Daily Inspiration: Meet Stephanie Howard

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Howard.

Hi Stephanie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Dance Lakewood opened in 2014 in our current location. We were rebranding an existing dance studio and starting fresh in a new location. We had a small group of students when we opened and have grown our programming to include classes from ages 3 – adults, competition teams, a performance group, and now we have over 300 students. We are so grateful to be part of Lakewood’s community – the kids are great to work with, their families are so supportive and kind, and our adult student population really adds to our culture of pursuing what you love. We think it’s such a valuable message to share that younger or older, new or experienced, it’s never too late to start dancing. We have a fantastic staff of passionate dancers who love teaching and creating a space where people feel like they belong.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We are lucky to have experienced relatively smooth growth!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’d love to speak about our team rather than myself – our business is 100% a team effort so I don’t want to call myself out specifically! Our whole staff grew up dancing and pursued dance in college. The studio is our passion project as we all work other full time jobs. We come together to create a space for people to grow, learn, and express themselves. The world can be a difficult place to navigate, and we always want our students, whether youth or adult, to feel like they can come to the studio as they are to let go of the day, enjoy time with people who also love to dance, and use a creative outlet to feel like themselves. I think something that sets us apart from others is that we know everyone who walks through the door. We have one-on-one connections with our students and I think that makes our studio feel like home to lots of folks.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
That we all work full time jobs and running the studio is our passion project!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dancelakewood.com
• Instagram: dance_lakewood
• Facebook: Dance Lakewood