We recently connected with Genevieve Custer Weeks and have shared our conversation below.

Genevieve, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned while working at a prior job?

In my previous life as a ballet dancer I learned that that even with a tremendous amount of preparation (in my case, and most others, years and years of ballet training and typically many hours of rehearsals leading up to a performance), there is still always a moment where you have to step out onto the stage. I call it the Step on the Stage Moment… Sometimes it feels terrifying to go out there, and you could stay hidden in the wings backstage, but you choose to step into the lights instead. The strange thing is that even with all of the practice leading up to the at moment, the moment itself feels like a new leap of faith, adventure, and determination each time.

In all the years that I was having Step on the Stage moments, I never realized that I was preparing a unique skill for entrepreneurship. When you’re building a company or a brand, there are many moments when you have to choose to step forward into something unknown and exciting, prepared or not, and in retrospect I am incredibly grateful that I was able to develop that muscle so fully while I was using my other muscles in a very different way.

Genevieve, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Throughout my years as a professional ballet dancer, Tutu School became a dream of mine. In that dream I envisioned a quaint boutique of a ballet school that would provide a creative dance education experience for children, and a place where students would be urged to fully exercise their imaginations as well as their bodies.

Today, I am proud to say that my dream has been realized in each and every one of our Tutu Schools, all independently owned by lovingly chosen directors, and all boasting exceptional teachers and a carefully crafted curriculum. With a hyper focus on a magical introduction to ballet, we serve students 18 months to 8 years old, and we currently have 87 Tutu Schools open or in the process of opening across the country and in Canada (and soon the UK).

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I think it’s incredibly important to take care of your company culture. At Tutu School that means nurturing a complex ecosystem of relationships between the families we serve, the teachers we oversee, and the Tutu School owners (franchisees) we support.

To make sure we’re all on the same page about our core values, we not only have a Statement of Mission and Identity, we also have a set of Tutu Principles that we try to keep at the hear of everything we do:

keep moving.
KEEP DANCING. KEEP TWIRLING. KEEP GOING.
MOMENTUM DOESN’T GENERATE ITSELF.

exceed expectations.
TUTU SCHOOL FAMILIES HAVE HIGH
STANDARDS. WE WANT TO LEAP OVER THEM.

mistakes happen.
OWN THEM. UNDERSTAND THEM. GROW
FROM THEM.

remember why.
TUTU SCHOOL EXISTS TO MAKE SPACE IN
THE WORLD FOR CREATIVITY AND JOY.

find the magic.
ALWAYS. IN EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I have been incredibly fortunate to find a group of like-minded founders and CEO’s with whom I meet bi-weekly (and turn to for advice and moral support at regular intervals in between). Our group formed – thanks to the brilliant idea of the two of our members who connected us – during the pandemic, and we’re now a permanent, ongoing and self-sustaining mastermind.

If I could give every entrepreneur a gift, it would be a micro community like ours. There’s so much about entrepreneurship that is lonely, and having a group I can turn to for support, motivation, and real-time strategy has been a game changer for me – both tactically, and honestly, spiritually. It’s hard to manufacture that kind of connection and chemistry among business peers (again, my group really lucked out), but I highly recommend that other founders and CEO’s try to form those kinds of connections however they can. I don’t think you’ll ever regret seeking out thought partnership and support.

Contact Info:

• Website: tutuschool.com
• Instagram: @tutuschool and @tutugenevieve
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TutuSchool/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/genevieve-custer-weeks-9b8a5336/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@tutuschool120

Image Credits
Andrew Weeks (all photos)