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

Shirel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

I started my business two years into motherhood. I was just 25 at the time. Career wise, I was working less that 10 hours a week teaching ballet to elementary aged kids and dabbling in creating Dance for the Camera videos.

Life-wise, I was a new mom and wife who spent most of her time at home.

Starting my business sooner, I am sure would have been a nightmare. I had no experience with children beyond teaching an hour long Ballet class. The lessons that I learn spending so much time and energy with my own toddler really informed my teaching. It was invaluable. Looking back I would have trusted my gut more and leaned into my natural talents. I might have picked up a book on early childhood development much sooner but my start time was exactly what I needed. I grew up in and with my business.

Shirel, 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 born in Trinidad, raised in Brooklyn, and trained in classical ballet and modern dance. Teaching younger dancers came naturally to me and after having my daughter I was inspired to create Lil’ Dumplins. Lil Dumplins is an early arts program designed to teach ballet through play. While developing Lil’ Dumplins, I started to work as a Teaching Artist for Living Arts’ Wolftrap program. I collaborated with Head Start teachers to create and lead arts’ integrated lessons. This was the most invaluable learning experience in my career to date! Working at the Head Start Centers inspired me to create a short dance tutorial. I wanted to share the joy of learning ballet through play in a way that was going to be accessible and represent a population of people who aren’t seen often in the classical Ballet space. Then when faced with the global pandemic, I taught Lil’ Dumplins’ classes virtually. I jumped into creating original content to engage young virtual learners. This inspired me to be more curious about how I can produce Dance TV.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In my work, the success of the experience depends of the connection I make with preschoolers.

In my early days, I was invited to teach in a space that a lot of families already frequented. I was really excited to get in front of a large group and thought my natural talents would shine. The class flopped and I was devastated. I truly wanted to quit that day. My sister was with me, saw the whole debacle and encouraged me to keep going.

Over the next couple weeks no more than 3 or 4 families showed up. It was an early lesson on being prepared for success and one that I remember when I feel like I should be further along.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Busyness is equivalent to success. I had to unlearn thinking just because my schedule was full, it meant I was successful.

I started feeling successful when my program was running at 5+ different locations a week. I was serving so many families but I quickly realized- I was running on a treadmill. I could not work on the business because I was so busy working inside of it. I had to make room to figure out what was most important to advance towards my goals.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lildumplins.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/lildumplins
• Facebook: Facebook.com/lildumplins
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoJi2RiwmIVTYtnrKdqMckA

Image Credits
Erin Goodrich