The Speech Source

S3E8: Dance with Purpose: Studio of Movemint's Meg Minter

• Mary and Kim

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In this episode of our Changing the Game season, Meg Minter, founder of Studio of Movemint, shares her journey from competitive dancer to transformative studio owner in Fort Worth, Texas. Growing up in the world of competitive dance, Meg witnessed many challenges, from body image pressures to extreme competitiveness, that shaped her desire to create a different kind of dance environment: a safe, positive space where kids can experience movement, grow in confidence, and form genuine connections.

Starting from scratch in Fort Worth with no initial clientele, Meg and her husband took a leap of faith. They opened Studio of Movemint with just 50 students, but thanks to their community-centered approach and commitment to high standards, the studio has grown rapidly, now nearing 1,000 students. Meg emphasizes that the studio isn’t just about dance classes – it’s about building a community. She has introduced inclusive programs like adaptive dance for children with special needs and a dance class specific to those living with Parkinson's, ensuring that everyone can experience the joy of movement.

While the studio’s fast growth has been exciting, it has also brought challenges. Meg talks openly about the struggles of balancing an expanding business with her commitment to maintaining a welcoming and high-quality environment. To manage this, she relies on her team, whom she carefully hires to share her vision of inclusivity and excellence. Her passion for giving back to the Fort Worth community is evident through initiatives like “Pink Week” for breast cancer awareness and the “Dancing with Joy” scholarship, which supports students in need. Inspired by a former student, this scholarship is a deeply personal cause for Meg and is on its way to becoming a full non-profit.

Meg also reflects on the partnership with her husband, which has been crucial to balancing the demands of a successful business and family life. Clear communication and teamwork allow them to support one another, especially with a busy household. She speaks about the power of community, highlighting how word of mouth has fueled Studio of Movemint’s growth and reinforced its place in Fort Worth. With a strong commitment to her values and a heart for making dance accessible for everyone, Meg’s story is a powerful example of how passion, community, and inclusivity can transform not just a business, but an entire city. As she puts it, “It’s easy to give back to a city that has given so much to us.”

Don’t miss this inspiring episode that redefines success, as Meg shares her vision of making dance a joyful, welcoming experience for all. 

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Meg:

I have an interesting lens because I grew up in a super competitive environment, so a lot of my training and exposure came from that. But being in that environment I also saw a lot of yuckiness. There's a lot of stigmas with dance, be it, unfortunately, over-sexualizing children, and that's not just through costuming, that's also through music and that's the language and the content in which these kids are dancing to, and it's all around and nowadays it's just hard to find appropriate music in general. But that was a big concern of mine. I wanted to rewrite some of that ickiness and those stigmas. There's also a level of competitiveness in nature and atmosphere for these kids in these classrooms that can be really detrimental to their mental health and their physical health and imagery around their bodies. So I knew that I wanted to be very on the front line of rewriting any of those inequities in class as well.

Kim:

Welcome to season three of the Speech Source Podcast with your hosts Kim and Mary. This season, our title is Changing the Game.

Mary:

We are highlighting small business owners and entrepreneurs who have unwritten all the rules to starting a business and use their talents and their creativity to be able to build a business. That is a lifestyle designed just for them and is making incredible impact in our community of Fort Worth, Texas.

Kim:

So don't forget to subscribe to this season so you don't miss an episode.

Mary:

Today we have another really neat guest one that Kim and I have had personal experiences with, have really admired and respected for years and years, and her name is Meg Minter. She is the owner and creator of Studio of Movement, which is an amazing, I would say, dance studio, but really it's so much more. It is a really wonderful business here in Fort Worth, texas, and we want to talk about her and highlight her today because she has done exactly what our title of the season is. She has changed the game. She has really created a dance studio that is so much more than walking in and receiving classes and checking that off the box and here's one of your extracurriculars for the week. It is in a really extraordinary business. It has really grown tremendously. I saw on your website it's grown from 50 students to nearing a thousand in less than a decade. So that is really impressive and we just want to say, meg, we're so excited to chat with you about what you've created.

Meg:

Thank you so much. I'm super, super excited to be here with you guys.

Mary:

Let's dive in. Let's get started by talking about your background and where this all started. So I know that you went to UT and you were a competitive dancer all growing up, starting at age four. So can you tell us, even back to that of the passion that you had for dance, how that started? And let's just go from there.

Meg:

Sure, I grew up doing competitive dance from a super young age and I just couldn't pull myself away from it. I loved it so much. I tried gymnastics, I tried cheerleading and I just kept being drawn back to dance. And they say dance friends, become your best friends. And I just had such a deep rooted community of precious friendships and we just grew up dancing and we did not necessarily go to the same school, but we all went to the same studio. So we grew up meeting at the studio and taking class together and competing together from age four all the way to high school. So it was just both in friendship and both just the passion for dance and for what I was doing. I just couldn't put myself away from it. I tried other things, tried other extracurriculars, and I just loved it so much.

Meg:

And then I dug into assistant teaching from a super young age. I was about 13 years old when I started to be helpful at a different capacity and working with the littles and that grew to taking on choreography as a high schooler. And then I found myself choreographing for my prior cheerleading team at my school and working through some choreography meets for them, which was ironic and fun that I used to cheer with them and then I was doing choreography for them and I was like 18 years old and then that grew to okay, what comes next for me? When I knew that I wanted to pursue dance on a collegiate level. So I got my BFA at UT in Austin, where my husband and I dated. We grew up in the same city and town when we were younger and knew each other since we were 10 years old, but didn't date till college. So we became college sweethearts and I always taught while going to school at UT and Sweet Little Studios in Austin, texas. I just furthered my interest in choreography and working with children. I then became a traveling circus act, but I would travel all over Texas and set work and choreography for high schools and dance studios and whether it was a soloist or a drill team of 75, I found myself touring Texas and earning a living that way.

Meg:

And then my husband and I had our child in Austin, stella, and he wanted to pursue his master's in Fort Worth and I was like, oh my gosh, I don't want to leave Austin. I love it so much. And we committed to do our two years in Fort Worth and then move ourselves back to Austin whenever he was done with grad school and we fell in love with Fort Worth. We uprooted ourselves, we moved here, brought our daughter I actually took a hiatus and break from teaching and doing dance related anything to work at an ad agency here in Fort Worth so that he could go to grad school and we could have some supplemental income, and I missed it so much.

Meg:

But I was in hot pursuit for a studio for my own child and Stella at the time was two and we trialed several studios in Fort Worth and I just felt like Fort Worth was missing what I was looking for. So she turned four at that point and I was driving her to Dallas for dance training, which is absurd. But my husband and I are from the Dallas area and so I knew of some great studios there. And he said what are we doing? This is crazy. This is absolutely crazy. I think you should open a studio. And I said oh boy, I don't feel comfortable doing that unless we know for sure we're laying roots in Fort Worth. Are we here for the long haul? Because we always thought about moving back to Austin. And he said I love it and it's a great place to raise a family and the Fabrica. Fort Worth people are just so kind. I think that we should open a studio. I think we should do it.

Meg:

And I was so scared because I had taken a break from teaching. So my reputation built around choreography and mentoring was in the Dallas area and in the Austin area and nobody knew we existed in Fort Worth and had never taught a class. Steli had not really taken a class. We trialed four or five studios in the area and it just wasn't for us. So we found ourselves visiting Dallas for that kind of training. So it was a big risk for us to open a studio and not have a clientele to pull from. Typically, when dance owners open a studio, they have worked somewhere prior and they pull some of that clientele over with them. I didn't have that luxury. I also took great pride in that, like I wasn't stealing business from somebody that I had prior worked for in Fort Worth, it was a blank slate for us and that's how we got our start.

Meg:

We needed 35 kids when we opened the door to not hit the panic button. Oh my gosh, what were we thinking? And we opened the door with 50. And then by the end of year one we had 100. And we told ourselves if we reached a certain point, we would have to look into expansion. And we were on our summer vacation after our first recital and I was working away in our Airbnb on vacation. My husband was like what are you doing? What are you doing? Why are you working? And I said we just had our registration and do you remember that number for us to expand? And he said yes, and I said we have gone way past that number and he said okay, I think we need to talk to the landlord then. And so then we found ourselves emailing the landlord on vacation talking about we need to expand. And that's how we found our first expansion. It was crazy fast growth and it just continued to follow that trend and since then we have expanded one other time. So now we have four studios when we started with two.

Mary:

I remember, as a non-dance mom myself, looking for a studio that does not get caught up in all the other things and fluff that sometimes can be around that, and I remember someone just saying then you need to be here, they're doing something different over here, so how did you create?

Meg:

that I have an interesting lens because I grew up in a super competitive environment, so a lot of my training and exposure came from that. But being in that environment, I also saw a lot of yuckiness. There's a lot of stigmas with dance, be it, unfortunately, over-sexualizing children, and that's not just through costuming, that's also through music and that's the language and the content in which these kids are dancing to, and it's all around and nowadays it's just hard to find appropriate music in general. But that was a big concern of mine. I wanted to rewrite some of that ickiness and those stigmas. There's also a level of competitiveness in nature and atmosphere for these kids in these classrooms that can be really detrimental to their mental health and their physical health and imagery around their bodies. So I knew that I wanted to be very on the front line of rewriting any of those inequities in class as well. I also had big visions of having adult classes, having classes for kids with special needs, being able to cover the spectrum of ballet, jazz, contemporary. But I knew I couldn't do it all at first. But the umbrella of what I wanted to offer was movement was going to be for everyone. However, I could do that, whether it was through hiring the appropriate faculty or providing myself the resources to get educated to be able to teach those things, but I wanted to have that as well. I think hiring the people has been huge for usiring people with the knowledge of working with special populations or having taught adult dance.

Meg:

Or, on the same wavelength as me is wanting to rewrite some of those just bad things from our youth, growing up, in terms of the competitive nature in class and pinning kids up against each other or the inappropriateness that you see, unfortunately, in dance in the competition circuit. I think a lot of our growth has come from word of mouth. Also, working at an ad agency, my dad owned his own agency growing up, owned his own graphic design firm. So through osmosis and my own education, I do all of our social media. So I feel like we're pretty good with our social media efforts. But that's because it's my voice and what I want it to be and what I want it to portray. We have a lot of mamas that come in and when they want their kids to take dance with their friends, to pair them in the same class. So it's a lot of working on that community that I mentioned. That was so important to me when I was growing up.

Speaker 4:

I was going to bounce off Mary's thoughts on that too, because I was trying to think back of how I knew about your studio and I think it was definitely word of mouth. And then going to your website and what you've designed and what you portray is just very appealing. And I have three boys and then there was a girl and I knew nothing about dance, but I knew that the idea of what you thought about dance it can be very intimidating to somebody who isn't from that world and it didn't feel like that at all looking at your studio and it was about just movement. And I don't want to say simplicity, because there's so much more to your studio, but there is just this feeling of simple and clean and beautiful and movement and so much more than dance. That's what we've experienced and I do feel like there's a place for everyone.

Speaker 4:

I would not say my daughter is the best dancer, but she has grown so much in her coordination skills and movement and listening and following directions. There's so much more happening in those classes than the recital at the end of the year, which is so much fun, and there's still all the things that go into performance and the makeup and all of that for the recital and that's a lot of fun, but just along the way she has learned and picked up so many skills. So I think what you have done as far as educating yourself and your hiring and getting the people in there to grow your studio has really been great and definitely for Fort Worth. Word of mouth people talk and that's how they want to learn about their places that they want to sign their kids up for sure.

Meg:

Yeah, it's interesting because we are extracurricular, so that word extra is important. You don't have to choose an extracurricular, you don't have to put your child in something that is outside of school. We know that it's an honor to have the business and to be able to serve Fort Worth in that way, and we definitely don't take it lightly. We work behind the scenes and in the space and on the creative and what we're providing and then how we're teaching it and then how we're presenting it. It's all important for sure.

Mary:

That's what I've experienced with your studio as well is I was so impressed by the level of detail that those classes had, is that and we've been to other studios and I really appreciate that there was a very well thought out plan to exactly how that each class goes at your studio. And that is so hard when clearly you, as the owner, have this vision and you're able to do that. You're able to do this in your sleep, essentially, but then you have to keep hiring and you have to maintain that level of excellence with every one of your instructors, and I just love that there was no downtime. This wasn't a play date. You walk in and, without it being serious or intense, it was purposeful. Is that every moment has a purpose and that is working on balance, or it's working on core strength or it's working on a specific skill. How do you maintain that level of excellence with your contractors? It's really amazing.

Meg:

It definitely gets interesting because another stigmata with dance studios in general, particularly being an owner, is employment is hard to keep and that a dance studio tends to have a revolving door because you're hiring young or unfortunately, in our industry, being a dancer or dance teacher most of the time doesn't pay that great and so you're having to supplement income with other jobs, whether it's teaching, pilates or yoga, or. I work a full-time job during the day and then I teach classes at night just for fun, because I was a dancer and I love it. So it's hard to keep good people. We have been so fortunate to not have high turnover and I know that's a testament to our culture and our we really are so cheesy, but we are like such a family and we have grown within that family. We have people that have expanded their own families and had kids. We're all just growing into these roles together and I know that we also pay very well.

Meg:

It's sometimes hard to talk about money, but a lot of dance studio owners do not pay well, which is hard to keep those teachers motivated and wanting to come and teach, and I know that we are mindful about that. But we also have the clientele quantity to support that, for those teachers, being a large studio, having the right people in place, is so important People that are passionate about the same mission statement that the studio holds. My people are every much a part of the heartbeat of the studio. I cannot do it without my team. They love their jobs and they love being around those kids and I'm constantly asking them what resources do you need? What additional help do you need? Do you need the certification? Do you need extra teaching tools in this space? So I am very much supportive of them. I also like to hire good people and then just get out of their way so that they can do what they are made to do, what God made them to do. So that's been important to me in building my team.

Mary:

Do you have a certain process that's worked well for you to find people or to work for your studio? How have you done that hiring process? And then, do you also have some things in your onboarding experience that you find have been really helpful to set the tone and the stage of that's this a culture and a family, and people really don't come in and out a lot, but this for lack of a better word a commitment, and you're inviting them into your family.

Meg:

Yes, for hiring. Having TCU in our backyard has been super helpful. When I went to UT I was a UT dance student and the studio that I worked for hired a lot of BFA dancers and so we were friends at school. We taught at the same studio and I knew right away how lucky that director of that studio was to have that in her backyard. She had UT's dance department in her backyard so for me that became a resource I already knew would be helpful. Should I be able to tap into it? That became a resource I already knew would be helpful, should I be able to tap into it. So I emailed my faculty at UT. They emailed TCU dance faculty and said hey, one of my students has now opened a studio in Fort Worth and is looking for great faculty. Do you have anybody in your teaching programs that you could recommend any students that are undergoing their own BFA training or pedagogy training? And that's how I was sent a few to start with, and then that relationship has just blossomed there forward.

Meg:

I have subbed classes for TCU's dance department.

Meg:

A lot of our faculty have come from that dance department and have stayed out of graduating through college and I have three TCU students on faculty right now that are currently undergoing their BFA programs.

Meg:

I always tell people it's huge because in our industry you have people that teach at dance studios, that just grew up dancing and they loved it and now they just teach dance. But what teaching experience do they have? We went to college for dance training and teacher training, so a lot of my faculty came from that. They're just accredited faculty, so that has been super helpful for me. And then, in terms of the onboarding for culture, we start with a team meeting at the beginning of the year and just set the tone that this is a family and we are one big think tank together and we're going to provide resources to all come together at the same time and place to grow these kids and we're not just training dancers but we're helping mentor great humans, Not only the technique and the dance training but our artistry growth as well, as well as just well-mannered, disciplined, polite kids. And that's our angle to help with that as well.

Speaker 4:

I wanted to talk about that artistry piece because you grew up dancing and you loved dancing and you were a great dancer but you had that talent for choreography and I feel like obviously it's a huge part of being an owner of a dance studio is you have the experience with dance, You're able to teach kids, but then you have this talent for choreography and it sounds like you're hiring and being able to pull from TCU to pull that into your business. How would you explain that role in owning a dance studio?

Meg:

Choreography is wonderful, but also can be super intimidating, and you are putting yourself out there as an artist and a creative, and dance is subjective. It's not like soccer, where somebody wins and somebody loses and then there's a medal or a trophy.

Meg:

We do have a layer of artistry that is super subjective for us, but it is super important for my mission statement because, on the wanting to protect children and it be appropriate, there's a way to do that for them to be creative and to protect children, and it be appropriate, there's a way to do that for them to be creative and to be celebrated and to be seen without it being something that I don't want it to be.

Meg:

But I also went to school for choreography and learned all of the tools to be able to do that successfully. I realized I had a passion for it pretty early on, all the way back to when I was choreographing for my school and the cheerleaders and then kept getting asked to do it and then getting paid to do it and I was like, wait a minute, okay, I can be creative and then be celebrated for it and then also be paid for it. That's pretty cool. And then I did that all through college, which I could have worked at a restaurant or I could have worked in retail, and I just knew I wanted to work in a studio which allowed me to continue to.

Mary:

We've talked a lot about the perks of growth and the amazing things that come with a business, with growth. I also want to talk a little bit about the downsides of growth, because it is not all sunshine and roses when, yes, that's wonderful that so many people want to come to your studio, but it's not fun to have too many people in a space or sold out classes or people that don't get to be in class with their best friends in that prime spot of that one day that they have free. How do you deal with all of those really hard things of being a business owner?

Meg:

Nobody cares more about your business than you do. My dad tells me that I call my parents a lot. My dad owned his business for over 20 years. It's really hard because, again, we are extracurricular. Like I mentioned, people are choosing us when they have other options in Fort Worth to choose from. I fret about it a lot. I'm constantly thinking what's next for the studio. Do we expand again? Let's talk to the landlord. Can we buy this building? Do we lease somewhere else? Do we build our own building? Those are all at the forefront of our thinking all the time.

Meg:

My husband and I are both super ambitious, so we don't just in our minds think that's it, we've just maxed out. We're constantly asking how can we fix this? Can we add more classes? Do we hire more people? Is there wiggle room in the schedule? And I have my team behind me. They are helping me with those solutions as well, and we always have a waitlist and we're always combing that waitlist and we're always trying to see okay, this teacher is settled into their class and they have this assistant and let's add two more spots. We do a lot of problem solving behind the scenes, but it is painstaking. I think about it all the time. I hate not being able to accommodate everybody. It is both the highest compliment and also a curse. I'm an Enneagram three and goal achiever, and so if I can't accommodate everybody, I feel like I'm failing. And I know I'm not failing, but I really do feel that in my heart. It's difficult because I want quality to be maintained as quantity continues to skyrocket.

Speaker 4:

You mentioned earlier about the importance of having adult classes and classes, special needs classes, and I know that a lot of the kiddos that Mary and I work with for speech therapy and that we know these families are in a lot of your classes and I was curious how you tapped into that community or how you reached out or what were you approached by. Hey, we want our kids to take dance, Can you create a class for that? How did that work?

Meg:

Sure, I at one point was doing a removed convention in San Angelo with one of my colleagues that I went to college with and she had a dance for Parkinson's class and I watched her and observed her and I was like in awe of her teaching these guests of a differing population, and the format of the class and the eagerness of those students and I just thought, oh my gosh, this is dance in a way, and dance appreciation in a way that I've never witnessed. I was moved. I was like whoa, this is really cool. This is unlike working with kids, this is unlike working with adults. It's working with a special population that is benefiting from movement in a way that I had never seen.

Meg:

So when I opened the studio I thought I want something like that. I am not equipped for that. I did not do that training in college or outside of college. How can I implement that? I implement that. Then the studio just grew so quickly with students and youth and I thought, oh my gosh, this is going to have to be placed on the back burner until I can dig in and tap into different resources, because right now I have another issue and it's just kids pouring in needing youth dance classes. Then I had one of my faculty approached me and they are phenomenal and they had taught adaptive dance classes at another studio here in Fort Worth and said to me have you ever thought about doing that? I said, yes, I have thought about it. It has been put on the back burner because of our demand for youth dance classes and our population that keeps pouring in. But yes, I want to do it.

Meg:

You're perfect for this. You've done this before. How can I support you? And we just sat down and pow-wowed a time of day that would benefit these students coming out of school as well. As where does that existing population live in Fort Worth and how can we reach them and let them know and spread the word that, hey, we're offering dance classes for adaptive students, kids with differing abilities whether that is autism or Down syndrome, kids in wheelchairs, kids needing just that extra assist but can totally benefit from all of the wonderfulness that dance has to offer.

Meg:

And so we reached out to TCU. Kinder Frogs and our faculty had taught there before, as well as another dance studio here in Fort Worth. We pulled that clientele in and did some demo classes. And then again, word of mouth that had its own growth pattern within that, which was wonderful. And then the same thing I had somebody approach me that they were actually teaching dance for Parkinson's guests and that center was closing down and they were looking for a new dance home. That was just a God wink for sure and I thought we want to be your dance home, so that teacher now teaches those classes. They are free in our space. They always ask me when are you going to get a bigger studio? We need a bigger room. This room can't fit all of us. It's upwards of about 35 guests.

Speaker 4:

Wow, I was going to ask you how many.

Meg:

That's amazing we're talking about. Do we need to have a second class, and is it on the same day or a different day? And that's hard too, because you want to talk about community. They are all friends, they all come in, they take the class, they go get themselves a cookie and cup of tea and then they go home and they don't want to separate. And there's about 35 of them that take our moving with grace class. They are a hoot and a half and they are always asking me when am I going to get a bigger studio? So for them, maybe one day I will most definitely do that.

Mary:

That is hilarious. I love that you do that. And, meg, as we were preparing for this episode, one of the things that Kim and I talked about as one of the forefront major things we thought of when we think of you is philanthropy. You give in so many ways, in a lot of ways that really are not visible. You do a lot of different things that no one sees, but I know you and your studio benefit from and are filled by.

Mary:

One of the things that comes to mind is I remember being at a benefit once and you did a little adaptive dance performance for these little friends and it was beautiful. There was not a dry eye in the room. Even now I'm like getting emotional thinking about it, but it was such a gift to everyone to be able to see that and to be able to see what movement can do for everyone. Parkinson's Down syndrome who cares? But my question with that is how does philanthropy work into your business model or is that a personal goal? I know that your faith is very important to you. Can you tell us a little bit about how you approach philanthropy?

Meg:

I think for me, we know that we receive in an abundance in terms of the gifts that these kids give us and we want to give it right back. And I love the opportunity to give throughout the year at different times, like this week for us is pink week, and I always donate a dollar per student every year to a charity in the month of October for breast cancer awareness month, and so that is like my October goal for giving. I usually get asked a lot about school auction time and that is another opportunity to give. I have friends that just invite us to be a part of whatever they're trying to raise money for and, from a dance perspective, it's easy to give because we're also sharing the joys of dance.

Meg:

Yeah, it's never really about the studio. I don't plaster my face on our Instagram a lot and I'm not like, hey, it's Meg here, et cetera, et cetera. No, I put the kids. The kids are the brand, for sure, and they are the essence of the studio and being able to give to charities that benefit our city with the kids as the spokespeople of that is super fulfilling for me. I love it. It's easy to give back to a city that has given so much to me and my family. Again, we started a studio I'm getting emotional started a studio with not a single client on the roster besides my own daughter. So to just see that the studio has given us a community and friendships and my kids have grown up in that space. It's easy to give back to a city that has given so much to us.

Mary:

For sure, as we're just staying in this emotional state, can you share a little bit about the Dancing with Joy scholarship, because that is very special.

Meg:

Yes, we had a sweet student on our company several years ago. Her name was Joy Wilborn. She passed away tragically and that kind of rocked us. I have been a teacher gosh and that kind of rocked us. I have been a teacher gosh almost own, much less a company student that we spend a lot of time with. So it rocked me in a way that I was not prepared for.

Meg:

And we had scenarios where we had kids that were in need at the studio, that needed what movement, had to offer, needed the community, needed the training but didn't have the financial means for that. And I told myself, can we marry this wonderful honor for the student to being able to provide assist for families in need? And so that's what we created the Dancing for Joy Scholarship in her name to honor her the best way that we know how, through dance and movement and being able to give to families or students that need the training or the financial means but don't necessarily have all of the tools to do that. And so that's how we created that in honor of her and that is fully sustained by my husband and I personally. But we are moving forward, making that a full 501c3, which we're super excited about. So that way, people have the opportunity to really give to that, which will just be so magical once that is all said and done. So we're moving forward with making that even more of a legitimate thing. So we're really excited.

Speaker 4:

I have a question, but I don't think I can get it out. What a gift to that family. Whenever you feel like there's really nothing you can do in a situation like that, y'all are really doing some beautiful things, so thank you For the record.

Mary:

This is the first time Kim and I have cried on. Yeah, I've never cried on a podcast, meg.

Meg:

It's easy to get emotional about something that I'm so passionate about and when you're little you think what am I going to be when I grow up? And I knew I always wanted to be a mommy. That is like the most important job that I have and I never thought about being a dance studio owner. But I walk into work every single day and, yes, don't worry, there are stressors and it is a full school operation. And there are days I come home and I'm thinking, what am I doing?

Meg:

But then I really look at it and I'm like I am so fortunate to be able to marry what I love to do with what I was made to do, what I grew up doing. Taking all everything I've ever done, every job I've ever had has equipped me to be in the role that I am today. I can't talk about it without getting emotional myself. I feel so fortunate that we moved to Fort Worth when I didn't want to, when it wasn't on our radar. We were going to move away from it. I'm so glad we didn't. The city and the studio yes, they give so much to everybody.

Speaker 4:

One of the neatest things that we've seen, as we've been interviewing guests during this season, was that a lot of their businesses started and they were just going along with what was happening in their lives. Like you said, you had moved to Fort Worth not intending for that to be the place you were going to spend the rest of your life, and that's been a theme with a lot of the guests that we've been interviewing and them being able to just take what the community is giving them and helping make the next steps for their business, and I think that's really neat. But do you ever look ahead kind of long-term with the studio and as being a mom and I know you have two kids what your long-term plan is or like your legacy with Studio of Movement?

Meg:

Yes, you said the word legacy and I was going to say that if you didn't, but there is definitely something very magical about going to work and my daughter being with me. It started out when I opened a studio. She was five. It was her form of after-school daycare and so she was in classes but also taken care of, and I didn't have to have a sitter or an after-school program for her. Now it's grown to her second home and she's there every night of the week, either training or assisting, and there's something so sweet and amazing about having her in tote. She is my little brand ambassador, she's my shadow and she's about to be 13.

Meg:

But there is a part of me that wonders. I have the same excitement to go to work when she's not with me, when she's in college, and I think the studio will definitely obviously still be in existence. But my role at the studio might look very different whenever she is in college, because I feel my son will be in high school at that point and I will want to be more involved in his afterschool stuff, whether it is his football games or his practices, or having the flexibility to go wherever she is in college to visit her, and there's a lot that I miss out on in the evenings because I am at the studio, whether it is homework, help. When my son, when we opened the studio, he was two, it was bath time, it was bedtime, it was dinnertime. My husband is such a huge support system because he does all of that in the evening. He cooks, secrets out, he cooks every meal at his house.

Meg:

I do not cook, I can, but I just don't and I come home and dinner is made, my son's homework is done, he's gone to football and had a bath, and my husband has a full-time job and works in Dallas. So we tend to be passing ships a lot. But I've thought about that question actually a lot lately, as what does it look like for us? What are our next steps? Are we expanding? Are we building? Are we re-upping our lease, solving those problems of constant wait lists and hard to get into and highly sought after? And then what does that look like as we take on more, when, a couple of years down the road, my daughter will be in college?

Meg:

when I want to be like a little more present for her and for him. So I think legacy is a big word and I think I've just zoned in on training my lifers is what I call them, my faculty that I know that they can move more into a salary role and they are laying their own roots in Fort Worth and expanding their own families and they've expressed to me we're going nowhere. We love the studio, we want to be here long term. Give me more and I'm thinking this is my opportunity to give them more, to train them and equip them so that I can pass the baton a little bit to them, so that I can be a little more managerial. Currently I am there seven days a week, probably 60 hours a week, which is crazy, but that cannot be sustainable for me when my kids are out of high school and in college and I'm wanting a little bit more of that flexibility.

Meg:

So I think of legacy a lot. What does that look like and how do I prepare myself to kind of transition into that and then out of what I'm currently doing? Does your daughter want to burn her out either? So I have a constant juggle to make sure that like she's loving it but also not burnt out from the studio. But no, I don't think being a dance teacher is in her future. Steli is going to leave me and study abroad, and then I'm going to have to chase her and pin her down. She's got a lot of energy, just like I do.

Mary:

What lessons do you feel like your kids have learned or seen through your example and your partnership? That is huge. You and your husband seem like such a great team because, you're right, this doesn't work without someone behind the scenes making sure that the kids are fed and groceries are stocked and homework making sure that the kids are fed and groceries are stocked and homework is getting done and kids are getting bathed. Can you tell us more about what makes that team work so well that?

Meg:

partnership. Communication for sure. One of my faculty. She's brilliant, I love her. She always says communication is kindness and I think about that all the time.

Meg:

I'm like I need to communicate my schedule with him. He has his own work, he's a commercial real estate broker and so he travels a lot and has gone a lot and we don't have the luxury of having his family or my family here in Fort Worth to lean on. They're about an hour away drive time. So we have like a babysitter that helps us and we are communicating with her and each other and making sure that we are present for our kids in terms of the afterschool, extracurriculars for both of them, the homework needs and relying on that third party to help us with that. But communication for sure.

Meg:

And then, yes, trying to allow ourselves one Sabbath a week Maybe that's a Sunday where we just sit down and eat dinner together, which is so silly to even say. But because I work nights and weekends, that is a luxury for the mentor family being able to sit down on a Sunday and just around the table we do table topics, pick a card and a topic and kind of roundhouse around the table and talk about it and being able to just enjoy a meal and that is big for our family and that's our reset for the week, but communication for sure, and then just relying on each other.

Mary:

Meg, thank you so much for being with us today and thank you for all that you have given him and my daughters personally in their time with you and in your studio. And then thank you for all that you've given to Fort Worth.

Meg:

Yes, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share a little bit more about the heart and the story. I really appreciate the opportunity.

Kim:

Thanks for listening. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode.

Mary:

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Mary Brezik and Kim Dillon

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