We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bevin I don’t use a last name a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Bevin, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I’ve been writing, speaking and performing about body liberation since 2002. I didn’t understand there were fat people who loved their bodies and didn’t learn about Health at Every Size until I met people who lived like that. (Back then these were not mainstream topics, and before social media there was a lot of gatekeeping of information.)

When I discovered the body liberation movement I felt set free–I could make peace with the only body I was ever going to have and stop trying to change it and instead focus on enjoying it. Nourishing it with movement that felt good and fun was a big part of my liberation.

I did a lot of community building and event production work around body liberation in the LGBTQ community. Especially within nightlife because it was much easier to get venues when there is alcohol involved. I stopped drinking in 2013 and shifted my lifestyle to daytime pursuits.

When I moved from NYC to Los Angeles while looking for a gym that supported Health at Every Size I started taking dance aerobics classes that were marketed as “all levels.” While in those classes I realzed they were not all levels and a lot of folks were left out of the room because of unconsious bias from instructors–whose backgrounds were mostly professional dance or athletics.

I had never considered teaching dance aerobics until that moment when I considered, “Why not me?”

The name Fat Kid Dance Party came to me because I think many of us, whether or not we have had a fat experience, know what it feels like to be a “fat kid.” If you’ve ever been called “too much,” “too fat” or felt too awkward to dance, this is the supportive class for you! People of all sizes are welcome to attend!

I initially created some rules for my class that created the kind of inclusive environment I wanted to foster.

Rule #1 There’s no wrong way to do Fat Kid Dance Party aerobics. I encourage folks to pay attention to the body they have today, not the body they had ten years ago or the body they think they “should” have, just this body today.

Rule #2 We cheer for awkward! If you feel awkward at any moment holler in “I feel awkward” and everyone will cheer for you!

Rule #3 If you want to sing along go ahead and if you can’t sing, sing loud!

Rule #4 We high five for self care! If you get a drink of water, if you’re feeling the moves, everyone gets a high five just for showing up because showing up is the hardest part of working out!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After a childhood of bullying about my weight kept me off the dance floor, I discovered the body liberation movement and felt so encouraged to reclaim dance floors and freedom of movement.

I have always felt passionate about sharing the framework of regarding your body with love and care with folks through writing my blog (queerfatffemme dot com) and through my podcast (Bevin: A Femme over 40 and her Friends). But aerobics is so special because we learn things 7-20 times faster when we involve play and joyful movement in the teaching. It’s the fastest way I have to help folks feel free in their minds and bodies.

I was once an attorney who processed other people’s stress for a living. Now I help folks process their own stress in healthy ways.

I’m really proud of the ways I see my regular clients develop their self care practices and live happier more fulfilled lives.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

My business is very much crowd/fan funded. Four months after I started a story about my class on PopSugar went viral https://www.facebook.com/POPSUGAR/videos/10155862999209367

I didn’t yet have a website but I was getting comments from all over the world that they wanted the class where they were. I crowd funded (through Indie GoGo) a workout video series that is still the greatest and hardest thing I’ve ever produced. https://www.fatkiddanceparty.com/video4pack

I wanted to share my in person classes with folks outside of the area I was teaching (at the time Los Angeles, now I’m teaching in Seattle) so I started a Patreon page. I thought a lot about creating my own app but realized the freedom and simplicity that comes from having a servicing company who does the back end credit card processing, technology upgrades, privacy stuff.

Patreon is technically “fan funded” even though I am providing a service and exclusive content for my clients. It’s been a fun platform for me as an artist, too, to have a spot that I can create for my core audience.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Not many of us are taught to think about the scale of our life and business as unique to what we want our life to look like,

Early on I wanted to create a big business with a lot of services that centered the aerobics. Now I want a business that supports facilitating me teaching aerobics three times a week. Nothing more.

I’ve learned a lot, too, about creating merch and the resulting dead stock that happens after the initial merch sales. I love having shifted to drop shipping and print on demand. In these weird economic times being as frugal as possible with the burn rate of the money I’m putting out has given me way more flexibility when there are more or less clients to serve.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fatkiddanceparty.com
• Instagram: @fatkiddanceparty
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fatkiddanceparty
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bevin24/
• Twitter: @bevinsparty
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SelfCareParty

Image Credits

I own all the photos