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

Laurel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Earning a full time living from my creative work is something I am very fortunate to do. I love going to work and hearing about my students days, spending time with my co-workers, keeping up with students and their siblings and what is going on in their lives.

It’s so nice to have a job that makes you feel appreciated, I am thankful every day for that!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

First and foremost, I am a competitive dance teacher. I work with with children as young as 2 years old and educate them in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical and acrobatics.

I grew up as a competitive dancers myself and love to watch my students grow, learn, achieve goals, hit milestones and so much more.

During Covid my home became my classroom and my students and their families became my weekly company! We would dance, looks at each others pets, tells stories from our weekly Covid experiences …but mostly hold each other up and together!

Celebrating become hard and we made it through with virtual birthday wishes and drive by parties and at the time one of my students parents was looking for a balloon garland to help her celebrate.

Having never blown up a balloon in my life, my mother suggested that I offer to give the project a go and help this child celebrate. I have it my best shot…

To my surprise, 3 years later and I have started and successfully kept up with a wonderful little balloon business! BalloonBuddies3

Now not only am I bringing joy to dancers in the class room but I managed to find another way to brighten peoples day, even just a little bit.

I studied, practiced, reworked and dedicated myself to this new craft, much like a dancer in the studio.

I truly believe it is my love for the arts, the disciplines instilled in me as a young dancer myself, that gives me the drive to keep this business alive and spend my time out of the studio working on something else that also has meaning and purpose.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is the joy and smiles I get to see my art bring to someone else.

From a 2 year old who learned to skip for the first time, a young acrobats first back handspring, the smile of a student when they receive their first trophy. It’s being a part of someone’s journey and knowing you will be a part of their memories and history.

The same can be said for my balloons. I started them at a time when our nation was fighting a pandemic. People were down and out and frustrated, the things I created gave them a little piece of normalcy during their not so normal celebration. And now with the pandemic being over I get to help celebrate: new life with gender reveals and birth announcements, graceful aging, engagements, weddings and sometimes some good old fashioned “just because” balloons!

Both of my jobs are truly a gift.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media has played a giant role in my creative jobs!

Not only am I able to share the successes of my students, educational information, awards, etc. but I am also able to learn from so many other teachers and artists who are willing to share their own experience online.

My balloon business also grew with great thanks to social media! I had so many wonderful friends, family and dance parents and students willing to share my work and support me! I studied other balloon artists, made sure to like and follow similar content so that I could help grow my own audience and always tag and share other venders who I work with at events! There is plenty of room for us all to find success!

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.balloonbuddies3.com
• Instagram: @balloonbuddies3
• Facebook: @balloonbuddies3