Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Braswell.
Katie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My love for dance grew quickly as I took my first classes as a child at Ginny Mount School of Dance. I learned so much from Miss Ginny! Her love and care for both the students and parents made such an impression on me and has impacted the way I teach dance.
She was so much more than just a dance teacher. Growing up, I was always a little taller and curvier than other girls. I didn’t always love those features but Miss Ginny never made me change who I was and always encouraged me to be my best. I knew I wanted to do the same for others one day!
I first began teaching small classes each semester for young girls in my church. As time went on, opening my own dance studio slowly became a dream of mine. I didn’t know it would eventually become a reality. But now, with lots of prayer and lots of people supporting me and cheering me on… Thrive Dance Studio is finally here! I’m so thankful for these two in the pictures below– my former teacher, Miss Ginny, and my husband, Sam. One sparked the dream and the other helped make the dream our reality.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been and it hasn’t been. Definitely 50/50. I live a faith-filled life so in 2013 when God dropped it in my heart to open a dance studio I started praying and believing it would happen one day. In November of 2017, I started to head in that direction. I was working for my church at the time and through many discussions, we decided I would transition off of staff the following year. Within that year I got engaged and married.
My wedding was on December 28, 2018, and when we came back from our honeymoon I officially started the journey of owning my own business. At the time it was best for me to get a part-time job so I did and through that, we started saving saving saving. Thankfully, there were a few friends of mine that had started their own business as well so I leaned on them a lot, in the beginning, to know what to do and where to start. There was a building space that became available through one of our church buildings in the fall of 2019 and the space was perfect for what I needed.
As time went on the plan was for me to get a lease signed in March of 2020… well… we all know what happened then. So we decided to put it on the back burner for a few months. When things started opening up we decided on June 1st for me to sign the lease. My husband and I went on vacation at the end of May and celebrated and dreamed of what the next coming months would be like having a dance studio space and doing all the renovations but when we got back home my mom had a stroke and it totally flipped our world around. And it was ironically on June 1st. With her health from the stroke not being the same and needing to make adjustments with her living situation, we pushed the signing date to July 1st.
And then… Covid hit our household and we were out for a month! It was definitely a moment we laughed and cried about. Because everything was up in the air with many things personally with my family we put it all on hold again and December 1st came and we officially signed the lease! YAY! We hired contractors to start renovations and in April of 2021, we opened!
Once we signed the lease and got things moving most everything started running smoothly at that point. Of course, we learned a lot with hiring contractors, managing the money, and doing a lot of the renovations on our own but I wouldn’t trade the whole experience for anything.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I currently work as a part-time teacher at a daycare and teach at my dance studio. I’ve always loved being around kids. Definitely, something that has come easily to me. Before starting my business and doing what I do now, I worked in kids ministry for 9 years so I’ve learned a lot about kids and teaching.
I learned a lot about teaching dance from my dance teacher, Mrs. Ginny. She was and still is a PRO with kids of all ages. I would say I’m most known for my love of dance and teaching kids! I’m most proud of going for my dream and making it happen. Not many people do that and I always tell myself, if I fail at this at least I tried!
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
I’ve learned that even if you make a plan be flexible because you never know what will happen. And to take things day by day because anything can change overnight with how our world is right now.
Contact Info:
- Email: katie@thrivedancestudio.com
- Website: thrivedancestudio.com
- Instagram: danceatthrive
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danceatthrive
Image Credits
Brynn VB Photography
