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78. From Professional Ballerina to CEO: How Genevieve Custer Weeks Built Tutu School
126 Plays18 days ago
A teenage ballerina with a sketch in a notebook had no idea it would one day spark a global franchise. In this episode, Genevieve Custer Weeks, former professional dancer and founder of Tutu School, shares the journey that took her from training at Ballet Chicago at just fifteen to leading 140 (and counting!) boutique ballet schools across the US, Canada, and the UK.
Genevieve reflects on the courage it took to move away from home so young, the gratitude she discovered for her family, and the setback of surgery that sidelined her just as she was preparing to audition professionally. After healing, she earned her first contract with Oakland Ballet and ultimately built a freelancing career that unexpectedly became the foundation for her future in entrepreneurship.
Teaching three-year-old baby ballerinas planted the earliest seeds of what would become Tutu School. Genevieve walks us through the early days of opening her first studio, what she wishes she had known, and how the idea of franchising evolved from an intimidating possibility into a defining part of her business model.
As a mom of three, Genevieve opens up about involving her kids in her business, navigating the give-and-take of entrepreneurial motherhood, and embracing flexibility even when it means rearranging everything to show up for the moments that matter.
Genevieve closes with the biggest lessons she’s learned in business, offering practical encouragement for anyone growing a brand, considering expansion, or dreaming up their next chapter.
Connect with Genevieve:
Follow Genevieve on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tutugenevieve/
Follow Tutu School on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tutuschool/
Tutu Schools Website: https://tutuschool.com/
Links and Resources:
Etoile Dance Competition: 10% off registration with code “BRAINY10” - https://www.etoilecomp.com/
Get your copy of The Ultimate Audition Guide
Let’s connect!
My WEBSITE: thebrainyballerina.com
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/thebrainyballerina
Questions/comments? Email me at caitlin@thebrainyballerina.com
This episode was brought to you by the Pivot Ball Change Network.
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Transcript
Dancers as Natural Entrepreneurs
00:00:00
Speaker
And that is entrepreneurship in a nutshell. And I didn't realize that then because I'd been a dancer every day of my dancing life, I was preparing for that aspect of entrepreneurship that I think is sort of both the hardest and the most magical and important piece of it. And so I would just say at to any dancers thinking about it, like you have so much more preparation and training than you realize. And if it's something that you're thinking about, like you are set up in a really beautiful way and you have this whole skill set and all these entrepreneurial muscles that have already been developing for you that you just didn't even realize are there for you.
Introduction to the Podcast and Host
00:00:32
Speaker
I'm Kaitlin, a former professional ballerina turned dance educator and career mentor, and this is the Brand New Ballerina Podcast. I am here for the aspiring professional ballerina who wants to learn what it really takes to build a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry.
00:00:48
Speaker
I'm peeling back the curtain of the professional dance world with open and honest conversations about the realities of becoming a professional dancer. Come along to gain the knowledge and inspiration you need to succeed in a dance career on your terms.
Interview with Genevieve Pesterweeks: Ballet to Business
00:01:06
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Brainy Ballerina Podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Sloan, and I am joined today by Genevieve Pesterweeks. Genevieve is a former professional ballerina and the founder of Tutu School, a boutique ballet school for young children with more than 110 studios across the US, Canada, and the yeah UK. We're going to hear all about Genevieve's business journey and all of that today, but before we get into it, I would love to hear why did you take your very first dance class?
00:01:37
Speaker
It's such a good question. i actually, I've been thinking a lot about this lately. i mean, I feel like it's so at the heart of Choo Choo School's existence. But I gave a speech this fall at the University of Nebraska where I was talking about how important it is to be rooted in your why. And I said that for me, it really started in my parents' living room. That like my dad was always playing music, like blasting music. And it was a really wonderful wide variety of music. It was like, it would be like the Beatles or Bob Dylan some weekends and then classical music another weekend and then Broadway musicals another weekend. And I was just a kid who was like always moving, always dancing. And so my parents, you know, naturally were like, okay, let's get her in. Let's get her in dance classes. And not like, not like that put a damper. The living room performance is still continued, but they figured it was another outlet too.
00:02:19
Speaker
So those living room moments, I think are like very much just sort of where, where it all began, both my professional dancing career and then eventually due to do school. What was your training like growing up? I'm from Madison, Wisconsin. And so initially i was really lucky to have great teachers and and wonderful experiences there. Got to you know perform in the Nutcracker every year and it's grown a lot. And now there's a professional ballet company there that I actually did end up doing some dancing with later in my career. But when I was growing up, it didn't exist yet. And so if you wanted to study seriously, you kind of had to like cobble
00:02:50
Speaker
to gather enough lessons from like various studios, right? To get like enough training. And at one point I was even the teacher who was like one of the best teachers in the area. And and one of my mentors taught out like 45 minutes outside of town in the studio that was like the top of this old school house. And there was a group of us that would meet up at a gas station and our parents would take turns carpooling us out there 45 minutes each way. So it was, it was a lot of work to kind of like put together that training locally once I decided that I wanted to
Early Dance Training and Moving for Ballet
00:03:19
Speaker
do it seriously. So when I was 15, I convinced my parents to let me move to Chicago and study at the School of Ballet Chicago and join their studio company. and
00:03:28
Speaker
That's about two and a half hours away from Madison, but I would take the bus there and back every weekend. And up on the bus, it'd take closer to four. And so I would i go home on the weekends after rehearsals ended on Saturdays and spend all of Sunday with my family and then come back Monday morning. And that's where I finished out the rest of my my professional training, you know, supplementing with summer intensives. I did summer intensives at ABC in San Francisco Ballet School and at the Kennedy Center with Suzanne Farrell. But the bulk of my training was was at Ballet Chicago.
00:03:55
Speaker
How was that for you moving away from home at such a young age? It's so interesting because now i have 16 year old and it's wild to me to think that I'm like, oh, at his age, I was already like living away from home for most of the week.
00:04:08
Speaker
I mean, I think and I can't imagine. So I see it much more from my parents perspective and that, oh, this was like this was probably hard for them. I think there were things that I really appreciated my family moving away from them. You know, like I actually like some of those teenage years where like maybe some of my friends felt like rebellious and were wanting like more space from their parents. Like I really just really appreciated them. And so I think the time that I had with them then when I was home was really meaningful, which which was really nice, but it was hard. I think ballet dancers are very mature in so many ways. And so a lot of the just sort of like, you know, kind of like executive functioning of being away from home at such a young age you know, came more naturally to me because of the discipline of being a ballet dancer. And I was so excited to be doing what I was doing. I mean, in a way, and especially because of the studio company, then it was like, you know, moving, just like really being able to fully step into pursuing this career as a teenager was so exciting, right? And like to be and taking so many classes in so many rehearsals and have that just be the bulk of my existence with with some school on the side. It was a really exciting time. The dancers I was dancing with, the teenagers I was dancing with became like my family and Ballet School didn't have official housing at the time. So I was boarding with the directors, Lizanne Duhal and Patricia Blair at their place. And so I also then just by nature of that, like kind of got like a front row seat to some of the like production and administrative side of running a large ballet organization. And so that was very cool too. So it was a really exciting time. i mean, I think being an adolescent anyway is a roller coaster and then being an adolescent dancer is even more of a roller coaster. But I look back on those years as being so formative
00:05:41
Speaker
And then the ballet as I got to dance, Ballet Chicago has a really unique relationship with the Balanchine Trust and they get a ton of Balanchine ballets and they do a ton of performing. So even as a teenager, like when I look at some of my peers by the time I got into a company and and dance later on, like the the roles I was getting to do in the ballets that we were doing on a regular basis, it's just kind of.
00:06:01
Speaker
wild, right? As like a 16 and 17 year old. So it was a really exciting, informative time. What was your transition like from the student to professional?
Challenges in Professional Ballet
00:06:09
Speaker
I was interested because for this speech, I was like going through all of that time too. And it was what was really hard was like the year that was sort of supposed to be like my audition year. where I was going to go and audition for a bunch of companies, I had a surgery that fall on my ankle because of a bone spur that had been giving me trouble for a long time and really inflaming my Achilles tendon. And everyone kind of finally decided like, Hey, let's get rid of this bone spur and see if that makes a difference.
00:06:34
Speaker
And flew out to New York and New York City, Valley's surgeon at the time, Dr. Hamilton did the surgery. Like I had, you know, access like the best care again, through being lucky that Valley Chicago was pretty connected in that world. And then was supposed to be like pretty quick. And I was supposed to be back and then ready for auditions early in the new year. And just couldn't get back. I think the eventual conclusion was there's probably like a lot of scar tissue and it was, there was more damage than realized. And it took a long time. think I have some theories now too, about maybe some emotional components and, you know, fear of that audition season that was maybe hampering my healing a little bit too. But the result was like, I just missed that whole audition year. I ended up being out for like a full year before I came back.
00:07:14
Speaker
and then kicking off auditions a season later, that process of like trying to get that first job was so really daunting. I mean, just like so many auditions, so many company classes, But I was lucky enough to get a contract with Oakland Ballet out in California. i did like an initial partial contract with them for a Nutcracker season and then went back for the full season the year after and moved out to San Francisco to dance with them.
00:07:38
Speaker
But then not long after I got there, a couple of seasons in, they ran into financial difficulty. And so they took like a hiatus season, came back for a season and then shut down fully. There's a version of the company it's back now, but the company that I danced with shut down. And so then I started freelancing and really like the bulk of my career and the remaining years of it or freelancing. And and I mentioned Madison Ballet, like that started out as like a pickup company. Now it's, it's a full company company. I was lucky enough that while I was putting together sort of seasons for the remaining time of performance career, a lot of my work ended up being back at home with Madison Ballet because at the same time, kind of as Oakland Ballet was folding, this really lucky thing that happened in my life was the founder of American Girl Dolls, Pleasant Roland, is from Madison. And she and her husband, Jerry Frouchy, had done quite well when they sold the company to Mattel and really wanted to get back to their community and built a $200 million dollars arts facility, the Overture Center. that opened during that time. And so just a really lucky thing that happened in my life was even though initially this transition into like freelance dancing, which felt so kind of just not how I envisioned my career going, ended up being this really beautiful gift. And then a lot of the ballets that I would do, I would go back for gigs for anywhere from like six weeks to a couple months at a time in my hometown and then get to perform in this beautiful art center on this gorgeous stage with like full orchestra and amazing sets and costumes and be a little bit of a big fish in a smaller pond at home, which was really lucky. So yeah, I did a little bit of everything for performing career.
00:09:06
Speaker
What did you think about the
Freelancing as a Ballet Dancer
00:09:08
Speaker
freelance life? Did that suit you well? Do you think you wanted to be back in a more full-time company? There were things I really like about both. Now having the perspective I do, I'm very grateful. I really did not want it. When Oakland Ballet ran into trouble, I was like, this is not what I wanted. like I wanted an artistic home. I remember I did this professional workshop with Alonzo King from Lines in that time period. And I remember like talking about that. And he's so amazing and kind of takes this holistic approach to developing artists and
00:09:38
Speaker
So there'd be times where you'd sit around and talk too. And I remember saying like, I i just want an artistic home. Like i you know, like I need a company and I remember him kind of like challenging me on that, but I, that it just, I, it sticks out because I remember being so stuck on that. Like I didn't want to have to kind of go into the cycle.
00:09:52
Speaker
Now, in retrospect, it taught me so much about my life now, like about entrepreneurship, right? Because I think as a ballet dancer anyway, you are really an entrepreneur in so many ways because you have to take so much control of your career. But then that becomes exponentially more true once you're a freelance dancer because you're really... It's not just getting a contract and being in a company for a season. It's like you're continuing to be like, okay, what's my next gig? And I'm actually looking at contracts and trying to negotiate this stuff and whatever. And figuring all that out. And so I think it really prepared me so well for my next career. And then literally also led into it in that if I hadn't been freelancing, I probably wouldn't have stumbled into what was next for me because I had those gaps in between gigs where I was filling them in. So... I'm so grateful for it now because I think that it really, you know, it it did actually like transition so beautifully into what was next for me, but it is hard. I think what was nice was getting to, like, I remember like looking back on it and kind of being like, oh, I'm like architecting a season for myself. Whereas like in a company, you're sort of, you know, you're hoping that you get certain roles and you're trying for different things, but you don't really have much control over like what the rep's actually going to be. And obviously as a freelance dancer, you're, you're also still subject to like roles that you get offered. But ah you know, i like there was like one season where I got to the ballet master from lines was at the time, this amazing man Arturo Fernandez who had this really cool production of Dracula he was doing in Southern California. And I got to like go down there and do that, like right before Nutcracker season back in Madison. And then I was doing a story ballet back in Madison, but then I had these friends that were doing a fun, like historical dance project up in Napa. And like, you know, that was such a cool thing to be able to to do all of those different things creatively. But I think it was a challenge for me in the sense that like my personality is much more like,
00:11:36
Speaker
how do I make a home? Right. Like i I was the dancer who like would move into like a dressing room and be like, I'm moving in, even if like we're in the theater for a week, like I'm going to move in. So the idea that I was going to be a little bit of a vagabond felt challenging, but I also think it gave me so many, so many gifts. And I think if you do it though, you do just have to be really disciplined and really organized. Cause there were lots of times where I was like getting myself to the studio to rehearse myself, to run things so that I could show up for a gig ready to go, which is just very different than, you know, showing up and seeing what your rehearsals are for that week on the, you know, the company board.
00:12:09
Speaker
Did that experience as a freelancer start to plant the early seeds of you thinking, maybe I want to be a business owner or thinking about Tutu School?
Creating Tutu School: Inspiration and Steps
00:12:18
Speaker
Yes, definitely. But i I think I didn't realize it at the time. like i Again, I think it was like the transition ended up being in a practical sense that like in between gigs, I started teaching at local schools and for additional money and stuff to do in the downtime. And at one of the schools, they put me in charge of their pre-ballet division. And I just like fell in love with teaching that age of kids, which I always say, like you have to be of a certain temperament to enjoy teaching ballet to three-year-olds because it's a lot like herding squirrels. But I did. I fell in love with it. And it was really what I believed in the most about ballet, right? It was getting back to what was awakened for me and my parents' living room moving to music. And I was like, okay, A, this is what I believe in the most about ballet. And B, I also really just see and believe already in the students that I'm working with that like, even if they don't become professional dancers, which most of them are not going to, this is going to serve them well in their life, like just this exposure. And it was just, it felt really magical to me. And so it definitely planted the seeds. And then the entrepreneurial part of my brain was like,
00:13:15
Speaker
seeing that at the schools I was teaching at, that those were the classes that were like on waiting lists, that it was still very much this milestone moment of like, where is she going to go take her first ballet lesson? But at traditional dance schools, it was really neglected. It was, who's going to teach the three-year-olds on a Saturday morning? Like me, Genevieve, go teach the three-year-olds on Saturday morning. There wasn't, and I was getting really excited about the idea of like, how do I cater this class to this age group? How do i make it magical for them? What could I be introducing? Could the we be learning ballet stories from the classical classes? repertoire, like how could we be doing all this stuff? I was getting super excited about that, but that didn't exist already at the schools. Right. It was, it really was just sort of more an afterthought because they were really focused on like, you know, all of the ages that they were teaching and, and all the styles. And so it did definitely awaken sort of what was next in a very practical sense. Cause it put me in those studios. And then in that it did just kind of like start, I started, you know, dreaming about what maybe could be different about how, how that was being done.
00:14:10
Speaker
Okay, so from that initial dream, how did it go from idea to reality? What was the process of starting the very first tutu school? I remember, i think I was drawing in notebooks and kind of doodling about like, what what would this logo look like? Like, you know, and at the time...
00:14:26
Speaker
that I started mapping this out was really thinking like, oh, this after I fully retire from performing, because at the time I was still definitely freelancing and this teaching stuff was happening and as a supplement to my performing. you know I was thinking after I retired from performing, that this would be something I would do. And so I started, I told my husband, Andrew, about this idea that I had. and I said, I think after I retire, I want to start this boutique style ballet school and that it would just just teach very little ones. like It would just be what I would now call a hyper-focus, but didn't use that term at the time. And just said, that's all we would do. We would just specialize in that. So like everything about it, the space, the classes, all of it could just be about little ones and a magical introduction to ballet. I want to do that after I retire. And he said, why wait? And whenever I tell people that, like I talk about how important it is, like sort of who you share your dreams with, right? Because if his response had been, i can see all these reasons why that might not work, right? Like maybe things would have gone differently. And people always think it's amazing that he was so supportive right away. He says that, you know, he was also looking forward to me contributing more than our grocery money, which was based pretty much what my freelancing at the time was, you know? So...
00:15:29
Speaker
I think both things can be true, but I was very lucky that like he was just kind of like, he was like all in right away. And so we, we started like looking at spaces with the idea that maybe this would be something we would do in like about a year And as I now see when I help other people open up their tutu schools, it is it' like once that ball starts rolling, once you're kind of like, oh, I think this is like thing I might do in the future, it you know, the momentum just picks up. And like before you know it, I think we started seriously having the conversations in the summer, fall of 2007. And then the the first tutu school opened in February of 2008. So it it was pretty fast once it once we really got down to it.
00:16:05
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:17:08
Speaker
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Scaling Tutu School into a Franchise
00:17:31
Speaker
And did you always see it scaling so the level that it is now with the franchise, or did you just think you'd have one tutu School that you ran? i didn't. I mean, I think it's interesting. like When I look back, I can remember so clearly like when we were getting ready to open Tutu School, and I did have this sense that, like oh, I think this could be something big. I don't think I had any idea of what that would be or what that even meant. Like if you tried to ask me to tell you what I meant by that, I wouldn't have been able to at all. I certainly wouldn't have said like, oh yeah, it's going to be a ah franchise organization and you know and we'll have this collection that across three countries. Like no, but I did just, I don't know. I think sometimes, you know, when you're onto something and you can just sort of feel, you know, it's like, i mean, for for dancers, I think it's like when you're a part of a production, that's like just magic. Right. And you're like, This group of dancers are like, I can just tell, like, even though you're not sitting in the audience, you're like, I can tell what we're making up here on stage is like something special. I had that feeling about choo-choo school that I was like, I think this could be something big. But no, I did not i didn't envision its current incarnation at all. And I very quickly, like within 18 months, we wanted, we're like, let's already let's open up our second. And so we opened the second one across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. And because the first one had done so well in San Francisco, where we opened the first one, and that one also did quite well. And so that's when we sort of were like, oh, these could be so many places. At that time, we're thinking sort of in the Bay Area. But also the reality of operating multiple locations really set in. And it's a lot of work. you to have a lot of capital. We didn't have any outside investors. It was just my husband and I. And so it it was both things. Like, wow, we could see these doing so well everywhere. i mean, ah for anyone who remembers was going on at that we were in the middle of a recession and yet these schools were doing really well. So was like, these could do really well anywhere. And I could never open all of the to-do schools there could be myself, right? Like that just wouldn't be possible. And I was really lucky that one of my best friends,
00:19:24
Speaker
had franchised during that time her business, which was a boutique bridesmaids business. ah She'd franchised that very successfully. And I honestly, I didn't even know what fran like i knew what franchising was, but I would have said like, oh, it's McDonald's, it's fitness, it's French fries. And to see her take a concept like that and franchise it so successfully, i was like, oh, this is a really interesting way to scale. That's sort of how we got from the initial Choo Choo School to where we are now. not because I i had architected in my mind or gone in with my yeah my original business plan. i still have it somewhere. And it's like a Word document where I used purple and pink font for the bank and like star bullet points throughout and some clip art of a tattoo. So it it definitely didn't share any grand plans of like a franchising strategy in there. Yeah.
00:20:11
Speaker
What were some of the early challenges you faced when you were starting out in the business and then starting to really scale? In those early years, a lot in that I was still just doing, i was doing everything. Like I was still dancing and so still freelancing. I started over the years, yeah the first years of Choo Choo School kind of starting to taper down, but I was still performing. And so that was a challenge. We also decided to start a family six months after we opened the first choo-choo school. So I got pregnant with my oldest, that 16-year-old I mentioned, six months in, and which is just like very typical Genevieve that I was like, okay, I'm just going to do all of the things. Like I just started a business. Now I'd like to be a mom. I haven't given up performing yet. And in retrospect, that was all wild. That was the definitely a challenge was just sort of like, how do you manage all of those things? How do you balance all of those things? And then I think because we did grow quickly, like very quickly, and initially when I started, it was me in a room and then very quickly
00:21:04
Speaker
we had to add staff. And especially once we opened the second location in Marin and had both the San Francisco studio and the Marin studio, and I really wasn't prepared and nothing had really prepared me to be like a boss to people. Like that was just not, it wasn't anything I'd aspired to be and it wasn't anything I was prepared for or had any training. And so I think the learning curve felt so steep when I look back in those early years and i'm you know I'm still connected to so many of those first teachers and feel so much gratitude to them. But like, I really didn't have any idea what I was doing as an employer. And I think so when I think of a lot of the earliest challenges, a lot of them were around, you know, just making sure that I was being a good leader of a team. And and while I was like very much just learning on the job myself.
00:21:43
Speaker
When it came to developing those leadership skills, like you said, was it all on the job learning and just figuring out as you went along? Did you enroll in any education? Like, how did you do that? You know, over the years since, I have definitely invested in leadership coaching. So I have a business coach now who really is a lot of it is like on leadership and managing people. That's been so helpful for me. And then, yeah, I like soak up and and started during that time, just sort of like trying to absorb like a sponge, you know, like every podcast I could, every book that I could read, any in-person opportunities to sort of be around other, especially female entrepreneurs.
00:22:19
Speaker
And try and just sort of absorb what kind of a leader I wanted to be and and how I could manage people in a way that felt like it was in alignment with my values and build the kind of team and culture that I wanted to have. I'm also really lucky in that my parents, both my parents and Andrew's parents are entrepreneurs. And my mom had started, she just retired in the last year or so, but like her own company. So I got to watch her be an employer and a founder growing up. And I think a lot of what I learned from her was really more through osmosis. And so it wasn't that I necessarily ever was like, oh, right. I saw mom do this. So like, I'm going to, know, I'm going to do that. But I do think that, you know, that was obviously such a huge part of sort of just like leadership coaching all along as I was growing up and at the kitchen table. Yeah. I think it's a combination of all of those things and it's and something that's still very, very much ongoing. Like I still have that business coach and we still focus a lot on like interpersonal relationships and the team and how to take care of them. And there's still so much that I'm learning and and so many things that I could be doing better, you know, because again, it wasn't like I set out, you know, to be an employer. It's something that I still feel like I'm really learning on the job. Yeah.
00:23:21
Speaker
As a mom now, do you try to involve your kids or just show them what it's like to be an entrepreneur? I'm always curious about that as a mom and as an entrepreneur, because I have that guilt of trying to do work while my kids are there. I'm always trying to like figure out that balance. And so I'm curious how you make that work.
00:23:40
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's such a good question. i think one thing is i I am really lucky about the trajectory of Choo Choo School did work out well in that well while my kids were really young, so i have three kids, I have 16-year-old and then 11, almost 12-year-old twins. And while they were really young, Choo Choo School was not at its current size, right? So as far as bandwidth, i was you know I'm really lucky that I was able to have a very flexible sort of work life schedule.
00:24:07
Speaker
I still like, I don't like the word balance because I just think that it's like become this like buzzword for another thing for us to achieve or fail at or feel like we're failing at. But because Andrew, my husband is a photographer, so we're both entrepreneurs, The benefit of that was we were really able to like structure our schedules where we could be with the kids a lot and then also still have time to work. But as any entrepreneur knows, it's like, that doesn't mean less work. It just means you're deciding when to work. And the thing I i definitely always hold on to from my mom is she would say, oh yeah, being an entrepreneur great. you get to set your hours. Like you can decide if you're working at 3am on a Tuesday or 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. And it's like, it's
00:24:41
Speaker
There are times where that really feels true, but I never take for granted that, right? That I can say like, oh, I'm going to leave in the middle of the day and go do this thing with my kids, go be at this appointment or go do this thing at their school or whatever, because I don't have a boss to report to. I just know it means a later night for me tonight because I also have this other deadline or whatever. And so I never take that for granted. And as they've gotten older to your question, like I do try and talk to them about it. So like when they were younger, they would definitely always be involved in things at Tutu School. And, you know, like my oldest especially would, you know, be helping sort through recital costumes and things like that. And as the company's grown, it's been a little bit harder to have like the same like hands-on opportunities that were like, you know, in the studio when we would just be there all the time together. i mean, Sullivan would like go deliver the coloring sheets to each studio with me every Monday morning. So like, He was really always a part of that, but the youngest still feel like really connected to it. And I think the thing that I have gotten even more intentional about as the years go on is the talking about it piece. So like telling, like when they do, you know, see that I'm working or work's taking me away, kind of like also pointing out to them, like, Hey, but did you did you see how I also remember that got to go do this thing? Like, I'm really lucky that I was able to do that. Right. And I have the flexibility and sometimes the trade-off means that now I need to
00:25:53
Speaker
to do this other thing here. Or like, remember the two weeks we just took for a family road trip? Yeah, I was able to do that because now I'm also catching up with this work trip I'm taking here. And then the other thing that I always do try and remind them is like, are the things I really love about my work and my job? Because I just think as parents, no matter what you do, and even if you really love your career, and I love mine, you know, naturally kids are going to see more of like the stressful moments of you trying to fit it all in Or, you know, I'm talking with Andrew about something that didn't go well or a problem I'm trying to solve or whatever. And the risk you run there is that they do kind of just grow up viewing work or this entrepreneurial adventure as like a negative thing. And so I do like, you know, if I'm going on a work trip, I'll try and say like, Hey, I'm going to miss you so much while I'm gone, but I'm also super excited. Like I'm going to go visit this new school that just opened up in New York city. Like how cool is that? You know? And And have all those things present and have them get to be a part of it.
00:26:46
Speaker
And what I love is they do, they like feel a lot of ownership over to do school and they get like really excited and feel like they've been brought brought along for the ride too. So I do wherever I can. I try and involve them in things if we're, you know,
00:26:58
Speaker
picking out a new, like yeah we just rolled out last year, um this ballerina bunny, she's on my desk actually named Odette. And my kids were like kind of my focus group for that, you know, or I've like taken them to look at spaces and been like, what do you think about this? what You know? And I ask for their opinions and and really try and involve them. And I, I love that they, they really view it as a family business. I think that's, that's helped. That's helped a lot in the the tougher moments or the moments where they feel like it's taking us a little bit away. It feels like ah a joint project then, you know?
00:27:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's cool. I want to talk more about the franchising piece. So can you kind of share more about this whole process? I think it sounds very intimidating, especially for like us creative people who are trying to figure out all the logistics and moving pieces of all of that.
00:27:44
Speaker
Can you talk more about how it works and just speak to like what you would say to somebody who is maybe curious about that business model? Yeah, I've become a real evangelist for it. i'm not There is a lot to it. like I think if if it feels a little bit intimidating, like that's that's a healthy level of intimidation because sometimes I'll talk to people who I think...
00:28:02
Speaker
you know, are thinking about it more as just almost like a little bit of like a licensing model and kind of think it'll almost be like passive income, which I don't think I ever thought, but I still think I didn't totally understand everything that would go into it. So it is definitely not that it's like, oh, you just sort of put this in place and then you sell it to people and then there you go. And they're just running off with your model and and you just, you know, cash royalties checks.
00:28:22
Speaker
No, it is not that. If you think it's going to be that, like, no, you should, yeah, again find that healthy level of intimidation. But the reason why I'm an evangelist for it is it's a really incredible way to scale a brand without taking outside funding and without having to bring in investors, you know, in that your franchisees really become your investors, they become your partners.
00:28:43
Speaker
So one of the things I say is like, if someone had given me the funding to open 140 locations sign now, if someone had given me the funding to open up 140 locations, I would have 140 different teams. And I am really lucky that we say Tutu people are the best people and it's true. We have unicorns. They're amazing. But at the end of the day, no one is ever going to love your company or your brand as much as you do, even the best employee. Right. And so if i had 140 teams, I'm sure we would still have the incredible teams we do, but it's not the same thing as if it's yours. Right.
00:29:14
Speaker
With franchising, not only did I not have to go get funding or an investor to open up 140 locations, but the franchisees who have invested and opened up these businesses, they have that level of care and ownership and engagement and investment because it is their business, right? So I still believe that nobody like loves this brand truly as much as I do. right I'll claim that I love it the most. But these franchisees are to do school owners come really close because it is their business. And they i mean, some of our first four franchisees have between six and 13 locations each. Like they've built their own to do school communities. Right. So like they really love and believe in this brand a lot. And so I think what's interesting is, like, I think people are daunted, probably, like you mentioned, when they look at like, there's, there's legal stuff to go through, you have to find a good lawyer, or you need to get set up with a really good franchise disclosure document, and make sure you understand all of the actual logistical components of franchising and sharing your brand with somebody else.
00:30:09
Speaker
But there's an emotional component. And I think the thing that I usually have when founders ask me about franchising that comes up most is like, how do you trust your brand other people? And how do you make sure that they execute on it and that it's, you know, the quality is there. and I'm not saying those aren't real concerns. And I certainly have them. But I think the thing that people miss is it's like, if you're growing and expanding and scaling, that's always what's happening. You're always having to trust people.
00:30:33
Speaker
with executing on your brand and your mission and quality control. And with franchising, you're just entrusting it to people who also have ownership, right? And who are ah who actually like have literally invested their money, but also their blood, sweat and tears and hopefully passion and a shared why with you. and I think that's why it actually feels like a safer bet to me. then like trying to continue to do it on your own, because you're always going to dilute to some degree, right, your own connection to to the way you're executing on your brand, because you just can't be in a million places at once. But with franchising, you're putting other people who actually are owning it with you in those seats to really be able to make sure that they're doing incredibly well.
00:31:15
Speaker
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00:31:25
Speaker
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00:31:40
Speaker
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00:31:54
Speaker
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00:32:11
Speaker
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00:32:24
Speaker
You kind of touched on this when we spoke about being a mom and being a business owner, all of this, but can you talk us through what a day in your life as the CEO of this franchise looks
Balancing CEO Duties and Family Life
00:32:34
Speaker
like? Sure. Okay. Well, so like looking at today my husband is out of time. I say he's a photographer. He's on a shoot in Brazil right now. So I'm solo parenting.
00:32:44
Speaker
So I woke up and tried for a while to get my kids all out of bed, which was a challenge. I got everybody off to school and then got here to Chichu HQ. We're based in Chicago now. So we started in San Francisco, but I moved back to the Midwest to be back closer to family. My husband's family's here too. so We still have team members on the West Coast and lots of tutu schools there, but our HQ's in Chicago now. Got here right away for a meeting with the team on a new software platform that we're rolling out. So like right away at nine o'clock had a deep dive on that. A little bit later after this, I'll be touching base with a couple of other team members on some new initiatives that we're rolling out. And then I go right from that into um one of the quarterly meetings with our FAC, which is our Franchise Advisory Council. So it's a group of franchisees or tutu school owners that are selected to represent the broader system. And we'll be meeting with them and getting their feedback on some things and sharing some initiatives with them. and kind of like mapping out here for the end of the year, like how we're going to go into 2026. And in between those things, I'll be doing some inbox management and trying to push out a couple of of projects that I've saved here for the end of the year. a couple of things that I'm really excited about. and then at some point when my kids get out of school, I'll transition to working at home so that I can be there as they're getting back and having a guitar lesson at home and getting somebody else off to dance and then waiting for another one to come home from a rehearsal. before i kick off the whole dinner and bedtime routine, hopefully bedtime routine, so that maybe people are a little bit less tired tomorrow morning.
00:34:15
Speaker
That sounds lot like my morning too. my husband's in Kansas, not Brazil. So nothing is as cool that. So you're doing the solo parenting route too. Yeah. It's hard. I so much respect to people who this on a regular basis because we both travel for work a fair amount. And so like we'll do it in little increments, but I'm in like a long stretch right now. And oh my goodness, it's something else. Yeah.
00:34:39
Speaker
It's a lot. I think a lot of it is like the logistics for sure, but also the emotional management because you're the only one who's managing everyone's yeah feelings and everything they're going through and just like, and then your own stuff yeah too. So it's it's a lot.
00:34:53
Speaker
i will say when I, in terms of like practical support on that, When I know that I'm going to parenting, i if I can go through intentionally and like try and remove more from what I have on my work plate that week and just try and have it be like, okay, I'm going'm going to do that inbox management. I'm going to get to the meetings, but I'm not putting a bunch of extra stuff on my plate. And I just sat out with more reasonable expectations for myself because what I learned the hard way is that when I was expecting that I was going to have the same work output, at the same time that I was also being the sole parent at home, like I was just setting all of us up for failure and lots of meltdowns, including mine, because I would be trying to like get stuff out at the same time that the kids needed something. And, you know, then we'd all be, as my 11 year old say, crashing out. So like when I do, when I do have some more success with it, I think it is when I've managed to sort of like right size my work schedule for those weeks and like have some more human expectations of myself.
00:35:47
Speaker
Can you share some of the big lessons you've learned about leadership or entrepreneurship as your company has grown? I know you've mentioned quite a few different things, but is there anything that comes to mind that would be like really important that you would tell somebody who's maybe growing a business?
00:36:01
Speaker
Just yesterday, somebody said something that I was like, I'm going to go out right now and get this tattooed on my body. And it was, he said in a meeting, he said, we can do anything.
00:36:13
Speaker
We can't do everything. And I feel like that is the lesson that I just kind of keep getting hit over the head with. Like we're at such an exciting moment for Tutu School where we've expanded our leadership team a lot. Like we're doing so many things and it's really exciting. But at at every stage of building this company, I just feel like, and to a large degree as a dancer, like we're everything feels urgent and important all the time, like right now. And that it it can't be true. There has to be tiers of prioritization. and if everything's important, nothing is. And so I just think that that, like, I keep coming back to that because it's, it's like a lesson I just have to learn over and over again is that, yes, you can do anything. You can everything. One of our two-two principles is next right thing. And I think that when I remember that one, i'm
00:37:01
Speaker
things are also usually working in a more smooth way. And I'm able to stay like more grounded in my why and not feel so frazzled because you're just like picking one thing and saying, yep, this is an X-ray thing as opposed to running in a hundred different directions, you know, a few millimeters at a time. So, and then I guess the other side of that, that we're working on at Tutu School and for anybody who's like building a broader team, but I think this is even true just in like your personal life is when you do have to look at prioritization like that, then giving other people visibility into it, right? So like it relieves your anxiety about like, oh, I needed to do all these things because I needed to deliver all of these things, whether that's at home, whether that's, you know, again, with a smaller team or a few people or some clients, or whether it's now with this big team and for us, all of these owners of Tutu Schools. If we're giving them visibility into like, hey, we're working on all of these things, but because we can't do everything at once, here's what we're doing right now. Here's what's on the roadmap for later on. And, you know, an approximate timeline of those things, that's going to like settle their anxiety down about things that they're looking for from us because they can see it's coming, but they can see we're being thoughtful about how we're staggering it. And then for me, it really calms me down and allows me to focus and not do that, like running in a million directions, but next right thing. And instead, Because I know I've communicated to people, this is coming. And so I'm trying to look for ways in like my personal life even to do that, where if I'm feeling like, oh, shoot, I didn't i didn't do this. And I said I was going to do that and but you know whatever. And I can't do it all at once. Or I'm finding ways just to like give people more visibility into like, it's not like this isn't important to me. It is.
00:38:31
Speaker
Here's what I'm doing right now. And like, i you know, I want you to know that I haven't forgotten about that. And then I find that most of the time also people weren't like, I think we can sometimes feel like, oh, everybody's expecting this of us.
00:38:43
Speaker
And they're like, okay, yeah, no, it's good. like But if they were, then now you've communicated it with them. But chances are they're not putting the same level of pressure on you that you are on yourself. So giving yourself permission to like really aggressively prioritize. And then I think as a layer, if that's something that's helpful to communicate what what those tiers of prioritization are and the thought that went into it in whatever way makes sense in whatever area of your life you're doing this, because I just think that that helps people next right thing it and not not get so frazzled.
00:39:13
Speaker
I really like that. Okay. When you, just thinking more about big picture, but when you visited Tutu School Studio today, what makes you proudest about the brand that you've built?
Impact on Children's Creativity through Ballet
00:39:24
Speaker
It's so, like, it's one of my favorite things. I have not been able to, I don't want to ever, like, give up site visits. Like, we have a team now that does the site visits and I'm like, I still hold on to some every year. We're about to map them out for 2026. And I'm like, okay, I still need to figure out which ones I'm holding because I i love it. And it's like, it was really a part of how I stay connected to my why, which is,
00:39:43
Speaker
that little girl dancing in the living room to music. Right. And so that's what will happen is I'll, I'll be in there and I'll be kind of like, you I'll have my laptop out taking notes and, you know, focus on like, Oh, we should give them this note about the studio and like, Oh, this teacher's doing a great job, but I think she could just tweak this part, you know, and I've all, i I'm kind of like focused on that. And then something will happen where I'll just like look up and, and see these kids, you know, dancing to Tchaikovsky with scarves and bubbles and, like finding something about themselves. And like, this is amazing. Like we did it. We built this space for kids to be creative and joyful. And that's that's what our mission statement says. It's like, we exist to make space in the lives of children for creativity and joy. And and then when I sort of get this, like so that it'll happen in this like micro level where I'm seeing it right in front of me. And then sometimes I can kind of zoom out and be like, oh, this is happening in spaces and studios, like all over the country right now. That's incredible. Like that's, that's amazing. And, and I just feel incredible.
00:40:38
Speaker
sense pride when that happens. I was i was just visiting i just was visiting a few schools in Southern California a few weeks ago. And there was a little girl who came into class and she was running late. And so class had already started. and her mom was like trying frantically to get her ballet slippers on. And she was like sitting in the chair and her mom was getting her ballet slippers on. it And she was just like looking around her mom's head, like seeing the kids in there. And she just like let out this little giggle because she was so excited. And she goes,
00:41:01
Speaker
can't wait. And it just like, I was like, oh my gosh, I just like, I like stuff like that. You know, it just, it just makes me so happy that, that we, this is what we get to do is we get to make the space for, for children to be creative and joyful.
00:41:16
Speaker
Do you have any big upcoming plans or visions for Tutu School that you can share? We are so excited. that i mean, so many things. There's a lot of it sort of internal stuff that's helping us just run our businesses in a better way so that we can make sure we're taking the best possible care of Tutu families and taking really good care of our Tutu school owners as entrepreneurs. But one of the things that we're super excited that we're rolling out that we just announced at our our summit that we had in Arizona is um sensory supportive classes that will be available at a number of our tutu schools. And a value of tutu schools is is has always been inclusivity.
00:41:52
Speaker
And so we've always had students, you know, neurodivergent students, students with disabilities. We love that we've always had those students in our classes. And we've all worked, our director of curriculum and support has worked for a long time alongside our teachers to make sure that we're you know providing the best support for both our teachers and our students. But we're really excited to roll out these classes too, where they're not just for students who might have specific needs around sensory support. They're for all, anyone can enroll in them, but they just are going to have that designation so that families who do think their students would benefit from that know that that's a class where that's going to be a focus, where there are going to be some things that are really tailored to those students. Like the volume of the music will be a little bit lower. The lights might be a little bit dimmer.
00:42:32
Speaker
Some of the louder activities that we do, you know, aren't present in those classes. There's more organization presented visually to students of like what's coming next. All of these things that are just like, you know, helpful little tweaks, but that make a difference for all kids, but especially can be for families that feel like that would really serve their student. And then again, it's not like those are the only students that are going to be in those classes. they're open to everybody, but they'll just have that designation. And I i love, it's such, it's so in keeping with Juju School's values. And we brought on an inclusive programming lead to help coach our teachers through that and provide support for them as the program's launching. And then just on a a broader basis, because again, we have students of different needs in in all of our classes to have her available to be supporting our studios. And so I'm i'm really excited about that initiative. I think it's been a long time coming and and we've been looking for the right way to do it. And I just, I'm thrilled that it's happening now.
00:43:25
Speaker
Okay. Last question I have for you. What advice would you give to other dancers who are also considering building something new beyond the stage? Again, kind of like going back to this, the speech that I was giving, what was wild to me was just when I looked back at like how entrepreneurial dancing actually is. Like my career in ballet had so many of the ingredients, all of the ingredients that that I think that you need to be an entrepreneur. So I think the first thing is to really realize how much your career and training has set you up for an entrepreneurial path if that's something you decide you'd like to do. i think that's really the main thing. And, you know, just like a few of those things, obviously, first of all, I think entrepreneurs are usually need to be rooted in a deep sense of why Right. And I think ballet dancers, like we wouldn't do it.
00:44:17
Speaker
It is a way too hard of a career if you know, if you didn't have a deep sense of why. So like, that's something we can obviously really relate to and have had practice. And think the incredible, the discipline, there's so much, so much hard work that goes into being an entrepreneur. Right. But dancers have so much discipline and are such hard workers that like, you know, think for anyone who's just sort of feeling fearful of a a path in entrepreneurship to know that it's like, you know, you've gotten up and gone to the bar every day. youre not anyone who's not a dancer, I mean the ballet bar, you know, had to clarify there, you have that discipline, right? Of like company class and rehearsals. was talking about freelancing, like getting myself to into the studio to rehearse, like so much discipline when that is, that is so much of being an entrepreneur. And I, you know, I think that the pendulum swung a little bit between people like celebrating hustle and really sort of villainizing it. But it's like, I don't know anybody hustles harder than ballet dancers who have worked from the time they were children into adulthood to pursue something. And so I think, you know, don't minimize the strength that that that discipline gives you. And then that sort of last piece of that, that i I think I really didn't realize was training me every day to be an entrepreneur,
00:45:28
Speaker
is what I call a step on the stage moment, which is like, as an entrepreneur, any venture like this, like Tutu School, there's a moment and then many other moments that follow where you just have to do it, where you have all of the preparation. You you can prepare as we do as dancers with rehearsals and classes forever. And as an entrepreneur, you can do that too. You can do all the preparation, but there's just a moment where you just go for it. And the reason why i call the step on the stage moment is it's like, you know, every performance you ever do, you're in the wings, curtain goes up music starts. And it's kind of crazy when you think about it that you're like, going go out.
00:46:00
Speaker
um did Do this dance on my toes in front of all of these people. And you could just stay there, hit in the wings. But instead, something inside of you says like, no, I'm going to step out there. I'm going to do this. And that practice, and it happens in in many smaller ways as a dancer, every time you're going across the floor or doing an adagio in your class each day, stepping out to do a run of a variation or you know a ballet and rehearsal, like they're all of these moments where you like you just have to do it, right? There's no hiding. You just have to go for it. And and kind of at a certain moment, all the preparation, and the rehearsals, they're there, the layers there, but the actual going for it is the thing that propels you and makes it really happen. And that is entrepreneurship in a nutshell. And I didn't realize that then because I'd been a dancer, i ah was every day of my dancing life, I was preparing for that aspect of an um entrepreneurship that I think is sort of both the hardest and the most magical and important piece of it. And so i would just say to any dancers thinking about it, like you have so much more preparation
00:46:59
Speaker
and training than you realize. And if it's something that you're thinking about, like you are set up in a really beautiful way and you have this whole skillset and all these entrepreneurial muscles that have already been developing for you that you just didn't even realize are, are there for you.
00:47:12
Speaker
Okay. If anyone listening wants to learn and more about you or about Tutu School, where can we find you? I am on Instagram at Tutu Genevieve and Tutu School is online at tutuschool.com and at Tutu School on social media platforms. So yeah, come check us out. We would we would love that.
00:47:30
Speaker
Amazing. Well, thank you so much for all of this. This was wonderful conversation. I have a lot of takeaways I'm going to be mulling over today. So thank you for all of this. I really appreciate your time. Well, thank you so much for having me.
00:47:44
Speaker
Thank you for tuning into the Brainy Ballerina podcast. If you found this episode insightful, entertaining, or maybe a bit of both, I would so appreciate you taking a moment to leave a rating and hit subscribe.
00:47:56
Speaker
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00:48:09
Speaker
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