Ying Cheng represents Arthur Murray Lincolnshire as she competes in the Final Round of the 2017 All Star Competition.
Name: Ying Cheng
Studio: Lincolnshire
Year You Started in the Business: 2009
Furthest you've made it in All Stars Before Now: I have represented as a Counselor in the Vegas Finals in 2012, 2014, and 2015.
Position: Counselor
What is the AM All Star Competition?
The Arthur Murray All Stars is a skills competition for every level of professional within each location around the world. The goal is to grow, develop, and reveal the professionals that demonstrate the best customer service, communication, problem solving, critical thinking, and teamwork skills. The competition begins in each studio and winners advance to small region, or District, competitions. From there the District winners advance to the large region, or Area, competition. Finally, the Area winners advance to the World Championships in Las Vegas where each Area team tests and one team is pronounced the winner.
More importantly, the real winners are the students of the Arthur Murray Dance Studios as these tests, and accompanying training, help to deliver better communication, teamwork, problem solving, and confidence from every member of the staff.
YC: At first I was super excited because Katie DeSalvo, representing the specialist in Lincolnshire, made it to the finals for her first time! That was my happiest and super proud moment!
My second thought is that Area 4 has to win first place this year no matter what.
AML: How did you feel going into the Semi-Finals?
YC: I felt a lot of pressure and was very stressed and excited at the same time. I kept reminding myself that this is for making the business better.
AML: What kind of last minute did you do prepare? Was there a pep talk? Did you do yoga in the hallway? Give us the scoop!
YC: I tried to go through all of the materials that we had studied in my head on more time. I took many deep breaths and pep-talked myself "Ying you got it, just be yourself."
YC: We trained the team all of the all star materials and we practiced on our students. As a result, I became a better trainer for the staff, we have better service to the students, and the studio became a stronger team.
YC: I used to be terrible at speaking and doing presentations. I was very scared at doing things in front of people including speaking and dancing. My first all star experience as a rookie was horrifying. When we did the area competition, I didn't understand the objective. My pretend couple was upset and I lost all the English vocab I knew.
I might have spoken some Chinese to them.
I remember the judges were looking at me with a confused look and I just stood there with tears in my eyes and shaking. After that incident, I felt super embarrassed for doing such a bad job in front of many coaches that I respected so much. I made a promise to myself that one day I will be excellent at speaking and doing presentations so when I become an executive and a franchisee, I will know how to train my staff.
YC: It will mean so much to me when we win it all this year! We have so many amazing trainers in Area 4. We want to make this area proud. And also, it's a special thanks to my franchisees Bryan Stewart and Chia Ling Chang who put in so many hours to train us.
YC: Definitely my amazing franchisees Bryan Stewart and Chia Ling Chang. They put their hearts in us! Also my fiance, Zach Rosen. He has been listening to me doing presentations all day long for years (Driving to work, eating lunch, eating dinner, after practice at midnight... etc.). Jill DeMarlo, Lynda smith and Leslie Spearin who also have a lot of positive influence in career at Arthur Murray.
YC: This is very special to me because as a foreigner, expressing myself in English sometimes is not the easiest thing. I feel very empowered to get to this point in my career in such a supportive organization. It is reaffirming that as long as you believe in yourself and work really hard, you can overcome any fear and achieve anything in life.
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