What makes Lovely Leaps stand out?
- FREE virtual classes on Wed/Thurs
- A monthly Performance for a Princess so kids can stay engaged and build their performance skills with a magical experience
- FREE virtual summer program for schools to keep kids moving
- A focus on making dance fun and developing key motor skills
- A whole child approach to help grow their confidence and comfort in their own bodies
- Appropriate for ages 10 months to 10 years
I had a chance to interview the founder to learn more.
How did you start Lovely Leaps?
Before Lovely Leaps I designed the cables inside of government drones at General Atomics. Four years into working at General Atomics my husband Ricky and I were expecting our first baby girl Gianna-Grace. That was the first time the desire to be home entered my heart. Lovely Leaps started when I was six months pregnant. It was only an idea and I didn’t know how to execute it. Ricky encouraged me to just go for it but I was paralyzed with fear not knowing how to navigate everything so I dropped the idea and continued working at General Atomics. It wasn’t until my daughter was four months old when my maternity leave ended, I fully realized I didn’t want to go back to work. So before I went back I went outside in July 2018 and looked at the sky and said God, I don’t want to go back to work, I want a business of my own where I bring in triple what I made in engineering, I spend more time with my daughter, I get to dance and work with children. After that prayer, I dropped the idea and went to work the following day. It wasn’t until a month later a school had called me asking if I taught dance to preschoolers and would I be interested? At first, I said no because I had just gone back to work and I’m trying to figure out the mommyhood thing. After thinking about it and Ricky encouraging me, I called them and said yes but I could only teach on Fridays and that’s how Lovely Leaps started!
From there my class grew from 6 to 24 kids at that Horizon Preschool! It was at that point my husband Ricky was like, I think you found your business beautiful. From then I went on to quit my job in July 2019 and we are now in eight schools with 90+ students only one year later! Later on, I wanted a way to experience dance with my then 13 month old so I started a movement and music dance class on the weekend. This class was specifically for my mamas that worked full time. Being a working mom I knew how much it sucked to want to do the mommy and me classes but you couldn’t because the only class offered was 10 am on a Wednesday! From there the class has grown and turned into something I could only dream of. Most of our toddlers have both parents in the class and I owe that all to my amazing husband Ricky. He wanted to be part of the class so he decided he didn’t care if it’s all women... he was going to dance with his daughter! Because of his decision to join, it made the other dads more open to coming too. We have formed such a beautiful little Leaps Family.
Can you share a little bit about the performance for a princess?
With virtual classes we lose that human/performance aspect of dance where we are all in the same room. So I brainstormed on how I could bring the excitement of dancing and performing virtually. That’s when the thought of having a princess join in! The first month was a Frozen theme. We learned a performance dance to a Frozen song. At the end of the month Elsa came on the zoom call and watched their performance, let them each ask a question and then she sang the same song they danced to so they could perform the dance while she was singing! It's incredibly magical every time!
How does dance benefit kids?
Dance has so many benefits for children. It builds confidence, gives them structure, something to improve on, their memory is
The biggest benefit and the one I focus on the most in my business is self confidence! When I was in the ballet world my mindset was that I wasn't enough, I needed to be skinnier, have lighter skin, straighter hair, constantly comparing myself to someone else.... My worth was based on how I looked and how well I danced and it wasn’t healthy. Which is why I created Lovely Leaps-- to create that safe dance space for children to thrive without comparison.
What is it like for you to be an entrepreneur - and what's the biggest thing you'd say to someone else who wants to start their own business?
Being an entrepreneur isn’t as glamorous as I thought but it has been such a blessing. I get to be with my daughter more. It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions of super high days and super low days. What’s helped me the most is to celebrate our wins and learn from our losses.
The best advice I can give to someone wanting to be an entrepreneur is:
- Connect- You never know when a connection to someone can open the door to something that transforms your business for the better. So be available to seize opportunities. Make lots of human connections and lots of friends!
- Be Flexible and know how to pivot- roll with the punches and plan for the worst because you never know what can happen...like Covid.
- Have a clear end vision- the vision is what will keep you going when things get hard.
- Have a Cheerleader- without a person in your corner and someone to vent to, you will give up before breakthrough.
I created Lovely Leaps using all 4 of these things. I had a clear vision I wanted to replace my engineering income to be home with my daughter. I created great connections landing me my first and most profitable school. I was flexible and knew how to pivot my business during a pandemic where we grew our influence to 150 people in a month! Last but definitely not the least I had my cheerleader who is my husband Ricky, without him I would have given up.
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