Interested in starting your own journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Dawn Reese, CEO of The Wooden Floor, located in Santa Ana, CA, USA.

What's your organization, and who are your members?

Founded in 1983, The Wooden Floor is taking an innovative approach to youth development as we inspire and transform the lives of young people through the power of dance and access to higher education. In Orange County and through our nationally licensed partners, we use a long-term approach grounded in exploratory dance education strategically integrated with academics, college and career readiness, as well as family services. Our goal is to foster the resources within each child to innovate, communicate, and collaborate – skills necessary for success in school and life. Since 2005, 100 percent of students who graduate from The Wooden Floor immediately enroll in higher education. I believe our students will become change agents and beacons of hope within their own families, neighborhoods, communities, and world.

For our students, The Wooden Floor becomes a second home for up to 10 years, from 3rd-12th grade. We get the privilege to help each student, and their parents navigate the transitions between elementary, middle, high school, and college. Because of the long-term relationships we foster, they become like family members to us. We care deeply about them and any challenges they may face due to socioeconomic hardships. We are here for them when they need us.

Tell us about yourself

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in Psychology from California State University, Long Beach, I had planned to return to college to become a teacher and eventually a school principal. However, shortly after graduation, I began working for a management consulting firm in the technology sector. Over the next 10 years, I remained with the company and built my business acumen in finance, human resources, business development, and marketing. Additionally, during this time, I founded a technology trade association where I served as its Executive Director. I volunteered and served on the Board of Directors for a symphony in K-12 education initiatives and children's health service, which led me to today as a "mission-driven, business-minded" nonprofit leader and directly to the work I do at The Wooden Floor.

At The Wooden Floor, I love the work I do with the people I get to work with and in service for. What is more important than moving young people forward in school and life? There is no better time for me than 4:00 pm when the gates of our campus swing open, and the children arrive. From where my office sits, I have a direct vantage point to see the coming and goings of our students. Backpacks swing off, and students begin to do their homework at the tables in the courtyard before dance classes or tutoring sessions. Parents arrive to bring snacks for their children or to volunteer. One of my favorite parts of my day is to go out to greet them and say hello or peek inside the studio when they are taking classes. I like to ask them how they are doing with their schoolwork, friends, and in general, to provide them with encouragement.

Upon recent reflection, I realized that through my work at The Wooden Floor that my early goals for myself have come full circle. I am actually similar in many ways to a teacher and a principal for the young people and their families that we serve each and every day! Lifting children out of poverty to achieve their full potential has become my life's purpose.

What's your biggest accomplishment as an organization?

Celebrating my 14th Anniversary on January 1, 2023, I have led two major 10-Year Strategic Vision efforts resulting in scaling our impact both locally with the second location in Santa Ana to serve 100 more students, now totaling nearly 500, and nationally through a licensed partnership program to scale The Wooden Floor's creative youth development model to other nonprofits across the nation. We did this through two innovative approaches: For local growth, we partnered with an affordable housing developer who built a 4,500 sf. space for us free of charge and with no monthly rent within a 1-mile radius of our current 21,000-sf. campus location, and in reciprocity, we provide the residents of the affordable housing community with academic tutoring, college and career readiness services, and parent workshops. For national growth, we created a licensed partnership model and federally copyrighted our Theory of Change and programmatic model/curriculum. Unlike a franchise, partners run as independent nonprofit organizations that provide their own governance, fundraising, and program management for the entity. We require our licensees to implement our Theory of Change in full, with dance as the center of student transformation. However, we give them the opportunity to adapt our curriculum to meet the needs of the community of students and families they serve.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

One of the hardest things that comes with being a Chief Executive Officer is making decisions during difficult or uncertain times, especially during the pandemic. While I enjoy the decision-making process, in the early days of the pandemic, decision-making was at a rapid-fire pace. As a servant leader, I strive to be thoughtful about my decisions and lead through empathy and understanding how my decisions will impact our students, staff, and supporters. I do this by keeping focused on the values of The Wooden Floor: Respect, Excellence, Community, and Stewardship, which guide me to make the best decisions possible for the organization at all times.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

To grow a business, including nonprofit organizations, I focus on three things:

  1. Growth Management: Ensure you are not growing just for growth's sake. Create an evaluation process to take opportunities through a filter, and ensure they are tied to your long-term strategy. Opportunities are often presented to CEOs but are they the right opportunity and at the right time for your company? Be diligent in the evaluation process.
  2. Culture Management: As you grow, ensure that your culture grows with you. Spend time with your team to create culture and mission alignment so that your culture transfers and sustains throughout the new growing entity.
  3. Cash Management:  "Cash is King," and when you grow, ensure that you have enough cash on hand to not only grow into a larger entity but have the funds to sustain the same quality of service delivery that you are known for and offset the natural fluctuations that are created with increased resources required to run the new entity staffing and infrastructure. If your quality diminishes with growth, your customer base and staff culture may erode.

Where can people find you and your group?

Website: https://thewoodenfloor.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheWoodenFloor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewoodenfloor/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnsreese/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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