We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily Toungate. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.

Emily , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The story of Coastal Swim Academy….

I miss my baby girl, Mallory, every single day. Having to bury your child is absolutely the worst pain a parent can endure. I just hope my story brings awareness to drowning prevention and water safety to parents everywhere.

On August 14, 2007, I was cooking dinner for my family, and my 5 year old, 3 year old and 14 month old twins were home with me. I had fed the twins their dinner already, so I prepared for bath time, and I put my 14-month-old twins, Marcus and Mallory, in the bathtub like I did every single evening. Unfortunately, this was the last time I would see them together. My plan — after starting the bath time routine, was to go turn over the pork chops in the kitchen real fast, and go back to my twins in the bathroom. This was my plan! But this is not what happened. Unfortunately, I got distracted with dinner in the kitchen. About 4 minutes had elapsed, and as I walked back into the bathroom, my daughter, Mallory had slipped under the water. In this small amount of time, my life changed forever! How could this have happened? But she was starting to walk? Why didn’t she just pull herself up when she went underwater? All these questions raced through my mind! But the reality is, children do not KNOW what to do in an aquatic situation unless they are taught!

I realized after losing Mallory, that I was not alone. Drowning is the #1 cause of death to children under the age of 7. I realized that I had a new mission and passion for my future. I do not want any parent to experience the pain of losing a child. In 2013, I began teaching ISR, (Infant Swimming Resource) lessons in my backyard pool. My mission was to educate the parents about water safety and to teach little ones how to swim and SURVIVE in the water. After a few years teaching, I had the idea to pursue an indoor facility, where I could hire a staff and make this into a small business. Coastal Swim Academy is unique. It is unique because we are the only swim school in the Houston area that offers both types of swim lessons, ISR (Infant swimming resource) and traditional, child centered swim lessons. Both of these programs teach kids how to be prepared if they find the water alone, however, they are definitely taught a little different. I wanted parents to be able to CHOOSE! Choose what program or swim journey was best for their family. I had always had an entrepreneur spirit, so I was determined to find a location to make my dreams a reality. On the East side of Pearland, there wasn’t much to provide families with a quality swim program, So I set my sights on this area. It took my over 6 years to open what is now, Coastal Swim Academy. There were lots of delays, building during the pandemic was a nightmare along with an uncertain economy, it was a very trying time.
I wanted to reach more families and provide a year around program to the Pearland Community, and this is how Coastal Swim Academy was born! We opened our doors May 2022!

Mallory is dearly missed in our family, but her short time on earth is far reaching. She is actively present in all the little children that can now, not only survive in the water, but THRIVE in the water.

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

We are a family owned and operated business. Unlike most other swim schools, we are not a franchise and we operate with utmost care and attention to detail. We genuinely care about our customers and want them to get the most out of their time with us. Our staff is well trained, lifeguard certified and choose to work for us because of the equal respect and overall fun and engaging environment.

I am a certified Master Instructror with ISR and have been teaching kids swimming skills for over 10 years now in the Pearland Community. Like I mentioned before, parents get to choose which swim program they want for their family and I think this is very important. Here is what we offer:
Baby/Me classes
Preschool and School age group swim lessons
Private lessons
Special Abilities private lessons
Pre-Team and stroke development
ISR, Infant Swimming Resource
Adult swim lessons
Birthday Parties

Another aspect that sets us apart from our competitors is our state of the art facility. We are an indoor, climate controlled learn to swim school. Our facility is roughly 8,000 sq ft and is a constant climate-controlled environment, so our little swimmers can learn to swim in a comfortable environment all year round. We have a water temperature of 90 degrees! After your kids get out of the pool, we also have 9 individual changing rooms with doors, so everyone can safely change out of their swimsuit.

At Coastal Swim Academy, we use cutting-edge air filtration systems and UV purification to ensure that our water is crystal clear and free of harsh chemicals and bacteria. The safety of your child and our staff is our #1 concern. When you walk into the facility, you will not smell outrageous chemicals, or feel like you are in a sauna. Our state of the art, dehumidifier, will keep you very comfortable while watching swim lessons. We have a humidity level that reduces the existence of harmful bacteria. It is very important to us that we keep a healthy and fresh air flow environment, especially for children that have allergies or asthma.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Most of my friends will say about me, “Damn, you got some persistence”! I’m unsure if it is a compliment or not! LOL. After losing my daughter, I guess you would say I have a lot of resilience. I still had 3 more children to take care of, and the world keeps turning regardless of your unimaginable grief. I had to get up everyday and try to understand the WHY? It wasn’t until 3 years later, that I could clearly see my purpose and possibly a reason “why” my daughter had to pass away. I was meant to take my tragedy and turn it into something positive, as much as it pains me to say this. There is nothing positive about burying your child. But I could finally see a reason for my suffering. I do not want other families to experience the same fate and heartache. I could teach these babies how to “save themselves if they were to find the water alone”. I guess you can say that I was resilient and determined not to let this tragedy define my life and forever scare my family. I had a mission, a purpose and a job to do!

During the due diligence process of finding funding, a location and a contractor definitely taught me resilience and persistence. It took 6 years! I was turned down by 4 banks and had 2 pieces of property under contract before I settled on the current location. I lost money during this process and the construction went from 7 months to complete, to 18 months to finish! Needless to say, during these trying 6 years, I kept the faith that my mission would prevail and it would all be worth it in the end.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Entrepreneurship and leadership are something you are born with, or it is natural. FICTION! These are skills that are taught and must be learned over time. I have learned that many successful business owners did not know much about “running a business, or leadership”. Every decision you make can lead to success or failure. Failing is just an opportunity to learn and grow more as a business owner.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.coastalswimacademy.com
• Instagram: coastalswimacademy
• Facebook: coastal swim academy