Interview with Genevieve Custer Weeks, Founder and CEO at Tutu School Franchises

UNBOSSED

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Interview with Genevieve Custer Weeks, Founder and CEO at Tutu School Franchises

Brought to you by The Chicago Woman's Club

Marina

Sep 14, 2021

Wepa! I'm Marina. I am a technologist, mom, podcast host, leadership coach, cruciverbalist and aquarian. ;)

UNBOSSED is “Stories of Amazing Women in Chicago”.

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In this episode:

I interviewed Genevieve Custer Weeks, Founder and CEO at Tutu School Franchises.Genevieve was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. She received her early ballet training there, and took part in her first dance productions in the middle of her parents' living room.

At the age of fifteen, Genevieve moved to Chicago to study at the School of Ballet Chicago, and that same year became a founding member of the Ballet Chicago Studio Company. In addition, Genevieve supplemented her training with study at the San Francisco Ballet School, American Ballet Theatre, and with Suzanne Farrell at The Kennedy Center.

A contract with the Oakland Ballet brought Genevieve to the San Francisco Bay Area. Beginning in 2006, Genevieve began performing as a freelance artist, dancing principal and soloist roles throughout North America, and started dreaming of opening her own boutique school that would celebrate the things she loved most about ballet. During a break in her performance schedule, Genevieve's husband, Andrew, finally asked, "Why wait?" and Tutu School was born.

Since the founding of that first initial studio, Tutu School has grown into a collection of more than forty boutique ballet schools all over the US and Canada, and Genevieve – who retired from performing in 2012 – now divides her time between Tutu School and her life with Andrew, a photographer, and their three adorable kids.

Key Highlights/Tools:

How to persevere in hard times
Performance career is a form of entrepreneurialism
Share ideas with the right audience, one that will cultivate them not destroy them
Bellet needs more diversity
How to franchise your business

Timestamp:

0:00 Introductions

2:00 Genevieve’s Background and Perseverance

8:00 Performance career is a form of entrepreneurialism

9:00 Starting Tutu School

15:00 Diversity in ballet and Tutu School

24:00 “Step on a stage moment”

30:00 Think about franchising and growth first

40:00 How to franchise your business

41:00 Licensing vs Franchising

Memorable Quotes:

There is a transformative power to putting people in a space with music

Useful Links and Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/genevieve-custer-weeks-9b8a5336/
https://www.tutuschool.com/chicago

Join the Conversation

Our favorite part of recording a live podcast each week is participating in the great conversations that happen on our live chat, on social media, and in our comments section.

This week's question is: What challenges have you faced as a woman founder?

Ask Genevieve anything by leaving a question/ comment on Substack.