We were lucky to catch up with Jelena Drcelic Yowell recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jelena, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.
First student always leaves big impression on business and on Professors too. My ballet first student was Evelyn Hahn . I can never forget the most beautiful little princess with beautiful blue eyes running to me to give me a hug. Her Dad took her for a pizza which was place right next to our studio where I started teaching ballet and they sow my add on the door and came in. I was alone in studio she was my first ballet student . Evelyn dances Ballet with me for the past 10 years she didn’t stopped since day one . She is simply like my daughter and I am sir or proud of her and how amazing and beautiful young women she became. I really truly love her and I don’t know how we will continue ballet without her it’s going to be super hard .
My first piano student was super cute little girl that stopped me in our Saint Sava Church and asked me to teach her piano and she was only 6 years old and her name is Katarina . I can never forget we played on little piano in my house and now we have studio with 6 pianos . Katarina played piano for 4 years with me after being day one piano student .
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
As little 2 year old girl I used to go on my Moms high heels pretending that I am dancing on pointe shoes . When I was 3.5 I signed myself to the Music school . My brother was going to school and I wanted to go but I was too little . So while we played outside one of my friends was passing by going with her Mom to the Music School to sign up so I went with them and pass audition and signed up to go to Music School. When I got home I told my Mom that I am student of Music School and that she needs to give me money to pay fee of signing up and my Mom pass out in shock lol
So imagine from that type of child which kind of human will grow
I have 5 Bachelor degrees and I have specialized in Ballet and Piano on two languages Serbian and English . I have been teaching piano since I was 12 years old and ballet since I was 14 and now I am 51 years old proud owner of European Ballet and Piano School in Phoenix . EBPS operates since 2013 and its mainly focuses on students brain development throughout music or dance . We are family oriented business where everyone is taking care of each other as we are one big family.
EBPS distinguish itself from others by Curriculum that we offer . We are focusing on development of entire human being.
Ballet classes consist of Brain and Focus games , stretching , Barre, choreographies , Gym workout that we have on site, Classical Ballet , Pointe Shoes , Classical dance and at the end of each class we have Nutrition where we learn how to stay healthy and how to eat healthy eating fresh fruits and veggies every class .
Piano classes consist of Music Theory , Solfeggio and Piano . We go trough all 3 American Methods of Music Education plus European Method of Music Education to where studnets plays some of the most famous European composers of all times . Our piano students also learn how to compose and create their own music
Our piano curriculum is also created to help and heal any type of disorders so some of the parents find our piano lesson as a therapy for their child . We have students that doctors claim are super sick but they perform perfectly Ballet or Piano without making any mistakes and without any signs of sickness
Our main goal is to help everyone develop throughout music or dance while they have fun doing it which we have every class
Love that we have for each other and connection between teacher and student makes EBPS The Best School in Phoenix 2025 which we received this year.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Life have challenged me so much that I have bunch of stories that shows my resilience .
I have survived The War , moved to different continent and left all my life with all my friends and family , started new life with just one personal luggage and without even knowing language of new country , studied and finished as Summa Cum Laude student 4.0 GPA two universities on English that’s not even my language , got married for crazy man who used to slap me and I still survived , I lived 28 years in Serbia and moved to New Jersey and than lived there 10 years and again moved to Phoenix , started life from beginning 3 times , my brother died in the worst tragic accident and I my heart was totally broken and I was devastated. But nothing that I have listed you ,and this is just little part of my life , didn’t stopped me in my life and my goals . I was resilient on every challenge that life gave me and survived and I am still very happy positive and enthusiastic human .
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Funds to open business are always hard to find . I can never forget that 2013 when I have opened EBPS . I had just 250 dollars and I bought piano for 200 and started teaching in my living room of my house . I still remember that everyone was laughing at me what I am imagining that I will grow business from one piano . How the time went buy I got more students so I was able to save money and buy another piano .
Now after 13 years of EBPS operating we have beautiful studio with 3 Grand Pianos , 1 upright piano, 2 electrical piano and 2 keyboards .
So saving money from student lessons gave me capital and funds to develop my business .
Contact Info:
- Website: www. europeanballetandpianoschool.com
- Instagram: european_piano_ballet_school
- Facebook: European Ballet and Piano School
- Youtube: European Ballet and Piano School
