We recently connected with Kerry Wee and have shared our conversation below.

Kerry, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Risk taking has been at the forefront recently because my family has just embarked on a huge change. After living in Los Angeles for twenty-four years, we’ve left a robust community for one where we know no one. The decision was tough. Do we stay where we’re comfortable and miss out on a great economic opportunity or do we jump into the unknown?

My family has a common story, especially after the pandemic. I’m currently sitting on a box in my empty living room in San Antonio, TX reflecting on this decision.

Take the worthy risk and then take it a step at a time. If it feels impossibly daunting, don’t worry, you don’t need to be born with it. It’s a skill that you can train. Expand your tolerance for risk taking by taking small ones and each time, it will feel less intimidating. Of course some personalities have a proclivity towards it, but just like anything else that you build muscles for, practice and train so that you can flex when it comes time.

Kerry, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I was a commercial dancer for twenty years where I performed for Taylor Swift, Shakira, Motley Crue & more, represented by Bloc Talent Agency. I spent almost a decade teaching at Womack & Bowman The LOFT in Los Angeles. Currently, I’ve joined a new community at The Aerium in San Antonio, TX. My online platform is Wrap Your Head Around Silks where I teach students everywhere in the world with digital courses and I also have a niche podcast The Expecting Aerialist where we discuss motherhood, aerial and how to do both at the same time. I’m a mom of five year old Bean and partnered with musician/producer Asa Watkins.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I’ll answer in three parts:

Perfection is the enemy of DONE. Put your hairsplitting and insecurities in a little box to the side just long enough to draft it and hit “post.”

If I like my art, it goes out. I don’t need anyone else’s approval because I put my preferences first when posting daily. If you don’t trust your taste yet, work on curating what you like. Influencers are curators. People follow us because they are intrigued in someway about the story we are telling.

I marry it with taking in feedback from a 10,000 foot level by asking myself, what value are people getting from my posts? Answer that and it’ll help you further specify what you’re offering. I have an aerial silks focused instagram but so do a lot of folks. I’ve learned that people specifically tune in to hear me teach. So I swiveled just a degree to give them what they want and now my numbers are up.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Dance is a younger person’s sport and isn’t something that you can make money doing forever. My first pivots weren’t drastic. I got fitness certifications and started aerial silks which I consider dancing, only it’s in the air. I started a digital brand that sells online courses, then wrote a book and started a podcast on aerial. Everything in the same vein as my first career but suddenly, now I’m a writer, marketer & interviewer, which are skills that are universal.

My strategy is to explode my skill set while staying in my lane. As I figured out how to sell courses, I learned digital marketing, website design & sales. I’m now proficient at email automation & content writing. I produce multiple podcasts and as an employee, I watched my bosses run a successful brick & mortar aerial studio in Los Angeles for a decade. You betcha that I paid attention, asked questions and now have a budding skill set for that.

Whatever your field, keep your eyes and ears open. Learn at every turn and never stop building skills.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.wrapyourheadaroundsilks.com
• Instagram: @kerrywee1

Image Credits

JC Argetsinger Photos