I started dancing at a large studio in Santa Rosa, California, called Nordquist. As a 7th grader, I would dress up in a suit and tie for my lessons on Tuesday nights. The classes had 200–300 kids in one large hall, so there were plenty of junior instructors to help teach. Mr. Nordquist would teach us a new step every Tuesday, and at Nordquist I learned the box step (Rumba), Cha Cha, East Coast Swing, Night Club Two-Step, and others. After two years in Mr. Nordquist's classes, I tried out to become a junior dance instructor. Junior dance instructors started in 7th grade in Mr. Nordquist's class, and after completing the second-year course, you could apply to become one. The small group of junior instructors helped teach the other two classes—7th graders and 8th graders—every Tuesday. We also performed 5–7 routines together during both the spring dance and the graduation dance! This experience impacted not only my dance knowledge but also my etiquette on the dance floor. Mr. Nordquist made a habit of teaching proper etiquette to young students, like how to help a lady with her coat or seat her properly. After graduating high school, I applied to use my dance knowledge at a local Arthur Murray studio. While I was unfamiliar with the full scope of the Arthur Murray program, the idea of being paid to teach was very attractive to me. Once I joined the staff, I quickly realized ballroom dancing was much more vast than I had ever imagined. I began studying syllabi and learning dances I had never heard of before, expanding my skills in areas like teaching methods, choreography, and private lesson handling. Arthur Murray provided me with valuable access to professionals in the ballroom dance world, allowing me to receive personal coaching and advice. I became a top teacher and competitor in my district in the "Future Champions" category and became certified twice at the full Bronze level in their syllabus. In 2022, I left Arthur Murray to finish my degree in Business Administration and Computer Science. I chose Cal Poly for my undergraduate studies, and as soon as I arrived on campus, I found the ballroom club and began attending club meetings regularly. With the experience I carried from Arthur Murray, they asked if I could teach some classes, and I started teaching for Cal Poly Ballroom. During my second year at Cal Poly, I connected with a local studio that used the DVIDA (Dance Vision International Dance Association) syllabus, which is known for its structured curriculum in ballroom dance. They asked if I would like to teach some lessons, and I soon realized I was one of only three teachers who knew how to teach a private lesson. I asked the studio owner if she had ever run a teacher training program, and she hadn't. Together, we created a teacher training platform and implemented it. We worked really hard on this, and it gave me real insight into what running a studio is actually like. Today, I hope to continue teaching and working in the dance space—maybe one day even open a studio of my own.