The Lakeside Hustle
The Lakeside Hustle dives into the real stories behind the businesses shaping the Newfound Lake region. Hosted by Corey Caza, each episode features local entrepreneurs, makers, and doers who turned vision into reality—right here in our backyard. Whether you're a curious local, a business owner, or just love a good hustle story, tune in to get inspired, learn something new, and celebrate the people powering our lakeside community.
The Lakeside Hustle
Ep 2. Catherine Roman - From Passion to Performance: Building a Dance Studio in Rural New Hampshire
Catherine Roman's journey from childhood dancer to dance studio founder beautifully exemplifies how passion can transform into purpose. On this episode of Lakeside Hustle, we dive deep into the story of how a kindergarten teacher created Newfound Dance Academy from scratch, bringing dance education back to the Bristol and Newfound Lake area of New Hampshire.
Growing up summering on Newfound Lake before her family permanently relocated there, Catherine developed twin loves - the lake itself (she calls herself a "lake girl") and dance in all its forms. When COVID disrupted her college graduation and early career plans, she found herself missing dance intensely. After briefly working for another studio that moved away from the area, Catherine saw both a personal need and a community gap that needed filling.
What makes Catherine's approach unique is how she blends her educational background with her dance expertise. With degrees in both childhood and special education, she structures her classes to support not just technical dance skills but also child development, creating an environment where students of all abilities can thrive. This educational foundation, combined with community partnership from the Tapley Thompson Community Center, has allowed her studio to flourish where others couldn't sustain.
The proof of her success came recently when her annual recital completely sold out - standing room only - forcing Catherine to consider larger venues for future performances. But beyond business metrics, what shines through our conversation is her genuine pride watching her students perform, from the tiniest pre-K dancers to her dedicated soloists.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, Catherine offers simple but powerful advice: "Find something you're passionate about because you'll never get sick of it." Her dual career as both teacher and studio owner demonstrates how modern entrepreneurs can balance multiple professional identities while making meaningful community contributions. Want to discover how passion plus community support can create something special? This episode is your roadmap.
Welcome to the Lakeside Hustle, where we share real stories of inspiration, hard work and the journey to becoming a successful business owner. This show is brought to you by the Bellator Blueprint Podcast and the New Hampshire CASE team, your trusted real estate professionals. Well, let's get into it. So, hey, everyone, welcome back to the Lakeside Hustle Podcast. Today I'm excited to introduce someone who turned her lifelong passion into a thriving local business here around Newfound Lake. Catherine Roman is the founder of Newfound Dance Academy, a full-time teacher and a long-time lover of the arts. She grew up spending summers here in the Newfound Lake area, fell in love with the area and made it her mission to bring dance and creativity to our community. We're going to dive into her journey, from starting her company from scratch to the mindset shifts that made it all possible. Catherine, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me, corey. This is really awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself, where you're from, you know?
Speaker 2:So I grew up well. I was born in Massachusetts and my family relocated to the Newfound Lake area when I was around five years old. We grew up summering here. We were very lucky to have a cottage in Bridgewater and from a very early age I was obsessed with the lake. I absolutely loved growing up here and relocating up here. My parents built their dream home, was very, very blessed to have had the childhood that I had up here and just again, growing up around here is really, really special. So from a young age I started dancing. I danced in Massachusetts before we moved up here and then, once we relocated, I continued my dance education, of course, throughout everything else that you do throughout childhood, but dance has always been something that I've been really, really passionate about. So I started with tap dance and moved into more different styles as I got older ballet, contemporary, lyrical jazz, all the fun stuff. I also got into musical theater at a young age in the local area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for the people who don't know dance.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't know what lyrical means, what other ones you just said means, can you like?
Speaker 2:just from my own curiosity, Absolutely yeah, so there's a lot of different styles of dance. Tap was where I started and tap is the traditional. When you think of like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire with the metal pieces on the shoes, that's basically what tap is. Ballet is very graceful. It takes a lot of training. But when you think of traditional point, that's ballet as well as there's other types of ballet dancing Lyrical is a mix of a couple different styles.
Speaker 2:Lyrical is a mix of jazz and ballet together. It's very graceful with a lot more freeform movement. Contemporary is very similar to that A lot of times, if you were to watch a TV show about dance, they have a lot of contemporary dancers on right now. It's very, very popular with a lot of different groups, and I have a contemporary dancer at my dance studio who I'm very, very blessed that she's been really excited to learn more about that style. Some other styles of dance jazz is really based in musical theater. It's very sharp, very precise. It's a little bit of freeform movement, but really comes back to the fact of some sharp movement, clean lines and a lot of these dance. All of these dance styles were based in ballet. Of course, as a person who does it as a hobby. I could know more, but that's my base knowledge for sure, for different styles of dance.
Speaker 1:So you said you started dancing when you're how old? Were you Five, five, yep. What inspired you to want to dance? Is it something like your mom said hey, you should try dancing, and then you just end up liking it. And here you are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love music. I have always been loved music. My dad has played the drums my whole life, so for me music is just like a part of like. I grew up in the house where the stereo was always on and there's always music playing all different types of genres, and I loved to move to it at a really young age. And I think my family saw that at a young age and got me into dance class because they thought that I would love it and I, again, from a young age, really just enjoyed the process of learning. I loved being in class and at the end of the day, especially when I was younger and even in my older years, especially through college, I loved being on stage.
Speaker 2:There's something really, really magical about that moment. When you're out there, I get nervous right until the second I'm out there. Once I'm out there, every single feeling of nerves is gone. I don't even know how else to describe it other than that I feel it literally until seconds. And then you walk on stage and all of a sudden it's all gone. It's a really weird feeling, but it's awesome.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. What's your favorite style of dance to do?
Speaker 2:So personally it's hard. I love jazz because I love. I am such a musical theater kid at heart and I really do enjoy the process of jazz Grow up through my college years. It was definitely contemporary and lyrical were huge loves for me, as well as hip hop. I don't teach a ton of hip hop, I'm working. It's slowly working its way into the dance studio, but I also really, really, especially in my college years, enjoyed performing hip hop a lot.
Speaker 1:Awesome, so you. So where's your location here in Bristol?
Speaker 2:Yes, so we are sponsored by the TTCC, the Tapley Thompson Community Center, who is basically not just a sponsor but very much a partner in the dance studio. So basically the dance studio came about because I had worked for a local studio here in Bristol and they moved locations and I followed them for about a year when I was out of college, like the year after I graduated, and I realized that I missed the community that I had known so well and that was what I really loved about teaching dance in our community and I wanted to support that. So after a year of working with for that outside studio, I decided that you know, I think that it's time for me to try it on my own, and whether it was going to fail or not I wasn't as worried about. I just really felt the need to try. I wanted to try so badly. So I had reached out with a business plan to the Tapley Thompson Community Center, working specifically with Dan McLean and he was Love Dan.
Speaker 2:Love Dan McLean. He is a wonderful gentleman and has really supported the dance company right from the beginning. I sent him that plan in an email. You'd never know. Within a day he's like come on in, let's meet, let's talk about it Awesome. We had a great conversation and he was like when do you want to start? That's basically how it went and I have a wonderful relationship with them.
Speaker 2:They're doing a lot of remodeling this year and it was so exciting because they fully repainted and revamped the studio space upstairs for me and it was really awesome to walk into that coming into this January.
Speaker 1:Is that the space where they did the Santa's Village?
Speaker 2:Yeah, where Santa's?
Speaker 1:Village is oh, so that's all renovated now.
Speaker 2:It's fully repainted.
Speaker 2:They're doing a lot of different, like duct work and there's different, like piping going on up there, but they fully before my classes started in January, because I do two sessions a year. I do like six weeks in the fall where we focus on like getting the kids excited about dance, and then I do 12 weeks in the spring where the focus is more on learning a specific routine for our recital that we have in April. So coming into that winter session, I walked in and they had fully revamped it right after Santa's Village and I hadn't been in until that point. It was incredible, it was so awesome to see that and it's really nice to have that community partner like the TTCC.
Speaker 1:For sure, they support a lot of events.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah, and again without them. They really brought in, I think initially my clientele base because people saw that I had the backing of them and that in, I think initially my clientele base because people saw that I had the backing of them. And that immediately, I think, became very trustworthy to the community, because I think a lot of people do trust their opinions on stuff.
Speaker 1:So yeah, absolutely. What are the age groups? Is there a certain age group you stick to or do? You teach all age groups.
Speaker 2:So I did teach adult classes for a while, but I will say the focus this past year has really been the kids, mainly just because I have such a large clientele base. The studio has grown a lot in the past year. Technically, I started teaching classes in fall of 2021. Technically, I started teaching classes in fall of 2021. Throughout that time I had a little period where I actually had a knee injury in college that I had to get fixed and I didn't get addressed right away. So the dance studio took a very quick hiatus in the spring of 2022. But then I came back from there and since then it has grown every year from then on out.
Speaker 2:So I guess, ages wise, I really try to focus on, like school age kiddos, and that's because that is genuinely the biggest clientele base that I think I have. We have pre-K classes, so kiddos for before they're in kindergarten I try to say ages three to five and if they're not in kindergarten yet, to try to keep them in that pre-K class just for developmental reasons. Then I have a kindergarten to second grade class. That one is focused, both of those age groups, the preschool classes and the kindergarten to second grade classes. I try to focus a lot on ballet technique and, just like the basics of dance, a little bit of jazz technique in there as well, just to make sure that they're comfortable with it. It's getting them excited about wanting to go on stage and participate and those classes are really, really fun.
Speaker 2:I then move into as they get older. I have a third through fifth grade class and then I have a sixth through eighth grade class. I do have a couple eighth graders, so I'm hoping to be able to offer high school classes next year. As long as the kiddos still stay excited about it and they want to participate, I will definitely be offering high school classes next year. But yeah, as they're getting older, we focus more on jazz technique, a little bit of hip hop and that contemporary technique that I was talking about earlier.
Speaker 1:And are you the only instructor or do you have?
Speaker 2:I am, at this point, the only instructor. Um, so it's, it's busy. I teach mainly on Saturday mornings. Um so, Saturday mornings, like starting at 8 AM, I'm in the dance studio and I'm there till about 1 PM. So it's so, it's, you've given up your morning, but it's again no-transcript. All of that stuff is hard and I again, coming from being a teacher, I understand that that's really important for families.
Speaker 1:Where do you teach at?
Speaker 2:I teach at the Bridgewater-Hebron Village School and I am currently the kindergarten teacher there. Oh, that's a fun age. It is the best age. I absolutely love teaching kindergarten. My role will be changing there a little bit next year, but I definitely absolutely love the grade that I teach. They're very, very special to me, okay.
Speaker 1:You talked about going on stage, so I imagine that you do dance, like at competitions or events or so I perform yearly each year actually at a really large community fundraiser.
Speaker 2:I don't perform with my students. Their recital is about them.
Speaker 2:That's the word I was looking for, so the dance studio does have a recital every year, yes, and the kids are performing in that. I'm just there to assist. I really try to highlight them in that show because their families are coming out to see them. But I do perform yearly, each year in the Voices Against Violence Dancing Under the Stars fundraiser. So it's like the community dancing with the stars and they consider me the pro as I'm the one who knows kind of what they're doing, and so I've done that for two years now, going on year three, and I'm looking for a partner. What they're doing, and so I've done that for two years now, going on year three, and I'm looking for a partner. So if there's any community members that are interested, we are definitely still looking for community stars to highlight in that?
Speaker 2:When is that again that's usually the third week in July and it's one of the events that happens in downtown Bristol under the pavilion. So I believe don't quote me it could be July 24th if I'm remembering the calendar correctly in my head. But again, that's a very large fundraiser for Voices Against Violence, which is the local domestic violence shelter groups and support groups. Yeah, and I absolutely love working with them. I love being a community partner with them and they're just a great organization to support, so I'm happy to perform for that every year.
Speaker 1:That's kind of my yearly my yearly performance out there.
Speaker 2:It's more about me than it is about the kids at that point.
Speaker 1:So let's bring it back a little bit. Yeah, so, cause now you're an entrepreneur, you're on your own business, right? Let's bring it back to what were you doing before that.
Speaker 2:So when it comes to dance, thinking or anything, so I guess. So I went to school for inclusive childhood education and got basically a double major in childhood education and special education. I went to college in Northern Vermont at a tiny little college that has changed its name about three or four times since now, just based on budget and all that fun stuff. I graduated during COVID and that's a big, I would say, definitely was a big thing in my life because I'm, you know, based on many seniors who were people who were seniors either in high school or college in 2020. You know, that period of our time was very, very different, not traditional at all, based on what a lot of other people have experienced. So I came home and after I moved home, you know, spent a lot of time really enjoying the area, and that's when I got hired to work at Bridgewater Hebron.
Speaker 2:But during that time was really when I realized that I missed dancing so much of our time at home. We weren't, of course, it was COVID and all the restrictions of that time. Getting together in groups wasn't really a thing and I had I didn't have that immediate community that I felt like I had built so much in college. So I really wanted to, you know, go out there and try and that's why I did work for another dance studio that first year out of school for me and I loved again. It was overall a really great learning experience for me and I wouldn't take that time back for the world. But again we were dancing in masks. Parents weren't allowed in the dance studio because we could only have so many people in there at a time. And again that was for another business that wasn't my own. But when I started I mean I was teaching I didn't know my students' faces either. I know that previous people on the podcast have talked about that.
Speaker 2:That those of us who started during COVID, didn't really know our clients' faces, and it's true you see them all in public.
Speaker 1:You have no idea.
Speaker 2:Well, it's true and I mean my first in fall of 2021, I mean there was less restrictions, but overall we were still wearing masks while teaching dance and that was different and could be tricky and of course, you know you're sweating. It's a very active activity for little kids. So you know, that is definitely. It was a huge thing that we kind of got through and I'm grateful to be on the other side of that but definitely made a huge impact in that time.
Speaker 1:So when did you start your own?
Speaker 2:when was Fall of 2021 was technically when the dance studio started. I announced it to the public in July of 2021 just to get everybody excited about it, to try to get signups started, but it was. September of 2021 was when I started my first six-week session of dance classes where families came in they can watch. So I have like an area of the dance studio where I have chairs set up and families can watch, and then we just have gone from there. Okay.
Speaker 1:So starting your own business, I mean that's tough, that's challenging because there's a lot of unknown.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Where did you get the inspiration or the courage to do that on your own?
Speaker 2:I won't lie, I really felt like I was ready. I grew up in a house where my father was self-employed and has been self-employed most of my life. He was a huge inspiration to me growing up and I feel very, very lucky that he has built me in the way that. You know, my sister and I we're strong people. We are very much capable and we grew up really being supported and, you know, if you want to try something, by both my parents, both my mom and my dad said you know, if you want to try it, try it. There's nothing that's stopping you from trying anything you want to. And again, seeing you know your parents be self-employed and work really, really hard to accomplish the things that they want in life is so inspiring. So I definitely feel like that built me up. For you know, if I could, I maybe I could do it too.
Speaker 2:So when the time came and I was like you know I've worked for another business, Maybe I could try it on my own I remember telling the idea to my parents and them immediately being so supportive Great, how about you try it? Let us know how it goes? And whatever you need, we're here for you and my parents and my sister and my family are huge, huge supporters of the dance company. I genuinely wouldn't be able to do it without them. Every year they volunteer at my recital. They're so willing to help out Things as simple as setting up the chairs. My mom and my sister run our sound system every year for the recital, so without their family support, it would be definitely really hard.
Speaker 2:I genuinely, though, I think I was ready. I was so ready for this opportunity because it was again after working for another business and seeing how they ran things. It was a little bit different now to say, like you know what. I've learned a lot through that experience and I want to be able to try it in a way that I think would work better for me and for our local community, and again, I really wanted to focus on that local community aspect.
Speaker 1:Was there any hesitation to go from that to make the leap into doing on your own? Oh, absolutely. What was the challenge in that? What was the hesitation?
Speaker 2:My hesitation there was that the studio I worked for left the Bristol area and I never fully asked that particular owner why she left. My assumption would be that it could be for many different reasons, but I was worried initially, starting that the clientele for dance wasn't there, or that people didn't want a dance studio in the area anymore, or there really wasn't a need for it being that again that the move had happened, it being that again that the move had happened. So when I started, that was my biggest anxiety or worry right away was maybe our area doesn't have enough kids that want to learn how to dance or enough people that would want to support something like a dance studio. But over time and I mean again, having that community partner of the TTCC has been a huge help in that because they promoted it as programming. So to them, when you sign up, you're getting, you know that, extra insurance of oh, it's great, it's another program offered at the TTCC besides sports. And then again, just over time, that hesitation has slowly it's gotten much better and it's, I won't lie, there's been years where I had a little dip.
Speaker 2:A couple last year I had a little dip in enrollment and, I won't lie, there's been years where I had a little dip. Last year I had a little dip in enrollment and I know there was a lot going on with the economy at that time A lot of families were struggling, so that was definitely that. One was a little it felt. It's hard not to take it personal, especially when you are the business. I feel so much that it's I take it personally, like it's a reflection on myself. I know it's not, but you know I'm totally get that. But what you know, yeah, when families don't come back to you and you are the business, everything I do again like I'm teaching class, I'm setting up, I'm doing everything from setting the chairs up to wiping down the mirrors to then teaching class running the recital when you don't get that clientele to come back to you right away, immediately I kind of beat myself up.
Speaker 1:What did I do? Did I say something?
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly and I shouldn't beat myself up as much as I did that year. But I learned a lot, that kind of last year where I had that tiny little dip in enrollment and I said you know what, we're going to make the best of it and going skyrocketing. The way we did this past year has been incredible and you know, I think it was because of everything I learned during last year was definitely a help through in that experience.
Speaker 1:That's great. Sounds like you're really, really passionate.
Speaker 2:I love what you do. Yes, I absolutely love it.
Speaker 1:So what would you say? You're the only dance studio in the area in Bristol, Um and in the newfound area, I would say there's.
Speaker 2:There is a dance studio in Ashland, there's a couple in Meredith Um, but we are technically the only one in this more central area. So yeah, we're the only one.
Speaker 1:Okay, what do you feel maybe sets you apart from other dance studios in the area?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, at the end of the day and again not to make it about myself, but I think my experience working with families as a traditional school teacher has really sets me apart. I feel that there is, I understand, a lot about the family dynamic, about children's development, about different needs of different kids within the class, and I think that really sets me apart because I come at it with that perspective. When I run my classes, I run them very similarly to how I run my kindergarten classroom. I have expectations and listening skills and we work a lot on many different things.
Speaker 2:I'm not just focused on dance. There's so much more. Especially when the kids are little, that's important that they learn while they're in dance class. It's thinking things about mobility, balance. There is any kind of physical therapy skill. Basically we're working on during dance class and I try to again keep my dance studio the way that it runs. I run it similarly to my classroom and I think the families respond well to that and I think people like that and I think the kids thrive in that environment because some of them know me and those who don't know me get to know me really quickly and they realize, oh, like she gets me. So I think that definitely sets me apart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think your education definitely sets you apart. I think it's important to be able to tailor your approach to each child depending on how they respond to you in their environment.
Speaker 2:Right, it's a very different environment. Walking into a dance studio, I mean you're walking in, it's big open space, so some kids immediately want to start running around and they get all excited and there's the mirror, so they're watching themselves. But you know, we come in and they find a spot on the floor. I have those laid out on the floor for them to stand on and they, you know we come in, we take a nice deep breath. We always start with some kind of stretching activity. Um, we move into skills across the floor so that they're working on, just depending on the week, um, they're working on different things. And then we usually work on some dance. Um, if it's the, if it's the wintertime pardon me, winter and spring we're working on their recital dances and they love doing that and they love practicing like they're entering the stage and exiting the stage, and then we usually end with some kind of freeze dance, which is always really fun for the kids.
Speaker 1:A freeze dance.
Speaker 2:Freeze dance, Like if you're playing freeze dance like I put on a fun, really upbeat song and they dance around, and when I press the pause button they all have to freeze.
Speaker 1:Oh, like freeze tag when you're a kid.
Speaker 2:Exactly, but freeze dance, so they just get, they get to dance around. I think it's really fun.
Speaker 1:So tell me about some current projects or initiatives or anything you're working on right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we did just finish our annual recital, which I am so, so proud of. The recital came out beautiful. The kids worked so incredibly hard. I had a parent tell me that. I actually had a couple parents tell me that they get a kick out of watching me, watch the kids Because I'm, I think the pride just exudes from my body. But proud doesn't even cover. Like these kids have worked so hard and I have. At the dance studio I currently not only have big group classes, I have soloists as well who get one-on-one. They take a one-on-one class with me and they are performing by themselves on the stage and that is a huge undertaking for them, especially when they're younger. So I was just again. The pride exudes out of me and I couldn't be more grateful for the people who volunteered or friends and family that helped out with that recital. It was an incredible experience and I hope I can only hope that they continue going up from there. We fully sold out, which I've never done before.
Speaker 1:Where is the recital?
Speaker 2:We actually do it at the Bridgewater Hebron Village School. So, we that school is built. Where is the recital happening? So I think that stage is definitely meant for dance and we fill it. We have to set up the chairs each year and we ran out of chairs and people just kept coming and it was crazy Stay in the room only.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, my fiance shot me a text. I was working with the kids in the back of the room and he sends me a text. You sold out. You sold out big time. I'm still selling tickets even though there's no more to give away. So that was again. It was an incredible night and it was. I'm very, very proud of all the work that went into that. But I think right now I'm transitioning. It's the end of the school year, so my brain is in school mode to end the year. But then it will be. I'll be picking up for Dancing Under the Stars and I'm really excited about that. Again, it's one of my favorite events that I do each year and this year, luckily, I will be asking my dance students. They will be part of the halftime show. So in previous years, another dance studio has just brought their students, but I reached out and said, hey, can I bring my students too? And so we're going to have multiple dance studios being highlighted there for the little intermission of the show, which I'm really, really excited about.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Is there any future plans for expansion or taking on new students or maybe another studio? Or you don't want to spoil it if there is.
Speaker 2:No, no, I love, I absolutely love teaching dance, but I also love the balance of that. I'm a school teacher that also teaches dance. So I think right now my goal is definitely to continue on the trajectory we're going Um. I think that the recital having such a wonderful success this year is definitely um going to have. I'm going to have to reevaluate. I may not always be able to use the BHVS stage because we're going to run out of space in that gym to put people, so that's definitely something I have to consider coming into.
Speaker 2:This year I also had a student volunteer. I had a lovely eighth grade student who volunteered to help me with the little kids and she did a wonderful job. I'm very, very proud of her. So I am hoping that as years go on, that maybe I can do a little bit of mentorship with some of my older students and they'll want to help a little bit more with the younger students. I just love that idea of that mentorship because that's how I started getting into teaching dance was that my dance teacher growing up gave me the opportunity, once I hit older grades, that she said, hey, do you want to come in and work with the younger students? So I'm hoping to be able to do that in coming years. Right now, though, we are the Newfound Dance Company, and I can't see myself leaving the area or really starting anything else right now, because I really want to focus on our community.
Speaker 1:I didn't ask this in the last podcast, but I'm curious what's your favorite thing about the area, the community?
Speaker 2:I am a self-proclaimed and, though other people will say I am like the lake girl, that is like I love. Like when you think there's like a merch company that's called Lake Girl, but like everything to do with the lake, I could just be there all day. Whenever people ask me like what's your favorite activity to do, anything related to the body of water Sounds like my kids. Yeah, I will, literally. I mean, I spend a lot of summer.
Speaker 2:I love Wellington State Park. I worked there for many summers and managed it at one point as like a side summer gig. So I love everything about living in this area and just being so close to the body of water, and I genuinely think we also have a very special community that when things happen, they're right there to support you. I've never once picked up a chair at my dance recital. The families literally pick up every chair for me and help me clean up the entire recital. I've never seen that happen before in any other community that I've ever worked in and that's special. We live, I think, in such a special place when it comes to people wanting to support one another and back up their community. That's where we are, yeah.
Speaker 1:I haven't come across too many rude people. I guess you could say A couple, A couple. But most of the time. Everybody's super nice.
Speaker 2:Everyone is so kind and maybe it's just the space I'm in where you're supporting the kids, but everyone wants to support the kids. That's the other mind-blowing part. I had people attend the recital that are school teachers. These are their eight to three, three students and they wanted to come out and support their love of dance. We had just random community members come in and they're like wow, I had heard about this and it's so nice to see this come back to the area as a different, like performing art to have here. So, yeah, I think we we live in a really special place.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. Based on your experience and your journey, what advice would you give to someone getting started, maybe in your field or just generally getting started in a new business?
Speaker 2:I really think it's important to find something you're passionate about. As you mentioned earlier, this is so my life. I'm graduating from college and going through that experience with COVID. I couldn't let dance go. That was another reason why I wanted to start a dance studio was that I was so passionate about dance. I wasn't ready to let go of that part of my life yet. So if I were to give advice to anybody who wanted to start a business, I would say find the thing you're most passionate about, because you'll never get sick of it. I spend so much of my life, so much of time putting into things as simple as finding the right costume to go with the right song so that that kid looks awesome on stage, and I will do that till I'm blue in the face. I'm so. I will do that till I'm blue in the face until someone tells me that I need to stop. But having that like passion and drive behind it is really. I think anyone can make any business succeed as long as you are passionate about it.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. Yeah, so we'll wrap it up here in a minute or two. Where can people find you? Are you on social media Instagram, Facebook?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm on Facebook and Instagram. Those are our biggest ones, so I try to promote classes through there as well as just things that we're participating in. So I'll be putting out a lot of stuff for dancing under the stars very, very soon. I definitely so. Follow us on there. We're at newfound Dance Company, but we also the best place to find us, especially for signup season is coming up in the fall, for if you want to enroll your child in classes, you can enroll through the TTCC website and so you would go through how you would sign up for programming there, and they are lovely and handle that back office part for me, which I am very, very appreciative of.
Speaker 1:Amazing. So, catherine, thank you so much for sharing your story Awesome.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:I love how you took something you loved and weren't ready to let go of and turned it into a career and a gift to the community.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:It's a great reminder that all of us that it's never too late and sometimes a leap of faith is exactly what we needed.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's all you need and genuinely don't don't let your passions go. That would be definitely my advice to anyone. Don't let them go. But I appreciate you having me seriously. It meant a lot, so I appreciate being able to come on and just talk about something I love so dearly.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and to our listeners. Thank you for listening and again reach out to you know, reach out to Catherine.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm happy to chat with anyone, anytime.
Speaker 1:I literally almost forgot your name, which is embarrassing. I had to look at my paper. I had a brain fart there, right.
Speaker 2:You're like, oh, who is this person in front of me? Oh no, it's all good. Brain fart there, right. You're like, oh, who is this person in front of me? Oh, no, it's all good. Um, yeah, no, I'm. I'm hoping again, as time goes on, I'm wanting to bring back, with more time, the adult classes and things like that, so that we can just continue to have as many people affected by the dance studio in a positive way as we can.
Speaker 1:Beautiful, love it, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Corey.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Lakeside Hustle. If you enjoyed it and want to be a guest on the show, head over to Instagram, find the Lakeside Hustle, click the link in the bio and fill out the guest form. Talk to you soon.