating them and speaking to them and speaking life into them.
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There I don't believe you. Tell me, correct me if
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I'm wrong. Do they do that in the dance world,
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like encouraging you and building that confidence in you and
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all that thing.
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It depends on what teacher you're talking about, right, It
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depends on what the goal is and all that. There's
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some people talk about, like beating their students down and
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all of that. I can't relate to that storyline. I
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had some really great teachers that poured into me, and
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I had some other teachers that didn't. I know the difference,
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and I know what side of the fence I want
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to stand on. I love that.
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I love the like being an advocate. Like being an advocate.
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If the world is not going to do it, we're
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gonna You're gonna get that here.
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Absolutely.
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What I love about just following your story. Being a
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new transplant here to Dallas. One of the number one
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things that I wanted to make sure that number one
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priority was build community new here. Had family here, but
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just not don't have a relationship. It's different when you
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know people, but when you have a relationship with them,
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it's different because usually we have a relationship with them.
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It's an opportunity for it to be cultivated and grow.
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And what I've loved about hearing from your students is
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you have transplants.
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You have people that.
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Have said, I do all this for everybody else had
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a dream and they come into your studio a part
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of your life, your community, and they find community, they
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find family, and that that's what drew me to You're.
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Sweet, thank you. Yeah. That A lot of people ask me,
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They're like, Junika, how did you do it? Kind of energy?
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And the truth is I just was being authentic. I
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was just being the the advocate, like you said. I
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guess when I started teaching and Dallas, I was teaching
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children and then I had the opportunity to teach an
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adult class. And that adult class when I was there,
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initially it was just designed for the moms who were
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spending time at the studio but didn't have anything to do.
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And I was like, we can be a little bit
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more than that. And so from that class that was
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two or three years later, it was a packed class
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where they had to have people wait listed for my
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class at a different studio and all of that kind
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of stuff, and I realized that there was a gap
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in the marketplace where that gap was there are there's okay, huh,
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let's get into it. There's a difference between someone being
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a great dancer and someone being a great teacher. And
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you have people who are great dancers that are teaching
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a class, but they don't have the heart to really
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teach the beginners. They only want to teach the professionals,
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the one who have like a I want to say,
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an aspiration to be professional, but have the capability to
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be on stage as a professional. But there were people
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who wanted to try it to see is this something
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I've always wanted to do it? But I don't have
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a safe place, and being in those classes wasn't safe.
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They're not paid attention to the person doesn't know your name,
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the person's not connected to your goal. It's like, oh,
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you can't dance, and they just keep walking. And I
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was saying, you know what, that's not my heart. You
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know what, you can keep all the professionals, you can keep,
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all the great people. You keep them, bring the others
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to me. And that's how our debate was started, or
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that's how I started to cultivate my class and my community,
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and then we start seeing One of my great quotes
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is the rise and tide lifts all boats, Like that's
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how that happened. Where it's like, Okay, let's do this thing.
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Then oh my gosh.
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So when you say let's do this thing, was it
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like Okay, I'm ready to open up my own studio.
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How did that come about?
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That's great. So I was a sub contractor at a
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studio while also having a full time job in the
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insurance world. I was working as a third party administrator,
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working with a third party administrator as a liability adjustice.
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So I handled a lot of your major corporation their claims,
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liability claims where there be eighteen wheeler accidents or product
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liability claims they drunk something got sick or slipping falls
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and stores. That's what I did. During my nine to
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five I had dance classes at a studio, and then
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I also was teaching with a nonprofit organization here in
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Dallas with children to help them meet and learn artistic
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you know, lifestyles, what have you. Anyway, while I'm sitting
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there hating my job and hating life and all of
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the things, I was like, Lord, what's next. Like, surely
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this isn't it And I'm making more money outside of
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this nine to five. Then I am here, tell me
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what's the plan. And there's an attorney just cursing me
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out on the phone, whatever the case may be. And
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I am just drawing on a piece of paper while
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he's talking, because my decision is my decision. Your clients
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is liable, okay, it has nothing to do with me, right,
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So anyway, I'm just drawing and I am writing, and
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I am like, okay. It was a dance figurine at first.
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And I get off the call and I'm like, lord, okay,
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I'm gonna go ahead and start the dance studio. And
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I said, what are we going to call it? What?
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Where do I go from here?
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Where do we go?
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And so the first initial thought was dance, what's art? Okay?
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And I was like, go ahead, that makes sense. And then
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I also wanted something that was going to have my legacy.
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I do want to get married one day. Anybody listening,
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if you all are looking, okay, listen, I do want
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to get married one day. And so, but I wanted
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the legacy of my school to have my name. And
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so Arthur A. RT Is a part of it. So
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I was like, okay, art, So I put art down,
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and then I'm like, okay, but these are who I serve.
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I serve students, or I serve women, or are either
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starting for the very first time, or they're returning to
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something that they love. And I was like, okay, that
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was one thought. And then I'm like, well, dance is
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five six seven eight, and we were like five six.
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Except like you know what I mean.
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So then I put art of a regular eight down
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and I was like and that didn't feel right right.
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And then I wrote the word eight and I was like, no,
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that's not it either. And I was like okay, and
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I was like, okay, we're gonna call it art of aight,
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that makes sense. But then I started doing research in
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art or the number eight means new beginning yep. And
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I was like, okay, we're getting somewhere. Jesus, like, what's
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going on here? Got it? So I said, okay, the
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art of new beginnings? That works for me. But I
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was but the eight. The number eight mattered to me
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but didn't work. Nor did the number eight work, And
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so I was like, what's another way that you could
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write eight? And then I wrote the Roman numeral eight,
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and I was like, huh, okay, but I didn't understand
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at the time why, But it was I wrote art
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of eight and then I not crumbled it up and
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folded it and put it in the in the bag.
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Then about thirty minutes something said pull it back out,
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and I pulled it back out and I said okay,
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And he said, right, school of Dance down, because the
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school of dance wasn't part of it. Initially, when I
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was thinking business, I was thinking about me independently. Yeah,
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I think class you would think it's too small. Uh uh.
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He said, this is a baby, this is an enterprise, conglomerate.
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How let we talking glow going on the sign?
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What are we talking about? We need a school of dance.
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So I was That's when I realized it was more
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than me, and it was more than one style of dance.
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Right was going to involve not only students, but it
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was going to involve teachers. And not only were the
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students going to be having their new beginning, but teachers
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were going to be having their new beginnings too, in
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some way, shape or form. It wasn't until years down
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the line where I think, I think God, he gives
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us little nuggets along the way. When I started recognizing
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that my classes weren't just supporting students in learning technique
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or being able to pour in themselves for an hour
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or what have you, but it was also helping them
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get out of their comfort zones outside of the studio.
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It was having them realize what was most important to them,
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so that new beginning wasn't just danced. That new beginning
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was there and count if you will, outside of the studio,
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where people are becoming entrepreneurs, people are deciding to move
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into new homes or new cities or what have you.
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Like they are in fact on like that precipice of
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like something new in their lives. And Artivate is I
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don't want to say the holding place, but our Art
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of eight is like that people call it if they're
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sanctuary or people call it their what is it what
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you call their arena? Where it's like a me versus
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year situation. That's what art Debate is. It's a dance
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studio that is much more.
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I love it.
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And when what year did you start?
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We?
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I what's interesting, I founded it in twenty eighteen. We
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did not go into practice until twenty twenty of September
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and during the pandemic.
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So you know, your eighth year, you gotta do something
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because my PR mind goes.
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I'm like, oh, shoot, come on, PR.
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Come on, eight year New beginning, like you gotta do
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I'm telling you now, you gotta.
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Do a whole I didn't even think I would haven't
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even been there yet mentally, but yes.
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It's gonna happen.
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Because when I hit my tenuere last year, they was like,
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you better do something, you better ten years, eight years. Yes,
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you're gonna do it, and I'm gonna make sure of it.
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Stay lest I'm gonna make it.
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I might call your list the eighth year.
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You know, you're gonna call me your seven because it's
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it's a whole thing. So we gotta do a whole
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little celebration.
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We gotta. I need a whole three and sixty my.
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Day, a whole year celebration for the eighth year.
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Yesterday, eight years. So yeah, let's go ahead. And y'all, y'all,
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y'all saw it here, y'all heard it here, and so
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00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:27.200
we're gonna have to bring it back for our eighth
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year celebration. But I think it's amazing. So we're at
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what's we're going into six years of actual the building,
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the brick and mortar, et cetera.
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Right, no, no, yes, no, yes no. So I went
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into entrepreneurship differently where I actually did not go into
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a brick and mortar initially in the sense that number
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one we started in pandemic. We started online first. Right
447
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from there, one of my students that was a part
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of another studio, she had a She was a competitor,
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if you will, of the studio that I worked at,
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and I was asking the students one day, I'm like, hey,
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do you all happen to pass any dance studios along
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the way. I'm actressly actually interested in doing a project.
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That student came to me and said, hey, I actually
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own a dance studio if you would like to start
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your dance studio inside of my dance studio because we're
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not competitors. She only had children and I had adults,
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but absolutely so we were there for over three years.
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Then at that point she said, you have now built
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what you were looking to build. You have gotten a
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certain size, And we end up moving from her location
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and now we're at another location that we're subbleasing. Okay,
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so this year, if not next year, we're currently working
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to get our own studio in DFW.
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You know, listening to you, people don't want to I
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love to talk to builders yet because they're the process
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to get to that big to some people, the brick
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and mortar, the building. And you have to be okay
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with humble beginnings. You have to be okay with startain
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and small. You even touched like I even connected with you,
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and you were saying like you were fueling the vision
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at your nine to five. People don't want to just
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want to just jump in and just run into it exactly.
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And that's lacks humility, pride, all the things. And that's
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what it really inspired me about.
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That at the nine to five when I was working
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at the other studio, what sparked me or what had
477
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me go into entrepreneurship is I started thinking outside the box.
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People were thinking, okay, oh, you can do a private lesson. Yes,
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I did private lessons. No, I didn't do private lessons
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like everyone else. Unless be clear, people who are watching
481
00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:53.640
who are entrepreneurs If they're saying or considering to put
482
00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:56.240
their pricing based off of someone else's pricing, I am
483
00:24:56.279 --> 00:24:58.680
telling them to not do that. You don't know what
484
00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:02.200
their reason is for their pricing, or what goals or
485
00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:06.000
aspirations they have. My pricing was not everybody else's pricing.
486
00:25:06.119 --> 00:25:09.400
It still isn't. Just so we're clear, right, But what
487
00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:15.160
I'm saying is I started with saying, what is one
488
00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:18.720
of the things that our students need or want that
489
00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:22.839
this school does not offer? And that is how I
490
00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:26.440
started with my entrepreneurship journey, if you will. Is because
491
00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:29.880
my students were having troubles with turns. They were having
492
00:25:30.039 --> 00:25:34.000
trouble with jumps in class. But jumps and turns are
493
00:25:34.039 --> 00:25:37.440
only a small portion of the class, only fifteen minutes
494
00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:39.599
twenty minutes. And I was say, what if I did
495
00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:43.200
an entire hour of just turns, or how an entire
496
00:25:43.319 --> 00:25:46.559
hour of just jumps, and so I would create I
497
00:25:46.559 --> 00:25:51.559
would then rent out the studio, and then I would
498
00:25:51.640 --> 00:25:54.960
then tell my students, Hey, from three to four, I'm
499
00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:56.720
going to be turning. If you all want to come,
500
00:25:56.759 --> 00:25:59.039
you all would end up having to pay me directly,
501
00:25:59.160 --> 00:26:01.480
and then that is hownership.
502
00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:02.799
Yeah.
503
00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:05.039
That then people wanted to have my shirt, and so
504
00:26:05.079 --> 00:26:07.400
they would buy my shirts like people wanted to have
505
00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:10.839
a video for my classes. So I created videos in
506
00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:11.799
site it that way.
507
00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:15.720
Oh my goodness, that I absolutely love because it sounds
508
00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:18.799
like you field a gap in the marketplace.
509
00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:22.000
In the marketplace, that's the point of entrepreneurship. Don't do
510
00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:25.359
what everybody else is doing. Find your niche find what
511
00:26:25.559 --> 00:26:28.599
you can do, what makes sense, and then run with it.
512
00:26:28.680 --> 00:26:31.000
And I'm in ocean. What is it? Blue ocean is
513
00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:33.519
what they call it. Created my own lane.
514
00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:37.640
Oh wow, So listening, you just gave a tip to
515
00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:42.680
someone that's listening a professional. What would you tell the
516
00:26:42.759 --> 00:26:45.839
person that is say, man, I love what she's doing.
517
00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:48.240
She's building this you know this brand, or she has
518
00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:51.079
this brand, she has this community's followers. What would you
519
00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:54.079
tell them as it relates to if they're feeling stuck
520
00:26:54.200 --> 00:26:56.400
or stagging it? Because I teach people here at be
521
00:26:56.519 --> 00:26:59.880
Rare with Sarah is going from stuck to momentum? Yes,
522
00:27:00.200 --> 00:27:04.039
so what would you advise them in this? You cannot
523
00:27:04.119 --> 00:27:07.720
stay there and that stuck mentality. There's no such thing
524
00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:09.559
as stuck, right.
525
00:27:09.640 --> 00:27:13.240
You have to keep going, put in one foot in
526
00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:17.160
front of the other, find out what that challenge is
527
00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:21.200
and create the solution. You must create it. It's not
528
00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:23.200
going to be given to you. No one's going to
529
00:27:23.319 --> 00:27:26.799
hand you anything, they say, No one's coming to save you.
530
00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:29.279
You have to create it. You have to spend time.
531
00:27:29.279 --> 00:27:33.079
If that means doing more research, if that means disconnecting
532
00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:37.039
from your friends, family around you who are saying what
533
00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:40.359
you cannot do, get around people who are telling you
534
00:27:40.359 --> 00:27:42.480
you can. Yeah, that's what you need to do.
535
00:27:42.519 --> 00:27:43.640
You got to cut out their distraction.
536
00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:47.079
Got to So I like that you said that that
537
00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:50.519
answer talking about going from stuck to momentum. So what
538
00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:53.119
I want to ask you is do you feel like
539
00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:56.079
as adults we just focus so much on our responsibility
540
00:27:56.160 --> 00:27:57.400
is what we have to do, our to do list,
541
00:27:57.400 --> 00:28:00.200
our task and all the things that we forget to
542
00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:02.880
just be alive, like in the moment.
543
00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:07.039
That's such a good question, and the answer to that
544
00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:09.759
is yes, I do think that that is a thing.
545
00:28:10.279 --> 00:28:12.240
I think that that is more of a thing than not.
546
00:28:12.839 --> 00:28:17.640
I think that we are just in a place as
547
00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:20.400
a society, as a whole, as a world, that's just
548
00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:25.440
in the cycle of having to just get through day
549
00:28:25.480 --> 00:28:30.759
to day, right, and we tend to forget about ourselves, right,
550
00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:33.279
especially if you have a family, especially if you have
551
00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:36.319
a job, or you're an entrepreneur, whatever the case may be.
552
00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:38.920
And so I think what I find beautiful as far
553
00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:41.960
as artists eight is concerned, is everyone that walks in
554
00:28:42.039 --> 00:28:46.640
the door has finally said no more. That's where we are.
555
00:28:46.799 --> 00:28:49.799
They're like, you know what I have given to everyone
556
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:53.240
in everything, and it's now something for me to do.
557
00:28:53.559 --> 00:28:55.480
One of my students I talked about her often, her
558
00:28:55.559 --> 00:28:58.920
name is Evelyn. Evelyn said Heart of Aid or dance
559
00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:01.160
class for her was only place she could get an
560
00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:03.960
r O I for herself. Wow, And I was like,
561
00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:08.079
you know what, You're absolutely right. No one is benefiting
562
00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:11.720
from you taking dance class other than you. So the
563
00:29:11.799 --> 00:29:15.079
question is what is it that you would want to
564
00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:18.440
do to fill your own cup? And do that that's
565
00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:19.519
oh wow.
566
00:29:19.640 --> 00:29:22.799
I love that. That is I gotta take it.
567
00:29:23.079 --> 00:29:23.519
I'm a problem.
568
00:29:23.559 --> 00:29:25.519
I'm gonna steal that. I don't know if I howp
569
00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:29.680
you watching because I'm not to take that because she's
570
00:29:29.960 --> 00:29:31.680
I mean, I mean, that's that's true.
571
00:29:31.799 --> 00:29:35.720
So I think talking to you right leading this this
572
00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:40.599
amazing business is something that you absolutely love and enjoy.
573
00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:44.920
What are you personally doing to pour back into your cup?
574
00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:47.960
Ooh girl, that's good.
575
00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:49.880
Now, like, what are you need to keep it real?
576
00:29:50.359 --> 00:29:50.519
Now?
577
00:29:50.519 --> 00:29:51.720
What you're really over there doing?
578
00:29:52.720 --> 00:30:02.440
Girl, this is not the season. That's the it's recognizing
579
00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:05.680
that it is something that I yearn for and that
580
00:30:05.839 --> 00:30:08.960
I want. Personally, I try to get my little doses.
581
00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:11.039
When I'm walking through the studio and I hear the
582
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:13.680
drums plan in a West African class, I go and
583
00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:15.559
jump into a one two for a second and then
584
00:30:15.559 --> 00:30:19.160
I roll out kind of energy. But for me personally,
585
00:30:19.319 --> 00:30:24.559
I haven't had an opportunity to go and outside of
586
00:30:24.599 --> 00:30:27.920
myself as an entrepreneur, to be like, what does Janika want?
587
00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:30.880
Because what Janika wants is to be able to be
588
00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:33.680
on the other side of having our own building, having
589
00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:36.599
our brick and border in Dallas. That would also make
590
00:30:36.680 --> 00:30:39.720
me very very happy to have for our students. So
591
00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:43.839
I don't have anything personally, not right now, I don't,
592
00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:45.799
but it's coming. I'm sure.
593
00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:50.359
Oh I told you your eight year.
594
00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:53.039
So I got two more years. Girl, Wait a minute there, Oh.
595
00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:55.160
But look I can do I have.
596
00:30:55.440 --> 00:30:58.440
I'm the product of a three hundred and sixty five.
597
00:30:58.559 --> 00:30:59.680
He could do anything.
598
00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:02.759
So we're saying this now, we're going I'm gonna check
599
00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:04.720
in with you well, I'm gonna continue to alla check
600
00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:06.119
in with you, but I'm like, hey, you know, remember
601
00:31:06.200 --> 00:31:08.839
six months ago we were a blah blah blah blah blah,
602
00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:10.839
and I expect you to give me a list of
603
00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:12.640
everything because he can do it.
604
00:31:12.759 --> 00:31:14.799
Yeah, he has a lot of things playing. We haven't
605
00:31:14.839 --> 00:31:16.799
released a lot of things that we are doing, but
606
00:31:16.839 --> 00:31:20.359
we are moving and grooving for sure. Hear in Dallas
607
00:31:20.359 --> 00:31:21.519
and I'm excited about it.
608
00:31:21.640 --> 00:31:23.519
I love it. So tell us a little bit about
609
00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:27.400
you know, what's to come, how people can get involved,
610
00:31:27.400 --> 00:31:28.519
what does that even look like?
611
00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:31.799
Oh my goodness. So if you are someone who wants
612
00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:34.519
to dance for the very first time or return back
613
00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:36.799
to dance after a long kiatus, we would love to
614
00:31:36.839 --> 00:31:39.200
welcome you at our Debate School of Dance, where we
615
00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:44.400
take ballet, modern jazz, contemporary, tap, West African dance. You
616
00:31:44.599 --> 00:31:48.680
learn from the very very beginning with other like minded, creative,
617
00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:54.240
creatively driven people. We're doing that. We're in studio. We
618
00:31:54.319 --> 00:31:57.119
have five seasons at our studio, So we are not
619
00:31:57.279 --> 00:31:59.240
the studio where you can do it just a dropping
620
00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:02.000
in class. We're a studio where you're committing. Our classes
621
00:32:02.039 --> 00:32:06.119
are ten weeks in land and that's different from a
622
00:32:06.359 --> 00:32:10.640
normal I guess program at schools. Usually you can just
623
00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:12.039
drop in and be like, Okay, I just want to
624
00:32:12.119 --> 00:32:14.799
dance one day, and then you walk away. That's not here,
625
00:32:14.920 --> 00:32:17.200
because we want to recognize and really help you grow,
626
00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:19.799
help you learn, realize this is what you really want
627
00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:23.480
or need. So that's that we're doing the End Studio.
628
00:32:23.680 --> 00:32:27.160
We're also going to be releasing a virtual opportunity for
629
00:32:27.559 --> 00:32:29.640
students to come and join us, whether you be in
630
00:32:29.759 --> 00:32:33.720
Dallas or New York or Atlanta, you can take classes
631
00:32:33.759 --> 00:32:38.440
with us. In that capacity. We're having a performance. Our
632
00:32:38.480 --> 00:32:43.400
students perform every single year. We are performing on October
633
00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:47.960
twenty fourth at the Eisman Theater and Richardson, Texas. Six thirty.
634
00:32:48.000 --> 00:32:54.759
Tickets are available online now. And then personally, I'll be
635
00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:59.440
starting a wellness program. We'll be doing wellness programs inside
636
00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:02.599
of corporates here in DFW. So I'm excited about it.
637
00:33:02.680 --> 00:33:05.440
Oh my goodness. I look girl, you're doing all the things.
638
00:33:05.559 --> 00:33:06.200
You're busy.
639
00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:09.079
Wait a minute, and we're going to be launching our
640
00:33:09.240 --> 00:33:13.279
nonprofit this year too. Listen, I'm trying to tell.
641
00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:17.880
You're so busy. I love it now. No, that's one
642
00:33:17.880 --> 00:33:18.559
thing about the building.
643
00:33:18.599 --> 00:33:21.160
They got so much going on, They have so much
644
00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:24.960
going on, Like do you sleep? That's why I asked you.
645
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:26.920
I said, what are you really doing for yourself?
646
00:33:27.240 --> 00:33:33.079
And that's that's the thing. No, I'm building so much.
647
00:33:33.519 --> 00:33:35.759
I got so much. It's so many windows open.
648
00:33:35.960 --> 00:33:37.519
And one of those questions I think that you were
649
00:33:37.559 --> 00:33:39.440
asking me, you know, off camera or whatever the case
650
00:33:39.480 --> 00:33:41.359
may be, is like, you know, how do you manage
651
00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:43.200
it all? Like what are you doing? Like what's one
652
00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:45.839
of those big things that you would tell an entrepreneur
653
00:33:45.880 --> 00:33:47.960
what have you? And there's this book it's called e
654
00:33:48.200 --> 00:33:51.839
Myth Revisited? Have you ever read that one? It basically
655
00:33:51.880 --> 00:33:57.240
it's that a entrepreneur is divided into three right you
656
00:33:57.240 --> 00:34:01.400
are an entrepreneur, a manager, and a technician. Yes, And
657
00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:05.079
so the thing is, if you're going to be successful,
658
00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:09.320
you're going to have to juggle all three of those positions.
659
00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:13.159
And so right now, yes, I'm managing the teachers, the
660
00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:15.679
studio and all of that. Yes I am a technician
661
00:34:15.719 --> 00:34:18.679
because I'm teaching in classes four days a week, two
662
00:34:18.719 --> 00:34:21.920
classes a day, that kind of energy. But the entrepreneurial
663
00:34:21.960 --> 00:34:25.159
side of me also still has to be cultivated. It
664
00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:27.920
also has means that I have to be in class,
665
00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:31.239
in training, taking school, like I have to do it
666
00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:33.800
for me to be able to continue to be innovative,
667
00:34:33.960 --> 00:34:37.000
because if you're not innovative, and your business dies, and
668
00:34:37.039 --> 00:34:39.679
that's something that I'm not willing to do. Oh yeah, yeah,
669
00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:43.800
you gotta always think of like have these ideas, campaigns
670
00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:45.639
and things like that, because you have a community and
671
00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:48.719
they want to say busy just like you. They want
672
00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:50.800
to do all the things they want, you know, and
673
00:34:50.840 --> 00:34:52.679
so there's some great things that I have planned for
674
00:34:52.719 --> 00:34:53.920
them and I'm excited for it.
675
00:34:54.079 --> 00:34:56.800
Okay, well I got just one level of advice. Yes,
676
00:34:56.920 --> 00:34:59.880
I want you to take a day to just do something.
677
00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:03.679
For you this and this is what people don't like.
678
00:35:03.719 --> 00:35:05.599
I said, it looks great and all what.
679
00:35:05.480 --> 00:35:08.679
You're doing, but there's a season where you're actually building
680
00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:10.639
and this it's really no time for the owner. It's
681
00:35:10.639 --> 00:35:13.480
no time for the founder because I'm I'm creating, I'm growing.
682
00:35:14.039 --> 00:35:17.599
He's got to be paid. That's a real whole nother conversation.
683
00:35:19.159 --> 00:35:20.800
That's a whole other episode we'll have to bring her
684
00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:23.800
back on. But the reason being is like I gotta build,
685
00:35:23.800 --> 00:35:26.039
I gotta make this money. I gotta feed my people,
686
00:35:26.119 --> 00:35:27.480
and I just got to have a safe space for
687
00:35:27.559 --> 00:35:29.000
my people to come to.
688
00:35:29.159 --> 00:35:33.079
So I love it. Thank you so much, thank you
689
00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:37.159
for You're just so good. You're natural.
690
00:35:37.239 --> 00:35:41.679
Okay, y'all, my girls, she is a part of the family.
691
00:35:41.800 --> 00:35:44.239
She is not going anywhere, and we want to make
692
00:35:44.239 --> 00:35:46.480
sure we support her. So the only thing I am
693
00:35:46.519 --> 00:35:48.000
going to try to talk to her about is maybe
694
00:35:48.039 --> 00:35:50.159
adding a little some acting because you know, I may
695
00:35:50.239 --> 00:35:51.840
you know, I want to come in and do my little.
696
00:35:51.639 --> 00:35:52.360
Acting and what else.
697
00:35:52.519 --> 00:35:54.159
So if she want to do some little acting class,
698
00:35:54.199 --> 00:35:57.840
I'm gonna come for real. But y'all, we gotta thank
699
00:35:57.880 --> 00:35:59.800
her for coming. Y'all, y'all know what we do here.
700
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:01.679
I want you to always make sure that you keep
701
00:36:01.719 --> 00:36:04.840
it real, be real, spread the honey, and just be.
702
00:36:05.239 --> 00:36:07.480
You until next time. Byeuck.