We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Linda Wade a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Linda, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I joined a prison ministry team in 1995 as a dancer and went to the Texas women’s prison where I danced on Deathrow, general population, and protective custody. There, I would ask the ladies how they ended up here, not about what they did but how they ended up in prison and most of them shared about what happened to them as a child or making wrong decisions as young adults. So for the next 5 years, I would fly back and forth from Milwaukee to Texas ministering to the ladies in Texas, I was asking the Lord what I should do and how I could stop our children in Milwaukee from ending up in prison and I was in the airplane over the clouds when we got our named called “Above The Clouds”. Fast forward, we have been providing our free arts education classes for children ages 5-17 for over 22 years, and 2 years ago, we now have Above The Clouds Texas in three locations. All of our classes are held in the city’s worst neighborhoods in Milwaukee and Texas. We provide everything a child needs to study their choice of art, from ballet shoes to marital arts gees. Our classes are: beginning ballet, ballet level 1-pointe, drama, modern dance, jazz, cheer, martial arts, piano, etc. We also hire former students to teach some of our classes. Children need to move to activate the brain. And the brain responds in full force allowing them to move in a variety of ways including crossing the mid-lines. Through movement, children learn about their bodies, the space around them, and each other. Creative movement activities should encourage all children to participate. Both boys and girls enjoy these classes. Most families can not afford to take their children to an arts program because of financial restraints, locations, or opportunities.

I am excited to see how we will continue to grow.

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

Above The Clouds provides free classes for children ages 5-17 in but not limited to: beginning ballet, ballet level 1-pointe, hip hop, modern dance, martial arts, theatre, etc. We provide them everything they need from ballet shoes to martial arts uniforms so that no child feels left out.

Through movement, children learn about their bodies, the space around them, and each other. Creative movement activities should encourage all children to participate. Both boys and girls enjoy these classes. All children can benefit, including children with communication, sensory, developmental, or physical challenges.

Special Class: this year, we started a special drama class called “Acting It Out”. This class will serve children dealing with depression, anxiety, and other behavior issues. This class is taught by drama teachers with degrees in Theatre but also in Human Behavior and Psychology along with a Psychotherapist who will be meeting with students during each session. This is especially needed during these challenging times.

We are excited to see how children develop into their choice of medium as well as how they get to interact with children who may not look like them or come from their neighborhood. Our program is geared to give the children an opportunity to experience the world of art in a whole new way.

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

I spent most of my life in and out of hospitals with different levels of illness from my heart to lungs. I was told that I would not be able to do much and only graduated from HS with a 1.6 and I think that most of the teachers felt sorry for me:)

Because of this I never went to college and did try to go to a technical school to but ended up missing a lot because of my health. So, to be a President of an amazing organization and to be able to encourage children that no matter what happens in their lives, they can still achieve their dreams is awesome.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I met our co-founder Barbara Melsheimer at a church I was attending. I would hear this beautiful sound from her as she sang and wanted to know more about her. I started to teach dance at that same church and she joined the dance ministry and we became friends ever since. She was the one person that the Lord showed me to be our co-founder because of her background in accounting as we as her integrity and strong moral convictions. She is an asset to us.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.abovethecloudsmilwaukee.com/home.html
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abovethecloudsmke/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abovethecloudsmilwaukee
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-lamar-wade-parcho-402ba87/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ATCMilw
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@abovethecloudsmke