Hopefully, with enough courage, you can laugh at the things that used to scare you.
For Jasmine Ventocilla, the thing that used to scare her is now something she looks forward to on the calendar. You see, this Arthur Murray Fremont Office Manager, has had aspirations of pushing her boundaries in the All Star competition, and now, with a new mindset, she's already exceeded that goal.
Here's her story of how she got here, and what it all means.
What is the AM All Star Competition?
The Arthur Murray All Stars, officially referred to as the George B. Theiss All Star Competition for the late president of the company, 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.
AML: What was you reaction to learning that you advanced?
JV: I was excited! There are people who work well under pressure, and there are people who don't. I've always thought of myself as leaning towards the category of people who do. There's something validating about how well I actually did in a test situation like that.
AML: How do you think The All-Star Competition helps the AM Industry?
JV: I think the most important way it helps is if we apply the training we get for the testing into real life situations inside the studio. Being able to communicate and problem solve naturally in the studio makes the us all better.
JV: I feel like my nightmare All-Star round wouldn't even have anything to do with the round prompts. It would be like a huge wardrobe malfunction in the middle of the test in front of a panel of all my biggest company crushes.
JV: Like you would train for anything, I suppose. Make a game plan, run through scrimmage mocks, upgrade and improve where I can and need to, and execute it as best as you can on game day.
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