I took my first dance fitness class in 2016 when another instructor pulled me to the front of the room and refused to let me hide in the back. I never left :)

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That instructor became my mentor. I started teaching alongside her at the YMCA and discovered something I hadn't expected. Turns out I was made for this. Not just the dancing, but creating that moment of connection when a room full of strangers stops being strangers.

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I got my Zumba certification in 2019 and hit the ground running but then a pandemic hit instead.

2020 could have ended it. Instead it pushed me outside. Literally. Virtual classes on screens, outdoor classes in parks, wherever people needed to move and connect. By 2021 my downtown Toronto classes had a waitlist so long that I started running 2 sessions on the same day.

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That's when I knew this wasn't just a hobby anymore.

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Alongside that journey, I spent years training in dance. Bollywood Dance School Canada. Toronto Reggaeton. Professional dance training is what makes my classes easy to follow and keeps my choreos spicy.

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Ten years later: waitlisted classes, a Star Readers' Choice Award for Best Zumba in Toronto, and a community of people who started as students and became some of my closest friends. I've mentored 4 other instructors who once joined my classes as a student.

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The instructor who pulled me to the front of that room changed my life. Now I get to do the same thing for someone else in every single one of my classes.