IAM697- Venezuelan Born Dancer Houses Multiple Bachata

Kat Arias is a Venezuelan-born dancer who came to the United States at the age of six. Kat created the Ferocity Dance Company in May of 2012, where she is currently the Owner and Managing Director. Ferocity houses multiple bachata-focused competitive and performing teams and has won various accolades throughout the years. Her vision was to have a company where anyone who wanted to be family, could be.

• CEO Hack: Book- Real Magic
• CEO Nugget: It will not always be easy but it will always be worth it
• CEO Defined: Freedom- having the world I want

Website: http://www.ferocitydance.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FerocityDance/
Instagram: @ferocitydance
TikTok: ferocitydance
Twitter: ferocitydanceco
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/FerocityDanceCompany

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Transcription

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[00:00:02.20] – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

[00:00:30.00] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I Am CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Kat Elias of Ferocity Dance Company. Kat, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:40.39] – Kat Arias

Thank you so much for having me.

[00:00:42.20] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. I tried to roll my rs to hit it. Hopefully, I did as well as possible. But before I jumped in, I wanted to introduce you to Kat so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Kat is a Venezuelan-born dancer who came to the United States at the age of six. Kat created the Ferocity Dance Company in May of twenty twelve, where she is currently the owner and managing director. Ferocity houses multiple bachata-focused competitive and performing teams and has won various accolades throughout the years. Her vision was to have a company where anyone who wanted to be family could be. Kat, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:18.50] – Kat Arias

Yeah. Ready.

[00:01:19.50] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. And welcome to the family. So to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit, hear a little bit more about how you guys started, and what led you to kinda start your business.

[00:01:28.00] – Kat Arias

I used to own a ballroom dance studio. I started dancing as an adult. So I started working as a receptionist in a ballroom studio, and then I bought it when the owner was ill. And so I learned a lot of things from from that, and that's actually how I got introduced to bachata, which is like a social Latin dance so it doesn't fall into the ballroom dances. And so then our first suit, the studio actually failed. We got shut down by the county. And, after that, it was kind of hard for me to decide if I wanted to continue or not, but I decided ultimately to start Veracity. And then after a year in business, I went ahead and got a studio location as well.

[00:02:07.29] – Gresham Harkless

That makes so much sense. And I imagine that you yeah, you kinda touched on, like, learned so much from having that experience. I think it's probably a difference between Well I sometimes say having businesses that maybe don't go according to plan are sometimes the best lessons you can learn rather than having to be successful and not sure what happened or how it was done.

[00:02:24.59] – Kat Arias

A thousand percent. I think that a lot of the things I know now would have never been known unless I went through that period.

[00:02:31.09] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And I think so many times we forget that when we see somebody that's successful, we don't see kinda, like, the steps that it took to get there. And for one, maybe the things that didn't go according to plan and how, you know, you're able to kind of, shift and learn from that as well.

[00:02:44.59] – Kat Arias

Yes. For sure.

[00:02:46.30] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about your company. Could you take us through exactly what you're doing, where you're serving, and how you, serve your clients?

[00:02:54.09] – Kat Arias

Sure. So we're located in Falls Church, Virginia, right about seventeen minutes outside of DC. So we do get a lot of students from DC, Maryland, and Virginia. We are primarily an adult studio, so we do, adult group classes. And then the main thing I'm known for is for performing teams. So I have six different teams, five of them perform, and two of them compete. So we do our world championships, and we'll go to Colombia. We did a couple here in the United States when the world championships were here. And then our group classes are catered towards social dancing. So, you know, what you would go to, like, the salsa room on a weeknight and, like, have some fun dancing with people. So our main thing is about just getting you out there connected with people, dancing. And, you know, dancing is a big therapy for a lot of people. So for us, it's been a really wonderful experience.

[00:03:45.30] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And especially having that social aspect and the ability for people to kinda dance and and and connect and and and be able to engage in kinda probably a unique way as well too that probably helps out as far as, like, building that family as I kinda spoke to when I read your bio.

[00:03:58.09] – Kat Arias

Yeah. That's for sure.

[00:03:59.30] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And you touched on the whole kinda competitive aspect of it. That's something I don't know much about. Could you take us through? Is there is it real, you know, like, kind of, I don't wanna say, like, March Madness or something, but it's like that related to to dancing.

[00:04:12.90] – Kat Arias

Yeah. So there are, I there's a few major world competitions. Mhmm. We don't go to all of them. They are very expensive, especially the ones that are overseas. So we usually go to the World Latin Dance Cup. It's one of the most known and one of the most prestigious. There's also the World Salsa Summit that's held in Miami, Florida. But we have always gone to the World Latin Dance Cup. They're so close together that you have to kind of pick one or the other. But it's it's it's amazing. People spend literally an entire year preparing a two-minute routine and then you go there and there are people from all over the world. So this last time was the first time I was in Colombia and we went up against Ecuador and Peru and New Zealand and Australia, like, all these countries, and they're all there with the same passion as you have. So it's kinda like the best comparison, I think, would be the Olympics. It's like the Olympics were interesting.

[00:05:05.60] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. That makes so much sense. I appreciate you for talking too about, like, how you, you know I think if you go there, you see that routine and you think maybe somebody just rolled out of bed and then they just went and danced. But there's really a tremendous amount of preparation that we don't see behind the scenes to kinda get to that point and to do that two-minute sync two two-minute, routine, and be able to execute that well.

[00:05:25.69] – Kat Arias

Yes. For sure. It's a lot of pressure too to be on that stage.

[00:05:29.19] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and it could be for yourself for your business, or a combination of both. But what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:05:40.60] – Kat Arias

I think that I've never looked at Ferocity as being a traditional dance company or a traditional dance studio because there are so many of those. And everyone has, like, their own purpose, but that was never really for me. So, I like to look at my business as an experience. So whether you're there for a dance class or you're there for a performing team or you're there just to practice on your own, Being in the studio itself, being in an art environment is an experience, and I think that you immediately feel the energy when you walk in.

Or if we're with you somewhere, like, when my dancers come around, I feel that there's an energy that people feel that is all-inclusive, that accepts people for who they are. And in this world that's like a lot, you know, there's so much judgment everywhere. I think that people really welcome that as adults, they can be a hundred percent who they are in this place, and they don't look at it as a business either. So it really does become a big, big family unit based on the fact that it's more of an experience.

[00:06:38.69] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I think you're right. I think we sometimes forget that you know, people wanna be, you know, cared for, they wanna be recognized, and, of course, they wanna be accepted as well. And I think that being able to kinda create that environment and have, you know I think anytime you get a chance to move, whether it's dancing or anything, it gives you that opportunity to kinda get those, was it I I forgot what it's called, but your pheromones or whatever moving. So electric lights and and everything. So you really get that opportunity to to have fun, to smile, to enjoy, you know, the experience and get to fully, take part in that.

[00:07:10.69] – Kat Arias

Yes. For sure. It's really wonderful to see every day.

[00:07:13.69] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I can imagine. So I wanted to, switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an Apple book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:07:26.89] – Kat Arias

So for me, I would think, there's this book. It's called Big Magic, and it's really amazing the way that it's structured. It's kind of like really short, articles based on the writer's, perspective or experiences, but it's, it's geared towards creatives. So like artists and dancers, we all kinda of relate to this book. It's by Elizabeth Gilbert. But there's there's different things in there that communicate to me depending on what kind of day I'm having. So like there's a part where she's talking about you need to, like, put in the work and that you need to accept, rejection and that Mhmm. And then she'll give you, like, an example of, like, what she had to do to become a writer.

And it's just things that, like, kind of, it's, like, the things that we all kind of need to hear, but most of the time we probably won't because I feel like CEOs, we don't tend to talk that much to people about, like, you know, the downside or the bad part. People kind of see, oh, here's all the good stuff, and here's the smiles and stuff. But when we go through things, we tend to keep it quiet. But when I feel I feel like when I'm reading this book, it's almost like I'm talking to a friend and I'm hearing these experiences that that help me get through different things.

[00:08:35.20] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I think that's, huge. And I love the fact that I haven't heard of Big Magic, but I'm definitely gonna add it to my list even though I might or may not have two left feet. But at the same time, I understand, you know, we understand when we're running a business of, you know, all the things that could happen. But I think for one, being able to hear that and hear that you're not alone, but two, you know, hear somebody else that's been able to succeed through that kinda gives you light at the end of the tunnel to make you know that, one, you're not crazy, not by yourself, but even further along that you know somebody that's been successful and how they've been able to kinda cope, you know, to deal with that.

[00:09:11.70] – Kat Arias

Yeah. I think it's also just being able to relate that it's part of the process. And I think that a lot of times we'll forget that, especially for riding out, like, a bad wave, like a lot of a lot of us are now. Yeah. It's remember, like, this is part of the process and, like, you will get through it, but you have to be strong to make it.

[00:09:29.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And especially that the mental part as well too is, you know, those ups and downs And to be able to understand, you know, you're not by yourself. You know, other people are going through something similar. Helps you to feel a little bit more at peace. This is part of what it takes to be successful. So it's not you can't take that out and be successful. You have to go through sometimes those ups and downs as well.

[00:09:49.79] – Kat Arias

Yes. A hundred percent.

[00:09:51.79] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So that could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice or something you might tell yourself if you were to happen to a time machine.

[00:09:53.79] – Kat Arias

I call a CEO nugget. So that could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice or something you might tell yourself if you were to happen to a time machine. I would probably say it will not always be easy, but it will always be worth it. Mhmm. And I think that is like if I would go back I mean, like, obviously, like, I had felt business before, so, like, by going back to, like, a little twenty-one-year-old cat that had all these, like, dreams of doing these things, you know, when you're young and kind of, like, really never even thought I would own my own business before, you see everything as like, oh, it would be great and this is my dream and like everything's gonna be easy as long as I just get this.

And then, but once you get it, you're like, oh, there's, like, all this other stuff that comes out. And I think you don't realize how emotionally vested you get into, like, what you're doing or if you end up loving it, which I do. Like, I love what I do. So of course, every hit that happens is like a personal hit to me. And so I think there were a lot of times where, like, I'll be like, man, why am I doing this? Like, I could be working normally and, like, being relaxed and letting somebody else worry about it. But at the end of the day, especially when you get through things, it's always, always worth it.

[00:11:09.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I think it tells you so much about yourself. I can definitely, you know, echo the same thing because I think you go through those times where you're like, why am I what really, why am I doing this? I think a lot of times there's a quote that says, entrepreneurs are the people that'll work eighty hours a week to avoid working forty. And I think sometimes those aren't always great eighty-hour weeks. You know, a lot of times it's a lot of stuff that you're dealing with and, you know, putting out fires and doing all those things that, you know, a lot of times people don't see. But I think that when you can get to that situation where you don't know how you're gonna get out of it and then you get out of it, it shows you a lot about yourself. It builds confidence, builds character, builds, obviously, your business as well.

[00:11:49.10] – Kat Arias

Yes. For sure. And they're really important things to go through.

[00:11:53.60] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. And as we kinda talked about before in the hack, it's something that's necessary as well too because, you know, I I'm a big believer in binary, so I feel like you can't enjoy good without experiencing bad. You can't have that ultimate highs without sometimes some of those lows, and you have to understand that that is what kinda gets you to where you wanna be.

[00:12:12.00] – Kat Arias

Yes. For sure. I agree.

[00:12:14.00] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now I wanna ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. So, Kat, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:12:24.89] – Kat Arias

To me, being a CEO means freedom. I think once I started just wanting to dance. I wanted a place that I fit into because when I started, I didn't feel like the dance world was for me even though I always had this dream. You know, I'm heavier, and I just didn't feel like, you know, I was pretty enough or small enough or talented enough or I didn't start when I was three years old. And I was like nineteen or twenty-one when I even started thinking about it seriously. And so when I started, I just wanted I was like, it'll it's fine if it's just me, and I want a place that that's for me. But once I started, everyone found me, and it's people that have the sim the same story. It's they feel like they don't fit in or they're looking for somewhere special. They're looking for somewhere that's that's theirs. And for me, being a CEO, being able to create that for people, I mean, it's complete freedom. It's in my little part of the world, that I'm able to have the world that I want.

[00:13:26.50] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. It's so big and I think so many times we we forget that, you know, we feel like we're alone and we're not by ourselves, but I think it it speaks volumes to you and your leadership and your desire to want to do that because I think sometimes we forget that when we create something, while we're creating it sometimes for ourselves, so many other people are craving it and wanting and needed as a place to feel belonged and and accepted. So when you create that, you start to attract those people, because they want the exact same thing. They just didn't necessarily create it.

[00:13:58.20] – Kat Arias

Yes. For sure.

[00:13:59.70] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, I truly appreciate that, Kat. I appreciate all the awesome things you're doing. Of course, I appreciate your time. What I wanted to do is pass through the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all awesome things you're working on.

[00:14:16.20] – Kat Arias

Sure. We're we're making it through. This is, like, current times, you know, with, COVID, and everything has been stressful, I think, for anyone in a creative field, but we'll be here when everything passes. And we have online classes, that we're adding, and we're committed to being connected to the community that we've helped build for the last eight years. So today is my eight-year anniversary.

[00:14:41.00] – Gresham Harkless

Happy anniversary. Thank you.

[00:14:43.50] – Kat Arias

Everyone can always go to our website which is forocity Dance dot com, and we have all our contact info and everything that we have, being offered at the studio right now is on there.

[00:14:53.89] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. And we would have those links and information in the show notes as well too. But, you know, appreciate you again for creating something that, you know you needed and you wanted, but so many other people wanted as well too. Because at the end of the day, as we said, you know, you just wanna be accepted and feel like you have somewhere that you belong. And I think I truly appreciate you for doing that in true entrepreneurial form, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

[00:15:17.79] – Kat Arias

Yeah. Thank you so much.

[00:15:20.39] – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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