Work

We do nursing home shows and local things and community things, senior residences and we still do....so you get to practice your dance but dance is a performing art and if you don’t perform you don’t get the experience and the confidence developing it. I call it old dolls and new dolls and it’s one of the greatest joys of all. Teaching and being able to bring – I have students right through adult students who dance with me, little ones and their parents of the little ones. Oh they love it and this is great because to see the human interaction that goes on, the happiness, that’s just key so it’s really great. People that can’t move and then they’re watching other people that can, particularly the small ones that are so fresh and live.

I think every woman should be prepared to do what they want to do.  Don’t listen to anybody else and to also sorta feel out different opportunities.  When I was young my father would say, "Why don’t you be a dental hygienist?" He never said, "Why don’t you be a dentist?"  My brother was gonna be a doctor but I would be the dental hygienist.  Women aren’t there anymore, thank God. But there weren’t many role models when I grew up of women doing that.  I mean I do remember an orthodontist who was a woman who was one of my father’s friends.  But he never said, "Gee why don’t you do that?" The thing is, I think women need to be exposed. I like that program where women go to work with their fathers. I think the exposure and somehow I think in high school if there’s a way that kids can get exposed to different type of things at that time -- of fields and interests that they know what they want and go from there. 

I never worked for somebody I worked for myself from the beginning. But I start to---just opened the service because I had so many customers and I just realized I saved money better than nursing home, than nurse’s aide, and there was flexible hours, there was mother hours.  And I had the two children so it was easy for me to do this kind of the job.  But I got so many clients I don’t know what to do with them!  So I opened a cleaning service.

I’m very proud that I did the one-woman show.  When I first started, I was afraid. You know the Deaf community can be very critical. They would criticize if I used too many songs in my show, if the show was boring, if they didn’t really get it, and the deaf community is a close-knit group.  And it’s very easy for the opinion of one to influence the entire group.  If they didn’t like my show, I would take it personally that they didn’t like me so that didn’t do a lot for my ego.  Then I had a conversation with myself and I told myself that’s a challenge for me.  If I want to be strong and develop confidence I have to just go ahead and do it anyway. It doesn’t matter if the deaf community likes me or don’t like me, this is my work, this is my art, I have to try.  So I am proud of the fact that I did do it, I’m proud of the accomplishments that I made from then to now.