Australia’s fastest growing business; the mumpreneur, small businesses fuelled and driven by the mums of Australia!
I met Zoe through a mutual friend; I began work as the hip hop teacher back in 2009 and here we are! Like any great story is ever really that simple… but the highlight I’d like to talk about within Zoe and I’s #bosslady relationship is the type of studio we decided to run; Encore, your dance family and why it is more of a niche than you know!
I have always wanted to teach, I started paid teaching positions when I was just 14 years old and loved it! There is nothing that compares to a child’s first time they really get their skipping, flash forward to their first aerial, their first paid gig, assisting them in taking their own first class as a teacher, it truly is a rewarding gig mentoring these young talented humans.
I was exposed only to highly competitive and elite sports and studios in my past; very much shown from a young age that you had to be the best to make it, to create the best, to perfect every single thing, and if you weren’t that committed there was no point.
Zoe; and I can only speak on her behalf, had a light heartedness surrounding dancing, it was competitive yes, but it was also a social hub, a place where she saw her school friends, I recall Zoe telling me advice she was given from one of her role models when we first started our working relationship, someone had told her ‘you can either have a studio that is competitive or a studio that is fun’ and I truly believe that in our early years of teaching we both believed this and that unfortunately dance studios still hold true to this a lot.
Both Zoe and I as teachers and now business partners have grown and evolved over the 10 years of working together so far. Through this we have shared the ups and downs of life and of business. We have laughed and cried together, we have stressed and debated and had many a sleepless night over this business of dance and we have come to a conclusion…
A dance studio can have both, our dance studio does and will always have both! A dance studio should have both a competitive edge and a nurturing, supportive and playfulness to it. The structure of a business but the community of a family.
My proudest moments within the business are the times my mum comes to visit (you all know her as Nana K), as I mentioned earlier everything was insanely competitive within my environments growing up. But every time Nana K visits Encore she comments on how she cannot fathom how much the kids love and embrace everyone in the room; every new student, visiting student, teacher, mentor is welcomed by them without anyone having to prompt this. It is a culture we have cultivated, and we believe that we are nurturing young humans and not just professional dancers, this is the product Zoe and I have spent years on, this is who we are.
Encore, your dance family
Because at the end of the day as both mothers and business owners yes we want to succeed in business, we want to provide for our families and ourselves, but mainly we want to look back on this journey and be proud of what we have created, a brand, a culture, a family.
