Nurturing Young Hearts: Lori's Passion for Arts Education

You want me to bust out in song? Yeah, that, that might be cool. We never had that happened yet. That'll help me.

That'll be great. I'm much better at singing than talking. What song would it be? Oh man. If I had, I mean, I sing so many kids songs now that it's like, I don't even, it's so funny because my family. I'm always like, I always would sing a Whitney Houston song around the house. And the kids, my personal kids make so much fun of me.

They're like, mom, you're so outdated. You're so, that's what the comment is. You're so outdated. They don't even really appreciate Whitney. How do you not know Whitney Houston? Oh, of course. She's, multi-generational. Yeah, yeah. But we were talking about the innocence of kids and this little girl, she's four and she was sitting on my lap and she was looking at me and she was like, rubbing my hair.

And I'm like, in my mind I'm thinking, oh, she thinks my hair is pretty and, like, she's looking at me. So with such admire, and then she just so innocently says. Why is your hair? Ow. She really wanted to know why I would choose yellow as the color to make my hair. So you cannot have too much pride when you work with kids all day, every day because they are going to just be so honored.

Why are you wearing that? What are you doing? Yeah, they're just very honest. Yeah. Well, yeah, like one of the students Monday said, What's it like to own a hair salon and not have any hair? Okay. That's actually genius and smart. It fits, of course. It's the obvious. And not only that, I don't even know how to cut hair, so it was twice as of course.

I mean, that's a great question then. I'm sure adults want to ask, of course, but don't have the guts. Right? And its so, I it's top of mind. Yeah. It's right there on their minds. Yeah. And they just purely want to know. I love it. I love that innocence. Yeah. They were pure, I, in fact, one of them was so inquisitive, so curious.

Like he, he was asking these questions and he was just ra I think they kind of coached them to learn about the business or learn about it. Yeah. But he was intently curious and asking me so many questions that it's, and not even rehearsed, just like natural curiosity. Like where did the name Robert of Philadelphia come from?

Where did, where? Did you ever really try to do a haircut? And if you did, what was it like? And I never have did, did you? I'd never been asked that question. I never, I never made it that far in beauty school. I actually dropped out before we got to haircutting. No joke. My father was, they're haircut. The basic, the thing.

Right. They started us with perms for some odd reason many years ago, which they, they're coming back. They are. I they're coming back. It took a little while, but they're back. Yeah. Right. The boys want them know. The boys want with their look mullets. Yep. I put the little curl on top of this mullet look.

Yeah. That's the thing. Patrick Mahomes, thank you. Yes, yes. All the boys. Yeah, I know. All the girls that work here, their sons are asking them if they'll perm their hair and the mom's are like, no, you're not getting a perm. No, you're not doing that. No. Oh my gosh. From the eighties, we would have perms and they would steam skin.

They the smelly perms. Yeah. Yeah. And you'd get 'em in your kitchen. Yeah. Like in my kitchen, my mom would wrap. My eyes would be be like tight. Yeah. It was not good. Those chemicals. Wow. Yeah. Not good at the other salon. Before we had moved here, we were on 13th Avenue South and my father had a shower built into the salon when they did the bathroom four spiral perms, which was that long pair of perm that the woman could just get in the shower to rinse the perm because of the mess.

Yeah. And the stinkiness of this perm. No, that was nasty. Yeah. Well, and the comeback. So, that's your whole world is kids. You're just all with It's my life. It's your life. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I went to a performing arts school growing up and, started my first, the first show that I was in, I was in kindergarten and I was in the king and I, and

At five. At five years old, I was one of the King's children at five years old. And every year after that I was in a production. And so I would stay at school until 8, 9, 10 o'clock at night for a rehearsal. And I loved it. I was bit by the bug at like a very young age. Went all the way through middle school, high school performing.

Who, what got you to the, at five? What got you to They had like a local school. The school that I went to was a hundred percent focused on the performing arts. And it was a school from, it was a private school, so it was a school from kindergarten all the way through the 12th grade. And where was this?

In Ohio. In Dayton, Ohio. And, Bob and Ruth Clemons were the directors there. Oh, I'm gonna get choked up. And we've only been talking for five minutes.

Oh my gosh. They, they changed my life. Mm. changed my life at five years old. How do you do that? Yeah. Because they invested in me from kindergarten until I graduated high school. They were my people. Yeah. I had the greatest family. I had the greatest parents, but they gave me a place that I fit, they gave me, I was not athletic.

Look at me. I don't even, I can't even catch a ball. they gave me a place where I felt like I mattered. Yeah. and so a lot of my friends that I graduated with, they went off and they went on to Broadway and they were very successful as performers or, The industry in some way. And I always knew that I just wanted to teach.

I just wanted to give back. I just wanted to be Bob and Ruth Glitz. Mm. Yeah. Hmm. How special. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so are they still alive? They're still alive, yeah. And they, my father, surprised me and had them come to a show that I directed. I directed Newsies and he flew them down and, I did not know they were there and Wow.

They got to see me direct. Oh, wow. Yeah, it was really special. Full circle. Wow. That's beautiful. Yeah. and so I knew I would cry, I can't talk about this without crying. Yeah. but I knew that I wanted to be an influence. That would last forever. Hmm. I think sometimes in the arts, it's all about you. You get a lot of applause and you people clap for you.

And that's a rush, right? It's a rush to, to take a bow at the end of a show that you've worked so hard at. And the audience is clapping for you. But I was raised that life is so much more than about me. It's about giving myself away and what influence, what impact am I making forever? what lives am I going to change?

Where they look back when they're in their thirties, forties, and fifties and say, miss Lori helped me know that I could accomplish anything that I dreamed. And I feel like that to me is my definition of success. That to me is my, the pinnacle of what I want to accomplish in this world. Besides raising wonderful children of my own.

Yeah. That are life changers and world changers. Being able to invest in the lives of young people and for them to forever remember that impact. That's really all I, that's really like my goal. And luckily I get to use art the arts to do that. Yeah. I say that it takes a village to raise a family.

And I tell my my families this all the time. It takes a village. I'm a mama first, like I'm a mom. True and true at heart. That is my number one passion in life. And it takes a village and I just feel very thankful that I get to be a small part of everybody's village that comes to Naples Performing Arts Center.

Yeah. I, while I have their children for two hours a week, four hours a week, six hours a week, whatever it is, I get to be a part of that village and I take that responsibility very seriously. So what I pour into those children I'm responsible for. That is my giving back to society. That is my responsibility.

And I am such a woman of faith and I know that I will be held accountable for what I. Do with what I have here on Earth. And I take it very, very seriously. So it's a privilege and an honor to be able to have these little ones in my life. Little ones, the and big ones. Yeah. In my life., for several hours a week.

It's beautiful to see it. at, at five years old, their impact on you. The ripple effect. Yeah. Now, all these years later and the impact you are now having, their belief in you at five. Yeah. And what, how that touched your soul and your heart to make it your mission in life. Yeah. To touch others that way.

The ripple is just beautiful. Yeah. And Naples is such a benefactor that, that's so cool that our community gets to benefit from there's other five year olds that you're touching 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 year olds that you are moving, touching, inspiring to be another way. And I think, that makes it so special. 'cause that's how I was introduced to you because you had that impact on Stephanie's daughter.

The way with she's now a different human after going through the program. She is Stephanie's little girl is she came in and she was so shy she would not talk. Now, I'm sure she wasn't shy at home or Stephanie would've never brought her to theater. Yeah. But she was, she had, she was anxious, she felt nervous.

And now in this show, right now in Aladdin, she is a lead, her first lead Wow. Confidently saying her lines. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think that's one of the things, we were talking about budget cuts and the cuts to the arts in school programs now, and where they don't have theater departments in, or they do, but they're crossovers with the English program or the English teachers.

Yeah. but I don't think they see, I don't think administration sees, I think they see it as an ancillary thing, but they don't see the impact on the human as a, from a self, self-esteem perspective. And what seems to be missing a lot from. These generations now is that they don't, they're not able to talk to people in a way that Yeah.

Other people are, and we notice it as an employer, having to teach social skills is a, is a new thing. Yeah. That didn't used to be, and that gave me who I am. I went through at the drama program theater for four years with Mr. Bechtel at Barett Collier Barry Collier. Yes. Yeah. But it gave me the ability to express myself.

It gave me confidence in an area I didn't know, I, didn't know I needed or didn't know I had. So it gave me a lot of things that I didn't know that was a byproduct of it, but it was a, it was an awesome thing. And to see it happening in other youth now in your programs and in other programs where they, get a voice that they might not ordinarily have or a place to fit in that they don't, but to be able to.

Express yourself. Like now you have to be able to be on camera to be alive. Like, if you're not on camera somewhere, you're, you don't exist. It's the truth. Yes, it is. It is the truth. And I especially, they say what is the number one fear after the fear of death is public speaking. Yeah.

It isn't taught. It isn't taught. I'm partners at Community School of Naples. We're we're partners there. I teach there, and I'll tell you, the focus that they have on public speaking is they're doing it right. Like it is very important, especially with AI right now. AI can literally run your life.

Chat, GPDI, I mean, come on. Who isn't using it? Yeah. Hundred percent, right? Yeah. Yeah. so we're losing those interpersonal skills. We're losing, how do we. Talk. How do we give a speech? How do we, defend ourselves? How do we just say hello and look at each other in the eyes? Yeah, yeah.,?

And I think that is so important in our field, in the field of theater, in the field, field of drama, just to instill confidence., to me it does not matter if a child goes on to be on Broadway or if they do great. And we're the first stepping stone. Great. There's gonna be a lot of physicians and a lot of doc, a lot of lawyers, and a lot of businessmen, business owners, business women that are going to have to talk to people.

Yeah. And I hope that their confidence at the Naples Performing Arts Center starts. There. Like, look at me in the eyes when you talk. Let's, let's start over. Let's say hello again while we look at each other in the eyes and it's okay. Look, you did it. You didn't die from looking at me in the eyes.

Yeah. Or shaking my hand. Yeah. overcoming those fears at such a young age, it's so important. Yeah. So that it becomes ingrained in them. Yeah. It's just who they are., just having the confidence that these adults are bigger than me, but you know what? They're not scary. I can look at an adult in the eyes.

I can shake their hand. having that confidence. Yeah. Where are they learning that confidence? It's nowhere, it doesn't exist. It's not in the right, it's not in any curriculum anywhere. Right. And, and there's more devices and technology coming out to have them avoid it even more to be worth with. Yes.

Where a lot of this, where a lot of looking down and a lot of even socialization is done. Computer to computer. Phone to phone. Yeah. my friends are who I play this game with or Yeah.,. I will tell you though, npac NPAC is what we call Naples Performing Arts Center. It's like our acronym. Okay.

So you'll hear me say that a lot. we have some incredible families who are saying, I don't want my child to sit behind that computer all the time. Hmm. I don't want my child to, not have interaction with humans. and I'm really thankful for that because I feel like there's a lot of parents really doing it Right.

And I'm very encouraged about our future. Yeah. I'm very encouraged about the children that I see coming up because they're powerful. I was telling you this earlier, we have this saying, amongst our, our little ones and our little ones would be five to 12 year olds that they're small but mighty. I don't think a child should ever feel like they can't accomplish something because of their size or their age.

I feel like they should know that if they dream it, they can do it. They, if they believe it, here we go again. Here come those tears. They can accomplish it. Yeah. Yeah. That's so true in life though. Really It's mindset is so much of everything and giving them the confidence to know that they can trust their own selves and they believe in themselves and they have confidence in themselves.

Just like that family, that couple who gave you. Who believed in you at five? Who bel who, who you were somebody to them and you got to be yourself in a way that you didn't know you could be. Yeah, people ask me all the time, what is it? What is it that makes you feel so emotional? My husband asks me all the time, I mean, he was on TV for years and I'm not sure that he ever cried on TV or, he and I know men are maybe a little, maybe he's a little less emotional than I am.

However, he'll ask me all the time, what is it, Lori? What is it that makes you feel so emotional about what you do? And I think I'm just so passionate about these young people and about their futures and I'm so thankful that I get to be a part of their lives and that. I get to be the one that says to them, you can do it.

You can do whatever it is. You've got a big test, you can do it. You've got a speech that you're so scared about, you can do it. And we're gonna do it together. We're not just about a great show and what's great on stage, we're about the whole person. About that whole child. And learning that whatever it is, they feel afraid of whatever it is that they feel like they can't do or they don't believe in themselves.

That's what we're there to do. We're there to like fill that gap and say, you can do it. You're small but mighty. Yeah. You can do whatever you dream. And I'm watching now the fruits of our labor With the schools that, that our students get into, the colleges that they get into. Just had my first student sign a big Hulu contract and he's got his first big sitcom and I had him from the age of five until now.

Is that right? Yeah. I could not be more proud of him. Yeah. Wow. And who was one of the very first people he called? I was. Thank you. Thank you for giving me that confidence. He, it was so funny, he, his name was Daniel Rosales, so Mark that name because he will be very, very famous. And his very first show that he was in, he threw up so much because he was so nervous on opening day that we had to get him an IV with Zofran in it to calm him down.

So his mom, God called and she had this, she had it, someone come to her house and he got this iv and now here he is. Wow. He's in a big Hulu wow sitcom. That's beautiful. He's the star. And he has worked hard. He has graduated from college as a musical theater major, and I could not be more proud of him, but I am not more proud of him than I am of the student that graduates with a degree in.

Business or goes to cosmetology school And learns how to stand and make someone feel beautiful. There is not because he's doing it in the arts. Yes, I am over the moon thrilled for him and proud of him, but I'm not more proud of him than I am of any of my other students that have gone on and believe in themselves and know that they can accomplish whatever they dream.

Yeah. Yeah. For anybody who doesn't know what is npac, so that this, so Naples Performing Arts Center is 100% education in the arts. So anything from piano lessons, violin lessons, voice lessons, acting lessons, we have a School of Dance Pulse. School of dance is inside of the Naples Performing Arts Center umbrella.

That's jazz, lyrical tap ballet point. Then we have our whole musical theater program. And our musical theater program. We just had 200 students audition for this season. we're doing Aladdin and we're doing, catch Me If You Can. We have our smaller kids, which is our junior stage from five to 12 year olds.

They're doing Aladdin and then 13, 14, all the way to 19 year olds are doing Catch Me if you can. Wow. and we had over 200 students audition for this semester. And it is, it is more than just a performing arts school. And that's what we are, we're the only place in southwest Florida that is solely education.

We have incredible regional theaters. We have a beautiful community theater, and they have education components as a part of them and they're doing a great job. We are solely education. We are. A school. Mm. So we're an afterschool program where students come and they learn the arts. So if your child doesn't wanna do musical theater, but they wanna learn piano or they wanna learn violin, we have that.

Mm. If they want to be a dancer, but they don't want be in on stage and be in a full musical theater production, we have that. If your child wants to do all of it, they wanna learn how to sing, they wanna learn how to act, they wanna learn how to dance, and they wanna take all of those skills and they wanna put those in a performance they wanna put, put those on the stage.

In a large theatrical production, we have that. So as much or as little as you want to learn in the arts, that's what we are. When my children were little and I was running to ballet lessons and I was running to voice lessons, guitar lessons, saxophone lessons, and I was going to a million different places for all of these skills.

I said, why is nobody doing this under one roof? Why are we not making this easier for our families? And that's how npac became created. I wanted it to be a one stop shop for our families. And, 14 years later, here we are. Wow. Here we are. But we are a non-profit. And the reason why I started as a for-profit organization, I was not a business woman.

I was an artist. Right. Sure. Like I was not, this was not my specialty started as a for-profit company and I was like. After a year or so, I'm like, we are not making money because I'm just giving everything away. Yeah. I cannot turn a child away from learning the arts because they can't afford it, or because maybe they have an intellectual disability, maybe they have a physical disability.

I had never wanted anyone to not be able to learn the arts for any reason. Mm. And so. In 2011, we changed to a 5 0 1 C3 nonprofit, and now we are solely, a 5 0 1 C3 nonprofit organization that no child can be turned away. Yeah. we will scholarship you, we will find a way to make sure that if you cannot afford it, you still can receive arts education.

Yeah. That's one thing Stephanie was, I remember vividly her saying, no one has turned away. No one, no one. Yeah. Yeah. It is one thing that I take very, very seriously. Because I don't think arts education should be a privilege. I think it's a necessity. Yeah. I think arts education is something that so many children have been denied because of financial reasons or because it's been cut at their school.

Yeah. Or for whatever reason. Yeah. And I take it very seriously that there is a place. That anyone can receive arts education, whether it's piano or a full production. They have a place that they know they can go to and we will make sure that they receive that education that they so badly want. Yeah. So this is clearly filling a void because the public school system has made many cuts over the years where they don't even have these programs anymore that they had in this, in that's system's correct.

Our arts education has been cut. our financial means has been cut, and I know that our public schools are doing everything that they can. They are trying their best, and they have, we have amazing band programs. We have amazing orchestra programs and choir programs, and I do think our public school systems.

Are doing a, a great job. I have a, I have a, a band kid. My son went to school. He's on a full ride to play the saxophone. Oh, cool. And I know that he could not have done that without Barron Collier High School. Mm. He could not have done that. He was a drum major at Barron Collier High School. He could not have accomplished what he accomplished without our public school system.

Yeah. Without Brett Robinson, his band director without skip party, the head of our, our performing arts department Public, in our public school systems, they are doing what they can do, but they only have so much funding. Yeah. And so they have to have places outside of the school systems that fill those voids.

Hmm. yes. Do I think our theater programs are lacking? I do. I do. I think that English teachers are not equipped to teach the arts. I don't, I don't think they have the proper education. Are there times where there are theater teachers that are English teachers and have had a theater background? Yes.

And those schools better count their blessings. Mm. Because most schools, there's an English teacher that is teaching theater, trying to direct their musicals that have no idea where to even start. Yeah. and I have had the privilege of going into Baron Collier to Aubrey Rogers and help them, help them build their program, help them direct a show, get their, get their footing, and then take it from there.

But yeah, they, they have been cut. Those programs have been cut, and it is sad. It's sad to watch. So you have this program for students in Collier County that. What if they're not sure, like they might wanna dabble, like their child hasn't quite found their home yet. They've tried little sports, little soccer, little, yeah.

But they wanna just test the waters over there. What? What? That's a really good question. That's a really good question because I'm a big believer that children should try, they should try a sport. They should. Try piano. They should try guitar. They should be in a show and try it. Yeah. How do you really know

What your child is going to be like. This is my thing, mom. Yeah. Yes. Some children come out of the womb and they're like, we are a born basketball player. Right? my son is six foot four. You would think that he, and he is big. You would think that he is a football player or a basketball player.

Yeah. And, Chad is not, Chad actually is not their biological father. Okay. and thankfully he has been in their lives since they were little. Awesome. My son was six years old when Chad came into their lives. Nice. And but he was an athlete. Chad was an athlete also. Oh, was he? Yeah. And so to my son was a musician from the get go.

And, you would look at him and think, wow, he is a natural born athlete. Yeah. Well, how do we not have tried piano? Guitar. Sure. We would've never known that. He was a little genius musician. Wow. And now he is majoring in music education to give back and become a music educator, just like the Clemons were, to me, his be a teacher was to him.

Oh, is that right? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. That's beautiful. Mm. You're gonna have to cut all this crying. This is ridiculous. No, it's not. No, it's not at all. It's the human spirit. it's the human spirit. It's, it's the, and that's what I, that's what I love to, I, rather than a superficial conversation about the facts of, this is our program.

These are the hours, this is when you should go. Right. This is what we need. This is how much, but this is, this is what's behind. This is the passion that's behind it. 'cause it takes a level of passion to do this. This it does. I mean, why would you. Why would anyone in their right mind say, well, I'm going to, I'm gonna do this thing that I'm not trained to do.

I'm gonna open this thing that I've never, I don't have background before I'm a, before I'm business woman. Right. I wasn't a business woman. I have had to learn Yeah. How to be a business woman. Of course. Yeah. Of course. I was scared. I did have great people behind me. Yeah. That really helped me. But it was scary.

That was so scary because I knew that I had a passion and I knew that I had a fire in my belly Yeah. To make a difference in the lives of children using the arts. And I knew that I was equipped to teach that. Yeah. But how is all this business stuff gonna come? Yeah. And so that was very, very scary. But I knew that, I knew that there are places in our community that people can go and put on a beautiful show.

There are wonderful places in our community to do that. But I wanted to be different. People ask me all the time, what makes impact different? Why would I choose impact over the theater or that theater? Impact is about so much more than the show. It's about so much more than becoming this great musician.

Mm, yes. That's important. Teaching you and educating you with these beautiful skills is so important, but if you don't leave a better human, if you don't leave a better family, child, grownup, adult, then we haven't fully done our job. Is everybody going to catch that vision and that spirit? They're not. Is everybody going to buy into our mission, which is that?

Children come to us to learn the arts, but what they really are signing up for is to become this whole child, to become this better human when they leave. Yeah. And when families are like, there is something different. They, they have friends outside of their school. They have now made a family a community.

They have now, I am now learning to say, as a parent, I really wanna believe in my child. I really want them to know they're small but mighty. And I see that importance of telling them that there are so many skills that come with being in a show, learning how to work as a team. Learning that you're not always the lead.

There's only two or three or four leads, right? Being the lead isn't always. What it's all cracked up to be. Because guess what? At Impact you learn that being the lead is the leader. You're the leader, and with being the leader comes great responsibility. And so you have a much bigger job to do outside of just learning all of your lines and getting all of the praise and the accolades.

You now set the tone for the show. You now say, you know what everybody, we need everybody to do this show. We need the ensemble. We need tree number two, tree number three. Yeah. Yeah. You are just as important as the lead. And so when you catch into, when you buy into this vision, when you buy into this mission that we are a team to accomplish something great.

Right? I'm sure here at Roberts of Philadelphia, if one of your stylists doesn't buy into the fact that this is a team to make this business great. HA hundred percent. They don't have, they could be the most talented stylist in the world with so much talent, so many gifts and blessings as styling hair.

But if they're not, if they don't have the humility to be a part of the team That's right. To help, want to lift everybody up around them to support their coworkers the same as they would themselves, put themselves beneath everyone else to serve the team. Right. As the leader, as the king of the hill.

That's right. Then they would never fit. They weeded out very quickly. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Right. As, and we have kids or, or adults or families that, that, that may leave impact, and that's okay. I want them to find their place. Yeah. Yeah. I want them to find where they fit and where they feel safest and comfortable.

Yeah. And I think that isn't always going to be impact, and that's okay. However, those that stay and that grow up in our program, they know that they have such a family. Yeah. That they have such a community with the suicide rate, what it is today amongst our young people. Hmm. It's with the bullying that takes place online with the comparison that happens on social media.

Brutal. It's brutal. Every child needs to have a place where they can go, where they know that they are loved and accepted and that they fit in just as they are no matter what. No matter their economic status, no matter whatever, whatever they may view as an obstacle. Yeah. It's not an obstacle at npac.

Yeah. Because you know what? We see them as a child that is loved and important and they matter and we want. This to be their home away from home. We want this to be the place where they know, they feel that they fit their place. Yeah. And you'll hear me say that a lot is every child needs a place, a place that they fit, whether that's the soccer field or the volleyball, what do you call that?

Floor? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it. Now see? Yeah. whatever it is, they need a place to fit. And I pray that every child finds that place. Yeah. And Naples Performing Arts Center is that place for so many children.

It's a safe place. It's a place where they can learn the arts in a level of excellence that we don't, we don't skimp on our level of excellence., our children will hear so often the students will hear so often if it's worth doing, it's worth doing at a level of excellence that is. The utmost highest.

Don't do it. If you're not gonna do it with greatness, don't do it. If you're going to halfheartedly do it, then why do it? But in the process of that, when you fail or you fall, or you forget your lines or you don't get the lead, guess what? We're gonna be there to let you know that's okay. That's a part of life we fail.

It's how we respond to our failures. I love that so much. Yeah. I love that. And we learned that I, that we learned that. Love that. Yeah. and I tell all of my. That's where the real lessons of life are learned. Not in just getting the lead, but it's in not getting the lead or perfection. Right. Right.

We're doing it all the way. Right, right. I screwing up And then dealing with the failure, dealing with emotion of failure. Yeah. Yeah. That's beautiful. That's the lessons that people need. Not being mad at the director because you didn't get the lead. Well, we'll just go somewhere else because you didn't get what I wanted you to get.

You know, literally. Or, or drop out or, or just leave. Yeah. Yes, yes, yes. Leave. Just leave. Let's go somewhere else. 'cause you didn't get the lead. What are we teaching them? What lesson is that? I say all the time to our families. Like we'll have family, we call 'em family meetings. We'll have a family meeting often.

And I will say, I mean obviously I have two children that are grown and raised. I have a, a daughter that's teaching the first grade now and in Collier County schools. Oh, awesome. And so passionate about it and loves it with everything in her being. And I have a son who is. Getting his degree in music education and wants to come back and teach and Collier County schools as a band director, if I had not let my children fail at home and learn, how do we pick ourselves up from failure?

It's a part of life. You're going to fail, you're going to fall, you're going to make mistakes, you are going to have pain, you are going to have heartache the rest of your life. That's so encouraging, right? Yes. But it is life. It's life. Yeah. It is life. So. As an adult, as a mom, as an educator, it's my job to help those little ones to help my children know you're gonna fail.

You're gonna fall and we're gonna, I'm gonna give you my hand and we're gonna pick you right up off that ground. We're gonna brush you off and you are going to be better because you just had that experience. And we got through it. We got through it. Yeah. And you are stronger and better today because you had that experience and you made it through it.

You can do hard things. Yeah. You can do hard things, things. And you're gonna be stronger and better because of those hard things. Yeah. Yeah. That's a what a great environment for the youth to be able to experience failure, to be able to, to have, an organization that, yeah. I was president of Little League and on the board of

Hurricane football. And so I saw a lot of youth sports and dealt with a lot of parents who Yeah. were, really thought their child was gonna be their 401k, the next Derek Jeter, the next Edgar and James or whatever, and had these aspirations for them and, to not allow their kids to experience the reality of he's not, he's good, but he's not Derek Jeter and he's only nine.

And guess what? That's okay. Yeah. It's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. Right. Just Right. Let him be where he's gonna be without your in. Just allow him to be with his peer group. Yeah. In wherever he falls. Right. 'cause that's the reality of the world. When he gets outta school and he leaves the nest, he's gonna have to deal with not getting the job.

He's gonna have to deal with not getting a raise. That's right. He's gonna have to deal with the jerky boss. It's life, it's life. It is life. I, I will say to our families all the time, tree number two, parent, you better cheer just as loud as Jasmine's parents, tree number two, parent. I love that you better be on your feet cheering your guts out for the job that your child did.

We have this, during shows at the end of the show, I will, I'll speak at the beginning of the show and I'll say, listen, you better be the minute that first child comes out to bow, you better be on your feet. And have this father planted in the, in the audience. And I say, okay, sir, you are gonna be our example.

You're the first one on your feet and everybody else, when you see that dad on his feet, you better all follow because Right. Like as, as, as a community, isn't it our job to support those kids? They're our future. A hundred percent. Yeah. So if we aren't. Cheering our guts out for them. Telling them, you were wonderful.

'cause what you just did on that stage was hard. That was hard. I don't know how many, how many of us adults could get up and do what those kids did. Right. Once it hits a certain age, as they, we lose that inhibition. Yeah. It's gone. Yeah. We lose that, that fearlessness. And so we are on our feet cheering for those kids because we let them know that they matter.

We let them know that we believe in them and that they matter. And I don't care. I do not care if you had zero lines or a hundred lines, you are just as important in making this project come to fruition. You matter just as much. And so. I make sure that, that I reiterate it over and over and over and over again.

How much the ensemble matters, how much they're just as a part big a part of this process as Annie is. Or Aladdin is, or whoever. So, yeah. So you're not just looking for the, who's gonna be the next leader, the next Hulu executive or the next You, you take them all. Anyone? Yes. We have a program called I'm a Star.

We started it years ago, about 13, 14 years ago, and I'm a Star is far for our, intellectually challenged students, physically challenged students. I think it's very important that anybody should feel like they're a star. Anybody that wants the opportunity to get on that stage and sing and dance and act, they should feel like.

They have a place. So I'm A Star was created for students with challenges. We have students that have Down syndrome. We have students that are in wheelchairs. We have students that have cerebral palsy and they are shining. They do a little show at the end. And you talk about people on their feet.

If you aren't crying at that show, you don't have a soul because they, they just have this, they perform with, I always say with reckless abandonment because they have no inhibition. They have no fear. They just are doing what they love. And it is pure joy. It is pure joy. so when we say we have something for everyone, we do, we do as little or as much.

Yeah. How. And what, so how to somebody who has a child that might wanna dabble. Yeah. And maybe they have to talk to their kid about, I have something I'd like you to check out. What do they do? They can go to our website at Naples performing arts center.com and see everything that we have available. Okay.

Everything maybe, maybe they would like to try an instrument or maybe they wanna try piano or guitar. I think it's really important that every child has some type of a foundation in guitar or piano. I think that's really important. Yeah. It helps us to learn how to read music. It gives us a fundamental of music theory, but it also helps to train our ear if we wanna become a singer.

So you wanna start somewhere? That's where I would recommend. Okay. Piano or guitar. Very. It's the basis for music, but also I think. Maybe have a little one at home that's like always doing a show for you. Mommy, watch this. Mommy Watch that. Maybe you're watching Moana and they're singing at the top of their lungs, or they maybe have a favorite pop singer and you can hear them singing in the shower or in their bedroom, and you're like, Hmm, that sounds kind of good to me.

I know I'm their mom. Yeah, but that sounds kind of good. Yeah. Maybe you encourage them, you give them a little nudge to say, why don't you just try out for a show? But here's the, here's here's what I want people to understand. If you want to try a show and you're petrified of the audition process, you don't have to come and audition.

Come and be a part of the ensemble. Come and experience what it's like to be in the show. Okay. And then maybe the next show you're like, okay, I think I want to try out, okay. I think I wanna experience the audition process. But don't let fear stop you. Don't let being afraid, oh, I'm not gonna make it.

Or I don't know how to audition. Don't let that stop you. Don't let that stop your child from auditioning or from being apart. They can come, they can be apart. We have 4, 5, 6 year olds that maybe, maybe they're too young or they feel too afraid, or they're too inhibited to audition right now. That's okay.

Yeah. Come let them experience our next show is Annie for our little kids. What little girl doesn't wanna be a part of Annie, right? That's like every little girl's a dream show. Let them come and be a part of being an orphan in the orphanage. Let them come and learn. What it's like to be a part of this community and sing and dance and get a costume and get makeup put on.

And then guess what? Maybe the next time they say, mom, dad, grandpa, grandpa. I wanna audition. I wanna try it. Maybe I want a speaking part or a singing part. I think I wanna try it now. So never let fear stop you from trying. We will always give you a free class to come and try. Yeah. Piano, guitar, saxophone, whatever.

Dance. Yeah. Come and try a trial class. You don't want to audition. Come and be a part of the ensemble. Come and be a part of the show without auditioning. So go to our website at naples performing arts center.com. Look at everything that we have to offer and say. I think my child, or I think myself as a teenager, would like to give that a try.

Yeah. Yeah. What a perfect little clip. I think a, a mom could take that last little segment that you just shared and play it for their child to say, well, this is what it is and this is the encouragement or the, give them the confidence of how you just shared it. We have so many kids, so many children that start without an audition because they're so scared.

So we'll get a call from a parent and they'll say, my child really wants to do this, but they're petrified to audition. Well then come on. Come and be a part of it. Come experience it, make friends, build that confidence,? Then the next time they'll go in to auditions, holding hands with one of the little friends that they made, maybe a bigger kid and older kid, and they'll audition for the first time.

And then the next time, guess what? They're doing it by themselves. So we do not expect children to come in with perfection. Yeah. We want them to come in with a willingness and a desire to just be a part, perfection, not attainable. Yeah. That's what social media tells us. Yeah, sure does. It tells us that we have to look like this.

We have to be like this. We have to be perfect. That's not a real world. Right. We want children to come in and know that we don't want perfection. We just want them to come in and love the arts. And want to learn how to sing and dance and have fun with it, and make friends along the way and build a community that is their home.

Beautiful. I think something that's very obvious, and you shared this with me, is that your, you, a hundred percent of you is, is working with the kids and not. Other organizations and other entities, they have to spend a lot of time finding, on a capital campaign. Yeah. On, on the, on the financing and the funding.

Right. Which is, which takes up a lot of time and a lot of, energy. Energy, yeah. Sure, sure. And it takes away from, and you've done the smart thing, I think definitely was so you could give a hundred percent of your soul to the children. Versus having to, create fundraising events at one after the other, after the other to keep the things going.

Or, or to keep a building or to keep the AC right, or to keep the lights on, or have administrators. So I think that's, that separates you from everybody else too. You shared that with me, I think. I had some really great advice at the beginning. Stay in your lane, Lori. Yeah. Stay in your lane. Do what you're good at.

Don't try to be anybody else. Home Depot and Lowe's are always side by side, right? Walgreens and CVS are always side by side. You're always gonna have competition. So stay in your lane. And sometimes it's hard when big buildings are being built, beautiful theaters are being built.

It's hard to not say, but I wanna do that. That's not my lane. Yeah. My lane is investing in children. My lane is educating children, and that's what I do best. And so I have known that my strength and my weaknesses are not always going to go hand in hand when I say that. I mean. I have to stay in my lane as an educator and not as, I hate fundraising.

I hate it. Sure, sure. That's, I'm not an architect. I'm not the type of business woman that is going to say I have the strength or the energy to spend on a capital campaign to, to dream and envision this big building. I give huge props and credit to those that can do that. Yeah. I want a hundred percent of my energy to go back into my students, and that's my mission.

My mission isn't to have a huge building. Thankfully our local YMCA, we've partnered with them, so all of our education, Takes place there. They provide a home for us to have a dance studio, to have practice rooms for all of our instrument and voice lessons and acting lessons. All of our rehearsals for our theater takes place at the YMCA.

They're our partner. Yeah. That's where our building is. Great. Yeah. I don't have a theater, so people say, well, where do you perform? Community School of Naples has given us a home, they have given us a theater to perform in. And we have a stage, we have a place where we call our home that all, all of our performances are done there.

I am so thankful for these partners in our community Yeah. That have caught on to our mission. And said, you don't have to have this beautiful state-of-the art, theater or facility to accomplish your mission and accomplish what you do. So. YMCA is where we do our, our classes and our education right there in Pine Ridge, in the middle, in the heart of it all.

And then community school right down the street Yeah. Is where we do all of our performances. And those two organizations believe in us and they have partnered with us. And so I haven't had to do a camp capital campaign or spend time and energy away from educating our students to build a big facility.

I love that our community has these beautiful buildings. I love that. Because guess what? One day some of these students that are training and being educated, they're gonna go to our regional theaters and they're gonna perform there. And a lot of these students, they go to our beautiful community theater and they perform there.

Hmm. So. We're all doing what we do to the very best of our ability. We just all have different missions. Yeah. And there is, there should be no competition. There should be no, I go to this theater or I go to that theater. 'cause guess what? There's room for us all. Yeah. We both go to Lowe's and Home Depot, don't we?

And so are we allowed to say that on podcasts? Are we allowed to say? You can say anything you want. That's a cool thing about podcasts. You say anything you want. Oh, good. Okay. Good. but we, there is no, there should be no competition because we all have different missions. Yeah. And we all are doing it to the best of our ability.

And every child is going to gain something beautiful and wonderful from each of us. I think that all of these new theaters, I think our local community theater is gorgeous. Our local regional theater is stunning. Our students should be able to go to those theaters as well. So. I just have chosen that my mission is, and my strengths are to pour back into our children, to pour back into our students.

And that's where I am the most equipped to spend my time and energy. Yeah. And so when people ask, why do you not have your own theater? I do. It's at Community School of Naples. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm very, very proud to be partnered with them. Yeah. and I'm very thankful to call that our home. So we just all have different missions.

Yeah. But that's where I choose to spend my time and energy. Yeah. I love that. I love that. And it seems like they're complimentary to each other, all of them together anyway. They are. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I'm very thankful for what our community has to offer. Yeah. I don't think the opportunity would be the same as there is for, for the other.

What you've created is something special and unique where it's open to the broad range of people to find Yeah. Find their home. Find their passion. Find their passion. Yeah. Yeah. Like as you did at five. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Find a place. Yeah. Find a place that they fit, that they feel at home, that they feel loved and accepted.

Yeah. Finding a place. We all don't, we all just wanna feel like we matter. Oh, yeah. That's the, isn't that, yeah. Like we all just do we, are we making a difference? Yeah. Fitting in. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. What is my purpose on this planet? Like, I wake up every day and I'm so thankful that I don't feel like I go to work.

I do not. I am physically tired because those little ones, right now we have like over 80 in Aladdin, over 80 children in al in the show. Aladdin. I'm exhausted when I leave there, but I am charged. Yeah. I am emotionally filled up because it is such an environment. Of positivity and love and acceptance.

Now, there's days where Miss Lori's strict, there are days And especially during Tech week, miss Lori's gotta lay the law down, but they already know how much I love them, and they already know how much I believe in them. And I am so thankful that, I found what I was created to do. I have found what my passion is, and I have just found a way to make it my job.

You know? Yeah. I, yeah. Which is what all everybody would love to do anyway. And so many don't. They just, they do, they get stuck in a job that pays the bills and they Right. Never truly find what their passion is, what they want. Right. Do you either, you either, I've heard this saying you either live to work or work to live.

To live. Yeah. And. I truly, truly live to work. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I love what I do. Yeah. I'm filled up. I love our families. I love our students. I love my team., like I have had the same employee since we started. The same teachers, the same COO, the same production manager. I mean, why do they stay?

Because they've caught onto the vision. And people leave bosses, right? Yeah. They don't leave jobs. They leave bosses. Yep. And I let them do what they do best. I let them be passionate about what they do. Yeah. I hope if they're watching, I hope they're not like, oh, brother, but we're a team. Yeah., we're a team, we're a small team.

Like we have o over 700 students registered. We only have three full-time employees. Wow. 300 students. That's like a full school. It's a full school, right? No, they're not all there at the same time. Yeah. Right now we have over 250 students there at the same time. Hmm. Between our dance program and our private lessons and our musical theater, we have three full-time staff.

That's it. Wow. So we have incredible volunteers. We have great training programs for our, our older kids. Our teenagers trained to be volunteers, stage managers, lighting designers. There's all kinds of other jobs outside of performers. They train and they pour back in to the younger students.

Awesome. right now our stage manager is. One of our older kids, stage manager for Aladdin, she's one of our high school students. She's a sophomore in high school, and she played the role of Jasmine the last time we did it when she was, oh, isn't that awesome? A little girl. Oh my gosh. And so it's just a, a goer.

It's just a circle. It's a cycle. Yeah. It's a cycle. And our hope is that our big kids pour back into our little kids, or our students with, with challenges. That's our goal. So how did Naples get so lucky? How did you end up here? What, what, what got you to this beautiful Naples? So I moved here, I moved here over 20 years ago.

Why? my job, I, I moved here. family was here. My parents were here. Your parents were here? I would, were they, they go back and forth or were they always here? They were here. Oh, okay. They went, they lived in Ohio. Right. And, then they retired here. Okay. And I just, I was like, how do you leave, how do you leave Southwest Florida?

I know. How do you leave it? It's so beautiful. Yeah. and I made this my home and I worked in a local church for about, about 12 years, and directing their Christmas program. Loved that. and then started Naples Performing Arts Center and that's how I got here. I can't, I can't leave. Yeah. I do not wanna go back to snow ever.

Yeah. I hear you. I know, I know. You live in the best place in the world. I know. We do. It's hard to go on vacation from here. Yes. Yeah. Where do you go? Yeah, I know. Yeah. It's such a beautiful place and it's such a wonderful community. Such a wonderful community. I met my husband who was, I was just gonna ask you about that.

How'd that start? Yeah. I met my husband, I was working for a local charity called, UM, literacy Volunteers, and he was. A news anchor on NBC two, and he became my dance partner for literacy volunteers. We met, we became really great friends. A couple of years later we started dating. And it's history. It's just history.

He, in fact, he said in his vows, he knew nothing about musical theater and I knew nothing about the Lakers. And he loved the Lakers. He loved the Lakers. So I had to vow that I would watch the Lakers with him. And he sang the lyrics of The Sun will come out tomorrow from Annie and Vow that he would learn to appreciate and love musical theater.

And he has definitely held up his end of the vows way more than I day, way more than I have because, I don't watch the Lakers, but he is at every show he does not miss, and he, he secretly. He secretly wants to be on the stage. He ask constantly is asking for a cameo? When can I have my moment? Well, anybody who doesn't know him, Zach, you gotta put up some Im images of him.

'cause as soon as people see him, if you're watching the video version of this, you'll, everyone will recognize him. He has the best husband he's known in the southwest Florida. Yes, for sure. I mean, his faces, he's the best husband and the best father and I am so lucky. Yeah. That's awesome. So blessed. Well you guys, so he did the morning show.

He was a, what time did, what was life like during that? Okay. Yes. Time he did. And it didn't, this morning show thing did not last long. when we got married and he's so much better at like timeframes, I forget. It all runs together for me. But I know that he had to be up at like. Two 30. I thought they had some crazy hours O right.

Three in the morning. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And make that long drive. At the time we lived in Bonita, so we split the difference from Naples to Fort Myers and he would make that drive to Fort Myers to be on the morning show. I wanna say his first hit, he'll be so proud of me that I said hit, because that is like cool language.

I think the only language I learned was B-roll and hit, and I don't, I'm not a hundred percent. Zach is B-roll. Like what you take, I think you take that like separately, right? Like that's outside of the filming. I think. Filler. The filler. Yes. Yes, yes. I knew B-roll that was gonna be so proud of me that I learned this.

And I wanna say he went on the air at like maybe four in the morning or th or five in the morning. I'm not a hundred percent sure. Wow. so early. Yeah. But then he would be home at like. 10:00 AM or 11:00 AM and sleep all day. And so that was not conducive for family living. Yeah. So then he got moved to the afternoons, which was like banker hours.

Like he went in at 9:00 AM he was home by 5:00 AM That was great for a family that was fabulous for a family. Chad married me and I had two children from a previous marriage and they were young and we always knew that Chad wanted to take the role of a mentor, not necessarily as the disciplinarian. And he committed that he would not miss anything and he didn't.

He was at every concert game. He became the voice of Baron Co. Your Cougar band. And he announced for the Cougar band. Oh, did he? And that became our little home, the Cougar Band. For eight years I coached Dance Line and my daughter was in it first and she was on flag line and dance line. And then my son was on it and then he became drum major and my husband did not miss, he was at everything.

And I was really thankful that he had the hours that he did once he moved to, to the afternoon show. Yeah. Yeah. and then he got a job with Collier County Schools as the executive director of Communications. And I think it's something fancy now, like chief Officer something, something. He could answer that for you.

But he is on senior leadership there and he is in charge of all of communications for Collier County Schools. And he is fabulous at what he's, what he does. He is, he is a gift to the school district. God crying. He is so good. I love it. Well, you're in, you love him too. So that's a beautiful thing.

That's a blessing. He's a good gift. I love that. Mm. I have to get him on here sometimes too. Yeah, yeah. Yes. He would be perfect. And he would not cry, I promise. It's okay. Tears are good. He will not cry this water outta the face. It's okay. It's the human spirit. It's, it's, you're just moved and touched by humanity.

And that's, that's the cool thing. I, that's why I like to have this conversation. 'cause I have conversations here with people that I wouldn't ordinarily have in life. Yeah. With anyone. And sometimes for some of our guests, they've never had these kind of conversations where they're just, talking rather than just doing a sales pitch.

They're just, for me, I get to get to see who's behind. Yeah. The passion behind, what is that you do? Because you don't do it for the money. No. You don't run a 5 0 1 C3 for the money, that's for sure. Not at all. You don't? And my husband will tell me often that I need to do a better job of selling myself.

I need to do a better job of, of selling impact. And I'm not, I'm not, I'm not good at it. I don't know about that. 'cause I don't, because I think what the team around you, what the people believe in is who you are. That's right. And your passion for it. That's right. And that's, its sales in itself. Your passion just comes through.

Like you just, whatever it takes, I could see why people would move through walls for you to have you fulfill on this to see the impact you're having on those children who are our future. Yeah. And one soul, you touch one person, you give a little bit of self-confidence. Last year, this tragic. Thing happened to somebody who I know personally, their 14-year-old daughter committed suicide and was bullied and was a beautiful young woman.

She was beautiful. She was in cheer and you just looked at her from the outside. You think everything was Yes. Great. And she had it all. And she, for whatever reason, saw it another way. And her mother said, I have to respect the decision that she made. I, as a parent, I can't even imagine.

Mm. You know what that was like. I can't imagine the torture this poor, young, Caroline was, went through and, I, I saw something in the youth of our. Society that I realize is, is, is almost an epidemic. Yeah. It's like something that just didn't exist. Yeah. Where that you have this online that is, is available all the time.

And I mean, then back in my day, if somebody wrote a note about you and left it somewhere, what are the chances that somebody seeing that? Right. And now it's, publicly put Everywhere. And it just, that means the world to someone, their reputa or what people think of them at such a young age.

Yeah. So to see your organization, being able to impact that youth in a way that will make a positive difference. And for every soul that gets touched, what a difference that makes in their families and that ripple effect. And how many other king and eyes are there gonna be that, go on to touch the world and to be passionate and in love with what they do.

And that alone is infectious,? Yeah. Your spirit for those children, for this community, we're blessed to have, it's a beautiful thing. Thank you. I'm honored. I hope that, I hope that my love for my students, for my families, for the families that are at impact for my own family, my prayer is always that.

My life is an example. I'm not perfect. None of us are perfect. I have experienced such pain in life. I have gone through a incredibly painful divorce. I have experienced loss of a family member of my mother. I

I don't want anyone to ever look at my life, my husband and I, and think they have it all together. They're perfect. We're just trying our best to impact our little corner of the world, the very, very best that we can with what God has equipped us with. Right? Like we have our, everyone has their own unique gifts and talents.

My husband is a master communicator. He's a master at it. He's found a way to use that to impact his corner of his world. I feel like my gift is an educator. My gift is a mentor. My gift is not an aerobics instructor. My gift is not an accountant. And I think so many times in life we try to be something that we're not.

We try to be, oh, that looks so glamorous and this looks so, yeah. Yeah. And we wanna attain something that we're not. So I pray that everybody can just take a, a beat and say, what are my strengths? What was I created to do? What was I put on this earth to do? Because once you find that and you're able to.

Spend your hours and your days doing that. Life is so fulfilling. Yeah. I wake up with a purpose. Yes. I wake up with a purpose to be the best mom and the best wife that I can be and the best friend I can be. But I wake up every day with the purpose of I'm going to see all of those little lives and I have purpose because I get to pour into them and one day they are then going to pour into somebody else.

And so if that ripple effect can be the standard of selling impact, then yes. Let that be the standard. Yeah. I will never be the one that is winning all kinds of awards to be person of the year or this. 'cause I will never be, I don't have the time. Or the energy to focus on me. I want, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I think great for those people that are, but my days, I want so badly to just be filled up with me pouring out into the lives of other people. And I gotta tell you, every day I go to bed, so fulfilled, so filled up. So

There are days that I'm exhausted, but I am full. I am full because I'm doing what I know that I was created to do. Yeah. That's the right kind of exhaustion too. It is. Yeah. That's, that's exhausted. 'cause you're, you're giving your all and your passion for what you love and. Seeing that, and you've always been a giver, so you've, your life has been about service to others, which is a beautiful thing.

Yeah. So we're blessed to have that in our community. Thank you. For sure. Thank you. Is there, is there anything, I know you've gotta be on another podcast today. I do. I know today's two for one day. You gotta try. So I, and I've never been on a podcast, like, I'm not a, I, this is not, this is not like, like my husband could sit here and he, he would be so articulate and this is not my jam and this is my first podcast ever.

I've never done this before. so thank you for making me feel so comfortable and talking about what I love and Yeah. Well, it's beautiful. You're just, you're just expressing who you are. You're just natural at being you, which is a beautiful thing. And that's all that, that's when it makes it more fun too, when there's just authenticity.

There's a, a huge amount of authenticity and realness, which is what people love anyway. We just want that. Those pretenses that we put on at a certain age that we think we right. Stop being that little self-expressed right. Free human. And yeah. More of that of you is coming out here, which I love and thank you.

Everybody loves and appreciates and it's what becomes infectious and is part of your organization. So my families are gonna laugh. They, they know, they, in fact, it's so funny, I have been literally bribed before from fam from there was this father who said, okay, if you can get up there and talk about your students without crying, I'm going to give you, I'm going to give the organization a thousand dollars.

And I'm like, okay, a thousand dollars for us is like a million dollars, right? So, so I'm like, I've gotta do it. I've gotta. I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. So he knew, he knew what he was doing, and I'm gonna make him watch this because he knew what he was doing. I cannot talk about impact and these families and these children without getting emotional.

It's not sad emotion. No. It's passion. It's beautiful. It's passion. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just Thankfulness and love and gratitude. Yeah. And, so, so thank you for getting it. Thank you for understanding. I love it. I appreciate you so much. My honored to, I think this is great that we get to get the word out there too, that this, that you exist, that this venue exists for our community.

Yeah. 'cause I think it has a, there's a real need for it. Yeah.,? For sure. For sure. Is there anything that we didn't cover that you'd like to cover for people? Is there anything, it's so interesting. People, always ask, how do we find out about your shows? How do we get tickets to your shows?

How do we, find out about when auditions are coming up? Aladdin is coming up and that is our, our little ones. And they are so precious and wonderful. You want a heartfelt feel good. One hour of your, of your week, come to Aladdin. all of the information is on our website Tickets. You can purchase tickets on our website at naples performing arts center.com.

Now, what I will say about our main stage kids, that's our older kids, our teenagers, you will come to a show of older kids and forget you are watching teenagers. These children. This isn't going to your typical high school school production. These kids are insane. They are the most talented group of. Of, of kids you will ever see.

So coming to catch me if you can, is a treat that's not till January. So you have time to get online and get your tickets. you won't regret it. You won't regret it because they, you will leave their thinking. What did I just watch? I feel like I just watched a professional show and those were our local high school students.

Mm. They are incredibly talented. Incredible. so, so come, come get your tickets, go on our website, come and support these children, auditions. All of our auditions are on our website also. Okay. So if your student or your child wants to audition for something, you can find all of that information on the website as well.

But come and support these children. we have this, we have the most wonderful full donor who. Does not have a grandchild or a child in this program. Martha Myers is her name and she brings. A slew of her senior citizen friends, she'll come with te, they come with their pillows, they sit on their pillows from our, our, our chairs that are not the most comfortable.

They'll sit on these pillows and they sit in the front row and they, they do not miss, they do not miss a, a junior stage. They do not miss a main stage. And they cheer those kids on every single, they don't miss a show. That's awesome. And we need, we need more. Martha Myers. Yeah. Martha Myers. Thank you.

Martha Myers is, that's awesome. Our, we call her our angel. Yeah. We need more Martha Myers from this community. Okay, good. Well, maybe that's what we're, we're drumming up. Yes. The other Martha's out there. Let's go. Yes. We need them. And she has great hair. She has fairy hair. She should come here. Yeah. Okay.

She would be a great, we'll have to in, we'll have to invite her in for a day of pampering for her, on us, for her taking care of our kids. She would love that. Yeah. We'll, we will hunt her down and get her in here. Yes. She's so fabulous. You give her some Loving for for loving on those kids. Yeah. I love it.

Love. Yeah. We'll, I love it. We'll make sure that happens. Yeah. Yes. But go to our website, see what we do. Okay. Yeah. And check us out. And you won't be sorry. You won't be sorry that you came to these shows and supported these. Our future. Yeah. Our future. Yeah. We're gonna do that. Even Zach, you coming? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Come on. We are, we are our final segment. I, because I do know you have to get on the road, but I, we do this last little fun piece here, so, okay. Lighten it up a little bit. Are you gonna ask me what book I read? no. Is that one of 'em? It could be. You. You watched one of you watched the other podcast that I did.

I watched that and so I like practiced these. Oh, good. So you practiced. I practice these. Okay, good. Yeah. Yes. So we'll start with that one then. Okay. Okay. I guess you have to know, I just read the book called Let Them Oh. by, I think her name is Mel Robbins. Yes. And let me tell you, it was life changing for me.

Wow. Because let them let them be mad at you. Let them talk about you bad. Let them make fun of the fact that you cry. Let them, whatever, whatever it is. Yeah. But let me respond by not letting it bother me, let me respond by, by saying, you know what? Hurting people hurt people. It was life changing. Yeah. So read that book.

Yeah. You're the third person here, I think that said that. And I've started the audio book and I just, in the first couple of chapters. She, I think she was sharing about on an airplane or something. Yes. And just that it's one of her stories. Yeah. Yeah. Just that was hit me like, yeah. Yes. Just let them, yes, just let 'em, you can't be an empath, like you can't be someone as passionate as I am and not get my feelings hurt.

Right. When people say mean things Yeah. I do. If you could, you could make, you could say something bad about what I'm wearing or whatever, all day long, but when you attack my character, it destroys me. Yeah. Not after I read Let them. Yeah. Now I've got new tools to let them, let them feel that way. Let them feel that way, because guess what?

I'm gonna let myself validate myself and know that my worth does not depend on their opinion. Yeah. Yeah. I think everybody could get something from that book. I think it's life changing. Yeah. Yeah. I hear that. What other questions do you think are coming? I don't know. I'm nervous now. I'm nervous that I didn't practice.

So we in a minute. We have completely random ones that I don't even know. So tho those are coming too. So that you may not, you definitely to be prepped for that. I can do this. How about your a hidden talent that has nothing to do with performing arts? Oh, hmm. A hidden talent. Let's see here. I really like to cook and bake.

Oh, okay. Okay. Now I don't know if that's a hidden talent. 'cause if you ask my children, my husband, I'm not a hundred percent sure that they would be like. Mm. That was a far stretch for you to call it a talent, but I like to do it. Well, we wouldn't know. There's no, there's no judges over here. We wouldn't know it.

Crop hot meals work, right? Yeah. Okay. You're, you're home cooking? I do. I It's not Uber Eats. Yes. It's, no, it's not. Uber Eats, yeah. Every night. But I do like to, I do like that. Alright, good. We'll go with that one. Alright. if your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be? Oh, wow. If My Life was a movie, like, am I supposed to, oh, let's do opening soundtrack.

So what would the opening song be? If Your life is a movie, life is a Highway. Oh, that song, I'm gonna ride it all night long. Yeah. Yeah. Like, that's what it would be. That's a great song. Oh yeah. I think that's what it would be, because you know what that fits. I get it. We've been down a lot of roads.

Right. Yeah. That leads us to an incredible journey. Yeah. Yeah. Plus it was on Dancing With the Stars last night, and that was on the top of my mind. It was Okay.

I haven't heard that in a while. So now it's going through. Now it's, let's running my head. Let's with, okay. Alright. Good. what, what other music is playing in your car when you're in the zone or at home? When you're in the scene? Okay. You're gonna laugh at this because my husband is constant noise, constant music, constant talking, constant noise.

And I get in my car and I want silence. I've heard music all day. Yeah. Right? Yeah. I have sang a whole new world and, you name it, you've got a friend in me, you've got a friend like me. You've got whatever the song is, Uhhuh. All day long. So I get in my car and I just want my thoughts. I just want silence.

Where my family, they wanna live. My son, big, big music guy. Big jazz guy, big praise and worship guy. He's got music loud going all the time. My husband, big eighties rock guy want, oh, okay. I just want quiet. I just want quiet. So if you wanna know what music's playing, if I'm not studying what show I'm doing, yeah.

There's nothing playing. Okay. Just quiet. Alright. So if I'm building a, I'm building a Spotify playlist of the spotlight on good people's music. So if you could pick one or two songs that if you were listening to music would be on the list. Okay. My family's gonna die. I love, I Believe, the Children of the Future.

Whitney Houston song. I love that song. I cry every time still. Okay. I love, love, love that song. And then probably anything, anything. Taylor Swift. Okay. I'm a Swifty. Swifty, alright. But now I'm not a Swifty like my daughter, she's gonna watch this and be like, you're not a real Swifty. You don't count. I don't count because I don't know the lyrics.

But I do love her music. And I think she's a boss. So, yeah. So take that out. Alright, good. Well that's a couple more tracks for our playlist. There you go. That's good. Good. coffee order. You don't have any coffee with me so I don't, I don't. I'm not, I'm a diet Coke girl diet. Okay. 100% Diet Coke.

Caffeine comes from Diet Coke? Yes. Okay. And if a child, I will tell you this, at auditions I've got a lineup of Diet Cokes that I like to call it the Diet Coke Bribery. A lineup of Diet Cokes. They know Miss Lori's a Diet Coke drinker. Okay. I don't drink alcohol. I don't smoke. My vice is Diet Coke. Diet Coke.

Okay. Well that's a good advice to have. That's alright. It's cheaper than alcohol. It is. I live for it. I better for you than that. All right. This is one that's unscripted because I just, I just think it would be so cool. I think we get, oh, no. A different nervous, different angle of it. Nervous. if you could, no, not if you could, if you would sing a bar of some sing, however you would say, as a line or two of something that you, I am not singing this.

You won't do this. Podcast won. You won't do it. No, you won't do it. I'm not And this is why. This is why, because my high school students will watch this and it will turn into a meme and it will, I am not an idiot. I work with little kids, but I also work with high schoolers, and I know their shenanigans. Oh, see, you guys ruined It.

Ruined. So they ruined it for my, they ruined it. So there is no way that I would sing on this podcast because it will go viral and not a good viral. No. No. You don't know. It could be a good viral, it could, it could become like famous. It could, right. But more than likely knowing my high schoolers. Mm. I think I'm gonna pass on that one.

Oh, I'm gonna rely on them to catch her then. So you gotta catch a sip of her. Oh, and they will you and catch. There are times where I will be on Instagram and I'll be sitting and it will look like I'm picking my nose or I'll be like, scratching my head and it'll be on replay over and over and over and yes.

So I have learned my lesson. Okay. Alright. I know those kids well. I'm, I'm relying on them then. So you gotta get me one coming. If you weren't running a perf, if you weren't running the show here, what do you think you'd be doing today? That's a really good question. If I wasn't running npac, what would I be doing?

I never really wanted to be a professional performer. That was never really a passion of mine. I do, my degree is in psychology. And I went to grad school for Psychology, for Educational Psychology, and I was a high school guidance counselor for years and years and years. And I loved it. I loved it.

So maybe, I think I would probably go back to being a high school guidance counselor. Okay. Yeah. I really loved, yeah. I really, I really loved the impact that job had as well. Yeah. And still involved with children. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, I liked that a lot. Maybe it, now that my daughter's an elementary teacher and I go into her classroom, I could probably, I would probably really love to do that as well.

Yeah. But man, I don't, I mean, it's exhausting. What they do all day is exhausting. Yeah., she is, she is on. When I direct and I have my students, I'm with them, two hours at a time. Eight hours. It's a long time. Yeah, it's a long time. But yeah, I think I would, I think I would really dig that.

Yeah. I think I would like being in a classroom. Yeah. Well, you are kind of now in a way. Yeah. It's a, you got a, a different version of it, but when it comes, I think, I think math, I think I could maybe only go up to where's long division come in? Fourth grade, fifth grade. That one scares me to this day. I'm, I'm out.

I'm out. I'm so thankful for Excel because that Excel long division. Forget about I'm GPT. Yeah. There we go. Even, even that, even better. Yeah. Yes. I know. I have to let you get on the road here. but the last and most important question, and I think a lot of this came out, but I'll let you say it in your words.

What do you love about your life? Hmm.

I'm so grateful.

I'm so thankful for my blessings. Mm. I'm so

Oh my gosh. I'm so thankful for my children Hmm. And my husband. my children are my world and I'm so proud of them. I'm proud of them because, not of their successes, but because of who they are as humans. They're incredible humans.

And I'm thankful that I get to get up every day and do what I love. Hmm. I'm really thankful, thankful for my upbringing. Hmm. I had the best parents that taught me that life isn't about me, it's about giving myself away. Hmm. And I'm thankful that I get to teach that. Yeah. To the next generation. Yeah. and so I think I just feel blessed.

I feel thankful and blessed to be surrounded by a wonderful family, to have gone through pain in my life and to be honest, and not that more pain won't come, it will. But to have learned from it and grown from it, and had people that were surrounded me that loved me, and how it, that pain shaped me into the woman that I am today.

I just, I'm just thankful. I'm just very thankful. Mm. That's beautiful. I'm, I'm just as thankful for. When Stephanie introduced you to me, you're everything she shared and so much more. But I'm also grateful that our community gets to have someone like you and it that is there for our youth in a way that, I'm clear your heart and soul is just completely wide open to every one of them.

And you just share yourself in a way that, is so infectious and loving in a way that, you just pray that all the youth of our community get to be in your space. Thank you. To get to be touched by you. And I can see why she said. You are one of those humans that needs a spotlight. So thank you for doing what you do.

Thank you. God bless you. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It was an honor. I feel very honored. Yeah. Super cool. Thank you. I love it. Thank you. Like thank you for my pretty hair. That's gorgeous. She looks so pretty. Yeah. Yeah. And we are gonna get Martha Meyers in here too. We gotta get Martha.

Martha Myers. Yes. She's so wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. She is wonderful. She was a senator in Min, like she's just amazing. Yes. We have to get her on here. Martha. You would love her. Martha. We'll get her in on whatever she wants to be. Give her some pampering for sure. Good. And also, you should know that if there's any way we can support you, our company, our salons, our family of people in whatever it is that you're up to, whether you need products or services or gifts or gift bags or whatever.

However, we can support your mission and make sure you're you. Thank you. Get to fulfill on everything that you're up to. We're here for you. I promise you that. Thank you. That is so kind. Honestly. That is so kind. I am so thankful for people in our community that share the same mission. We do different things.

Yeah. We do very different things. But we're, we share the same mission, and frankly, it's just to make people feel like they matter. Yeah. To help people know that they matter. Yeah. That they're important. Yeah. and that what we all want in life. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, no, no different than when somebody, they think it's just a hair salon, but to me it's, it's really giving somebody something they didn't know they needed, that when they get it impacts their life.

Just giving them a little love, a little confidence. Yeah. A little self, a little. love in a way that they weren't used to getting. 'cause in this world today, the minute you pull out in the parking lot, somebody will cut you off and be upset about it. Yeah. And, just in a world where you can leave here and be okay with who you are, you can feel loved again, feel good about yourself again.

And if somebody does cut you off, you could say, I'm sorry you needed that. Let them, let, let you can say, let them, let them. There you go. I love that., it's so interesting because what you do allows me to be better at what I do. So people ask me all the time, do you ever have time for yourself?

Because I do. I work seven days a week. I work long hours. I get a blow dry every single week. Every single week. And it's, I don't miss Yeah. It's my time. Yeah. And I don't answer, I don't answer emails. I don't look at social media. That's awesome. Yeah. I get a blow dry and it's time for myself, and that recharges me.

So people, it's not just hair. Yeah. That is my time to recharge so that I can give out. Yeah. Because if my cup is empty, I have nothing to give. That's so true. Yeah. So, so thank you. Yeah, of course. Course. Thank you for doing what you do. Course. Yeah, of course. It's the one space where you can't do anything else.

You're, you have to. That's right. You're trapped there. You're, yeah, you're trapped. Thank you. Good luck on your podcast. Number two. Thank you. Of your life today. Yes, I thank you. Safe travel's up there. I know you gotta get going, so I do you.