My name is Lindsay … I grew up in Woodstock Illinois … but now I’ve been in Chicago for the past seven years … I would definitely describe my childhood as very full … I felt like my parents wanted to give my brother and I as many opportunities as they could … I feel sports … were pretty big in my family … Both my parents did some kind of sports through high school … and some  college … so … my brother and I were always running around outside … doing different sports … playing different activities …  I felt like family time was also very important … my parents made sure that every day … we would always have dinner together … as a family … that was a big … value … of theirs … We carried that on … even through high school … where we would come together for a meal … just to see each other … and talk about the day … I would definitely say … that I was very theatrical when I was younger … In preschool … when they had the preschool pageant … I was the MC for that … There’s video of me grabbing the mic … to introduce the show … and me going … arranging people … I think I always had a flare for the dramatic … and I liked being on stage … I liked performing … So … I did that a little bit when I was a kid … In seventh grade … I did the school musical … and was cast as the heroine … of the play … In high school … I didn’t really do much with the arts … I did choir … but did a lot with sports … It wasn’t till after college that I got more involved with the arts … first through Second City doing acting and improve … and then getting involved with dance … I think the transformation from high school to college was a time of self discovery … and exploration … Growing up in Woodstock … I definitely think that I was sheltered … in some ways … with some of the best intentions … Going off to college … I was exposed to a lot more … I had the opportunity to get to know myself better … figure out my interests … figure out what I like … explore things … that I was curious about … When I first got on campus … I was really big into activism … So I joined the socialist organization on campus … and became involved in different social … political … justice issues … The Palestinian Israeli conflict … I got on a bus to Washington DC … to do … the protest for equal marriage in 2010 … I got very involved on campus that way … and then getting involved in the radio station … as I started to pursue my undergrad … which was broadcast journalism … I originally thought I wanted to be foreign corespondent … so I was able to be part of a program my senior year … where we traveled to Turkey … we spent a semester studying Turkey … everything about the country … the culture … the political environment … and then we were formulating our story that we were going to report … while we were there … and then we had the opportunity to go there for about two and a half weeks … to interview … different people there … film … and sort of create this self contained thirty minute documentary … Where did I go to college? … I had applied to U of I (University of Illinois) … and I had applied to some other schools that are out of state … but … I got into U of I … and it was a great school … and also it being in state … with instate tuition … it just seemed like it would be the best fit … I knew that … I wanted to be at a larger campus … I didn’t want to go to a smaller college … having come from a town of maybe twenty-five thousand … I wanted a bigger campus experience … I think U of I is about forty thousand undergrad … and they still have their graduate school … so that really appealed to me … just the shear numbers … and being able to be a part of a Big Ten school … That was kind of an exciting experience to have … I definitely think that every move I made … got me to where I am here … I’m grateful to to where I am now … and I don’t necessarily think I would have gotten here had I decided to take a different route … So … with journalism … that eventually got me … the fellowship at PBS … where I made some connections … and then I ended up reporting for a car magazine … for three years … a very different experience … and then finally realized … while I was there that … one thing I’d always loved doing was working with children … and I’d done that … probably since seventh grade … when I started babysitting … being a camp counselor … a lifeguard … so … It made me realize that I wanted to change gears and go back into education … I’m glad that I had these other experiences … before going straight into education … I think it’s helped give me some more life experience … and perspective … going into the field … now that I’ve picked that … I feel grounded … in choosing that path of education … and not wondering … what if I had tried to pursue something else … The study abroad was my junior year … That was something I always … I knew I wanted to do … My family was always very big on travel … and being able to take those experiences … to immerse yourself in another culture … both my grandparents … on my dads side … had immigrated … my grandfather was from Slovakia … and my grandmother was from England … and when they came to the US … my grandfather had a series of jobs … and one of them was working with an airline … Sabina … which eventually … is no longer around today … but he was a travel agent for them … and when that ended … he started his own business … specializing in African safaris … that he would plan … and he would take people on them … So he and my grandmother got to see many different countries … around the world … I feel that they passed that along to my dad … and my dad definitely passed that on to my brother and I … So … in college … I always knew I wanted to have an experience living in another country … I had been taking French … and I loved the language …  and I liked the culture … so … I decided to study abroad there … and do the home stay option … I think France is a beautiful country … I choose to be in the south … instead of Paris … so that I could have more of an authentic experience … of assimilating with an actual French family … to try and … not … hang on to my American cohorts … and use them as a crutch … I wanted to be able to branch off … And I was an au pair while I was there … I had just always loved working with kids … In high school I actually nannied for a family that lived just down the street from me … they had four little girls … so I would watch them full time over the summer … from 8:30 to 5:00 … I did that throughout high school … I was a lifeguard and taught swim lessons to kids … And in college one summer … I worked as a camp counselor … in North Carolina … where kids came and lived in cabins … It was very remote … they really wanted to give an authentic experience … like off the grid … so there was no electronics … no tv … no cell phones … anything like that … I had six year olds live with me for a week … I had six eight year olds live with me for three weeks … and then I had six thirteen year olds live with me for five weeks … So then all that experience … made me marketable to be an au pair … I was able to link up with this French family … to stay the summer … to watch their kids … The end of my junior year was when I was in France … The end of my senior year was when I went to Turkey … After I came back from Turkey … that was when I created this documentary … When I was in Turkey … there was a reporter … and he was from PBS … who was a correspondent … shooting a story on Syrian refugees … it was just in the first year of the Syrian civil war … and so he actually asked me if I would go with him into the camp … as his producer … and also … due to some of the religious customs … some of the woman … who were in mourning … would not be able to speak with a man … so I was able to conduct the interviews with them … I worked with him on this piece … so when we came back to Chicago … and we gave them our documentary … they actually ran our student documentary … and then I went on the show with him … and Phil Ponce … to talk about the experience … and that’s when they told me about this fellowship program … and I began the fellowship there … I did the fellowship for one year … and after that … they actually renewed my contract … several times … After the third time … I said … “You know what … I actually need a salary … and I need benefits” … It was just a stipend that was offered with the fellowship … I told them I needed to look for something that was full time … and they understood … One of my girlfriends from college … she was working for this small … start up company … that bought and sold used vehicles … used cars … and she said … “Hey … We’re looking for a lifestyle writer … Would you be interested?” … It was up in Highland park … which allowed me to still be in Chicago … So I took that job … and I ended up working there for three years … Then it was during those three years that I started … in my free time … getting more active in dancing … then eventually getting to the point were I decided I needed to change careers … so when I did … I went through a program where I got my masters … in a year … while also training at a school for a year … It was a heck of a year … it was very intense … but I liked that not only was I getting the theoretical side … with my graduate courses at De Paul … but I was also getting real life experience … being in a classroom Monday through Thursday … with a mentor teacher … I then taught for two years at a school called Chalmers in north Lawndale … I taught first grade there for two years … and then … it was just this past spring … that the school where I trained at during my residency … said … “Hey … we have a second grade position open … we’d love to bring you back if you’re interested” … I accepted … and now I’m teaching second grade there … How did I get into the dance company I’m in now? … Going into dance … I was first inspired my cousin Lindsay … who … was doing different styles of dance … and doing burlesque … I visited her … back when I was still a journalist … she lived in Colorado … and I got to experience a show with her … I thought it was just a very empowering performance … When I got back to Chicago I decided to sign up for classes … it was just a really beautiful thing … I always loved music and moving … but this was a nice way for me to learn some techniques … but also I loved the part of burlesque that was … self empowerment … it definitely helped me love my body on a deeper level as well … I always liked the theatrics of it … creating your character … and the song and dance tells a story … I did that for a while until I got to the point … where … it just wasn’t a good fit for me anymore … and that’s when I moved into Latin dancing … Just fell in love with the music … and fell in love with the style of dance … and made a lot of wonderful friends … joined teams … With these teams … I still got that performance aspect … that I’ve always really liked … whether I’m performing on a volleyball court … or a Second City stage … or a dance stage … I like those high … adrenaline moments … I have a weekly practice … so I have two teams that I’m on … and both teams practice once a week … That’s the minimum that I do … and then typically … outside of those practices at least once a week … my partner and I try to get together for extra practice … and sometimes I’ll get together … with my ladies team to do extra practice … On top of that … you always have social events … Saturday night there might be an event going on … and going and getting to social dance with people is always fun … Anywhere between two and four times a week … I would say I’m doing something dance related … Our team has traveled for some performances … we recently traveled to Indianapolis … And before that … we did go to Phoenix … for a festival there … There’s different festivals that take place around the US … There’s one that happens in Miami in April … There’s also international ones as well … We haven’t yet discussed … going to an international congress yet … and getting to perform … I think … there’s talk about us going to Miami in April … I’ve been been involved with Latin dancing for about three years … and I feel within the Latin dancing … it’s a very safe and supportive community … and I feel like that is something I really appreciate … The community really does come together to make sure … that all dancers feel safe … I know at certain socials … there might be instances where … woman have reported that men … if they’re being too rough … or being too aggressive … or unwanted advances … just in social dancing … I feel that is something that has a lot more awareness now … and men will be the first to jump in and tell a guy that he’s got to go … that he’s not welcome in this dance space … if you’re doing something inappropriate or cross a line … I feel in that way … perhaps there’s been a shift … but since I’ve only been involved for the past three years … I can’t really speak … of how it was … before … but I think there is this awareness in the community … I use social media … Right now … it’s just personal … it’s just honestly for fun … I will use it to share when we have a performance coming up … or an event … I use it as a way to promote … I’m also now … a little more conscientious about what I put on social media … being a teacher … I feel like there’s also a certain level of scrutiny … that I am subjected to … I’m still trying to find the balance of how much dance do I share … how much do I not … In the short term … I definitely see myself being in Chicago … I love being in the city … I absolutely love teaching … I love my kid-o’s … I definitely still see myself teaching in the Chicago public schools for the next several years … and also continuing to learn and grow as a performer … I love the dance community … I feel very grateful to have sort of found a second family … within the Latin dance community … I look forward to continuing my growth … with the team … and as an individual performer …