July 7, 2025 • 15 mins
What makes Wavery Jones with Empyrean Arts a good neighbor?
Ever wondered what it takes to fly through the air with grace, build strength while creating art, or start a business that transforms lives through movement? Waverly Jones, co-owner of Empyrean Arts, shares her remarkable journey from recreational gymnast to aerial arts entrepreneur in this captivating conversation.
Waverly takes us behind the scenes of her movement arts facility, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this July. The studio offers an impressive array of disciplines including aerial silks, static trapeze, dance trapeze, pole arts, flexibility training, and inversion practices. Guest instructors regularly visit to teach specialized workshops in clowning, performance development, and acro yoga. What began as a passion project has evolved into a thriving community with 40 staff members and comprehensive teacher training programs.
What makes this story particularly compelling is Waverly's background. Without formal higher education or financial advantages, she built a successful business through determination and continuous learning. "When we opened I was 26 years old. I didn't go to college... I didn't graduate high school with the rest of my class - I dropped out and got a GED," she reveals. This candidness about overcoming obstacles makes her accomplishments all the more inspiring.
The most powerful message throughout our conversation is accessibility. Waverly shatters the common misconception that aerial arts require exceptional strength or previous experience: "Come as you are... You don't need to do 10 pull-ups to take a class." With equipment that can be adjusted for various abilities and instructors experienced in working with beginners, Empyrean creates a welcoming environment for people of all backgrounds, ages, and body types.
Ready to discover your own potential in the air? Follow Empyrean Arts on Instagram @empyrean_arts or visit empyreanarts.org to learn how you might surprise yourself with capabilities you never knew you had. As Waverly puts it, most people "leave kind of surprised at what they were able to do."
To learn more about Empyrean Arts go to:
Empyrean Arts
828-782-3321
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello there, everyone , and welcome to the Good
Neighbor Podcast.
So I am very excited to learnall about a very special guest
that's in our studio today.
And I'm sure you'll be just asexcited especially if you're a
fan of the arts because today Ihave the pleasure of introducing
your good neighbor, missWaverly Jones, who is co-owner
of Empyrean Arts.
Waverly, welcome to the show,thank you so much, I'm doing
(00:35):
good you.
I'm doing just fine.
Like I said, we're excited tolearn all about you and what you
do.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
So, if you don't mind , why don't you kick us off by
telling us about your business?
Sure, thank you for having uson the podcast.
By the way, I feel like we gotan email saying we may have been
nominated, so maybe somebodyput our name in the bucket or
something.
So thank you to that person andthanks for having us.
So our studio is a movementarts facility.
A group of us came togetherabout 12 years ago 11, 12 years
ago basically to grow more andalso to do a lot of healing
(01:11):
through movement arts.
You can also refer to us as,like performance arts, or a lot
of people will call it circusarts, as kind of an
all-encompassing term.
As far as what we do, we are anaerial and pole art studio, but
we also focus on ground-basedmovement arts like dance,
flexibility training, inversionpractice, so like headstands,
(01:31):
handstands, forearm balancingyou might also hear it called
arm balancing and then we alsobring in a lot of other guest
instructors that might hostthings like clowning or building
a performance act or one of myfavorites acro yoga.
So we have a nice space for two, three people high acrobatics,
(01:54):
and I own the space with my dearfriend, heather Poole.
We opened in July 2015.
So here, in a few weeks, we'llbe celebrating our 10th birthday
.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Wow, congratulations.
Ten years, that's nothing tosneeze at.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Thank you.
I feel the same way.
Considering even just the pastfive years, I feel very
fortunate that we are still open, considering everything.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Absolutely, absolutely Well, fascinating
Performance arts, aerial andpole art.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Uh wow, so you do the swings like uh trapeze stuff so
I think what you're thinking ofis flying trapeze when you're
swinging trapeze.
So those are two differentmodalities that we don't have
space for.
So a flying trapeze requireslike a big net, a big rig, a big
ladder.
Typically they're outside or in, like warehouses, and then
(02:48):
swinging trapeze is also reallycool.
Generally you need a lot ofheight and a lot of space.
So the artist stands on the barand nowadays we're connected to
a safety harness but they fliparound the bar moving very
dynamically.
We do static trapeze and dancetrapeze, so those are two
different types of trapezeStatic trapeze and dance trapeze
.
So those are two different typesof trapeze.
Static trapeze, if you'relooking at it from across the
(03:09):
room, is going to be a barhanging from two ropes, so it's
going to look like a rectanglefrom afar, and then dance
trapeze is a bar with two ropesthat connect at one point, so
from afar that would look morelike a triangle.
I don't do a lot of trapeze, soI want to say that the dance
trapeze artists tend to work alittle bit lower to the floor
(03:31):
than static trapeze artists, andI think there might be a lot of
heavier influence on using theropes as an apparatus as well,
and I think I hesitate tobecause I don't do a lot of
trapeze and I don't want tospeak wrong but I think with the
static trapeze people tend todo a lot more dynamic movements
(03:53):
of like, like, gymnastics typemovements or acrobatic type
movements, and for both of thoseyou'll see multiple artists on
one apparatus at a time, sothey'll do duo acts or, you know
, group acts, things like thatVery cool, fascinating.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I love it.
How did you get started in this?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
When I was a kid I did gymnastics very
recreationally.
I come from a big family.
I have four brothers and it wasdifficult for us to all be
involved in sports all the time,so there was a brief period of
time.
I want to say, when I was likeeight to 10, that I did just
like a weekly gymnastics classand I loved it.
(04:35):
I loved back then that was thenineties we had the magnificent
seven was our Olympic team andDominique Luciano was one of
those uh athletes and I justthought it was the coolest thing
.
I didn't get to keep at it likeI wanted to, so I didn't get
bored with it, I didn't overdoit.
I kind of continued having thatlonging to move in that way.
(04:57):
Fast forward, I think to like2009 or 10,.
A friend of mine went to alocal music festival and did
like a five minute silks classand came back and told me about
it because she knew I wasinterested in trying to find a
gym.
I had actually been looking foran adult gymnastics class,
which is not easy to find.
(05:17):
So she knew I was interested inthat.
She brought this idea back andshe said let's go take a class.
So we did and I was instantlyhooked.
I started taking multipleclasses a week.
I would take two to threeclasses a night, multiple times
a week.
Within the first year of takingclasses I started performing.
Actually, I want to say it waslike seven months.
(05:40):
I rehearsed for a performancetroupe and got in.
I started performing Shortlyafter that.
I started teaching beginnersand kids classes and workshops.
I then started traveling andhosting specialty workshops that
featured material I puttogether that was specific to me
and my interests and then webuilt a teacher training program
(06:03):
.
So that's a big part of my focusnow is training other
instructors, with less emphasison performing and specialty
workshops.
We built the teacher trainingspecifically for our space and
we built them through a friendof ours who had already been
offering pole teacher trainingsand that's how we learned how to
(06:25):
do and teach pole at our space,because I really only had a lot
of aerial background when weopened.
So, yeah, we built theseteacher training programs.
We have really greatcurriculums.
There's clear progressions forstudents.
There's kind of clearexpectations of what's needed to
be in each level.
So, yeah, that's that's kind ofmy background in aerial and
(06:47):
nowadays coaching students andother instructors is kind of my
focus.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Wow.
So, pardon me, is the teachertraining program?
Is that a larger portion ofwhat you do?
Or what's your main, I guess,product that you offer?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Through the studio or through, like Waverly Jones.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Either one.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
For a while there there was like I was kind of
managing two different entitiesor two businesses.
There was like me as theperformer instructor that would
travel, and then I also had mystudio, empyrean Arts.
Nowadays my main focus ismainly Empyrean Arts, local
things, local teaching, localworkshops and stuff like that.
I do occasionally still offersome teacher trainings at other
(07:35):
studios where people are invitedto come participate, whether
it's their instructors or otherpeople in the area that just
want some sort of course to kindof give them some guidelines
and ideas about how to manage aclass and how to put together
your own timelines and that sortof thing.
So nowadays Empyrean Arts iskind of my main focus.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Very good, Very good.
Well, outside of work.
If there is time outside ofwork, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
I am teaching pretty lightly nowadays.
I do a lot of studio admin onthe computer and then when I'm
not working I spend a lot oftime outside, especially this
time of year.
My yard, I love my yard.
Whoever lived here before meput a lot of beautiful stuff
around.
I have a lot of hibiscus bushesgrowing and a lot of just like
(08:22):
kind of tropical plants, so itfeels like a little tropical
oasis and just living in WesternNorth Carolina and being close
to Tennessee, of course we do alot of stuff outside in the
woods and like walking my dogand I just try to be outside as
much as possible.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Could you describe a hardship or a life challenge
that you've overcome and how itmade you stronger coming out the
other side?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, I would say opening the business and keeping
it open for 10 years.
When we opened I was 26 yearsold.
I didn't go to college.
I went, did a couple of yearsat community college but I
didn't get any certificates.
I didn't.
I didn't graduate high schoolwith the rest of my class I
(09:04):
dropped out and got a GED.
So I feel like I was kind ofuntethered and just kind of
unsure about where my life wasgoing to take me of untethered
and just kind of unsure aboutwhere my life was going to take
me, considering I didn't havelike a scholastic path.
So I think, just yeah, comingfrom not a super wealthy family
we were poor.
(09:25):
So coming from like not a lotof money and like just some
adversities I faced in life andopening a business in general is
just kind of a feat for anyoneKeeping it open through.
Everything that we've gonethrough, like locally and
nationally and like the world atlarge over the past few years,
is kind of a feat.
You know we saw a lot of spaceslike ours close.
(09:47):
I experienced a lot of anxietyin opening the space.
At first it felt like a reallybig project that I was like
presenting to Asheville andWestern North Carolina and I
just took it very seriously.
So it mentally it took its tollon me, um, so I guess, in short
, just opening the space,keeping it running, um, and then
(10:10):
, as far as how it's helped meoutside of being a business
owner, I feel like I have bettercommunication skills.
I feel like I have gotten betterabout having difficult
conversations with people.
I wouldn't say I'm better atstarting them.
I always struggle with thatright, like it's hard to start
difficult conversations, but Ifeel better at being able to
(10:30):
regulate my emotions whentalking to people.
We have 40 staff members, so Ifeel better at being able to
regulate my emotions whentalking to people.
We have 40 staff members, soI'm in contact with people on a
daily basis and sometimes it'slike difficult things we have to
talk about, but overall I feellike I've gotten better about
that and that's also leaked outinto my personal life to getting
better about communicating withmy loved ones, people close to
(10:52):
me.
So, um, yeah, I think owningthe business has been great.
As a business owner, but alsoas just like a human on planet
earth, I feel like it's.
It's helped me improve a lot,uh, with my interpersonal
relationships and just kind ofhow I, you know, take care of
myself.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Well, no question, it is not easy to start a business
.
It is incredibly difficult, andto keep it going and and uh uh
successfully for 10 years is anincredible feat, so
congratulations with that.
I mean this is my smallbusiness and, uh, I've been
doing this about a year and,yeah, it is not easy very
(11:31):
fulfilling and, uh, veryfulfilling and satisfying when
you can score a win.
But yeah, not nothing, not easy, not easy at all.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, you wear all the hats, don't you?
It's like I learned how to doso many different positions, a
lot of which I have been able tofill in that time, where, you
know, now I have an accountant,and now I have a social media
person, and now I have, you know, a staff liaison for somebody
that they can go to if they needhelp, you know.
(12:02):
And so, yeah, eventually itbecame a little bit more
autonomous, but, man, there wasa long time where we just wore
every single hat and that coatrack got real heavy, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Amen, amen.
I can attest so Waverly.
If you, you could think of onething that you would like our
listeners to remember aboutEmpyrean arts, and or you, what
would that be?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I'd say come as you are.
I think that a lot of peoplekind of already have an
expectation of what they can orcan't do and they think about
themselves taking a class likeones that we might offer.
It's physical, so you know, ifyou might be a person that has a
difficulty just getting in andout of the car or up and down
the stairs like you, mightalready kind of have an
(12:49):
expectation of how a class likethis might go.
We have a lot of experience.
We have a lot of experienceworking with beginners.
Our points are on pulleys.
So you know, I can hang atrapeze six inches off the
ground if I need to, I can getyou out of your wheelchair and
onto the trapeze, you know.
So, you, you, it's veryaccessible in that way for all
(13:11):
kinds of people.
So I guess I want folks torealize that that I think
typically people leave kind ofsurprised at what they were able
to do and kind of what all wasaccessible to them, considering.
You know, everything they'realready bringing with them
mentally and physically.
Yeah, I, you don't need to be.
(13:32):
You know to do 10 pull-ups tocome take a class.
You don't need excessive upperbody strength.
We can really work with peoplewhere you're at and we can.
There's so many different waysthat we can make this art
accessible to so many differentpeople ages, sizes, backgrounds,
what have you so?
Yeah, I guess.
In short, just come as you are,you know.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Awesome, come as you are.
Very good thing to remember.
Well, if any of our listenersare intrigued, as I am, and
interested in checking, checkingyou out and seeing what
opportunities there may be forfor them, specifically, how can
they learn more?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Definitely social media.
We've got Instagram, we'reEmpyrean Arts it's
E-M-P-Y-R-E-A-N space arts.
Empyrean actually is like thehighest realm of heaven that you
can be in before you're just inlike boring old outer space.
So it's kind of like as high asyou can get and still be in a
heavenly environment.
(14:29):
That's kind of the definitionof Empyrean.
And then we have a website,empyreanartsorg, and then the
best way to contact us is viaemail and our main email address
is info at empyreanartsorg.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Well, waverly, I can't tell you how much we
appreciate you taking time outof your busy schedule, and it's
been fascinating.
I can say this this is thefirst performance arts interview
that I've done, and so I'mintrigued and we really
appreciate you.
I'm sure our listeners are aswell, and thanks again for being
(15:05):
here and moving forward.
Wish you, your family and yourbusiness all the best.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Skip, thank you so much, and same to you.
I really appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Absolutely Thank you, and maybe we can have you back
sometime.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Would love that.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
All right, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnptry-citiescom.
That's gnptry-citiescom, orcall 423-719-5873.
Thank you.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello there, everyone , and welcome to the Good
Neighbor Podcast.
So I am very excited to learnall about a very special guest
that's in our studio today.
And I'm sure you'll be just asexcited especially if you're a
fan of the arts because today Ihave the pleasure of introducing
your good neighbor, missWaverly Jones, who is co-owner
of Empyrean Arts.
Waverly, welcome to the show,thank you so much, I'm doing
(00:35):
good you.
I'm doing just fine.
Like I said, we're excited tolearn all about you and what you
do.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
So, if you don't mind , why don't you kick us off by
telling us about your business?
Sure, thank you for having uson the podcast.
By the way, I feel like we gotan email saying we may have been
nominated, so maybe somebodyput our name in the bucket or
something.
So thank you to that person andthanks for having us.
So our studio is a movementarts facility.
A group of us came togetherabout 12 years ago 11, 12 years
ago basically to grow more andalso to do a lot of healing
(01:11):
through movement arts.
You can also refer to us as,like performance arts, or a lot
of people will call it circusarts, as kind of an
all-encompassing term.
As far as what we do, we are anaerial and pole art studio, but
we also focus on ground-basedmovement arts like dance,
flexibility training, inversionpractice, so like headstands,
(01:31):
handstands, forearm balancingyou might also hear it called
arm balancing and then we alsobring in a lot of other guest
instructors that might hostthings like clowning or building
a performance act or one of myfavorites acro yoga.
So we have a nice space for two, three people high acrobatics,
(01:54):
and I own the space with my dearfriend, heather Poole.
We opened in July 2015.
So here, in a few weeks, we'llbe celebrating our 10th birthday
.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Wow, congratulations.
Ten years, that's nothing tosneeze at.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Thank you.
I feel the same way.
Considering even just the pastfive years, I feel very
fortunate that we are still open, considering everything.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Absolutely, absolutely Well, fascinating
Performance arts, aerial andpole art.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Uh wow, so you do the swings like uh trapeze stuff so
I think what you're thinking ofis flying trapeze when you're
swinging trapeze.
So those are two differentmodalities that we don't have
space for.
So a flying trapeze requireslike a big net, a big rig, a big
ladder.
Typically they're outside or in, like warehouses, and then
(02:48):
swinging trapeze is also reallycool.
Generally you need a lot ofheight and a lot of space.
So the artist stands on the barand nowadays we're connected to
a safety harness but they fliparound the bar moving very
dynamically.
We do static trapeze and dancetrapeze, so those are two
different types of trapezeStatic trapeze and dance trapeze
.
So those are two different typesof trapeze.
Static trapeze, if you'relooking at it from across the
(03:09):
room, is going to be a barhanging from two ropes, so it's
going to look like a rectanglefrom afar, and then dance
trapeze is a bar with two ropesthat connect at one point, so
from afar that would look morelike a triangle.
I don't do a lot of trapeze, soI want to say that the dance
trapeze artists tend to work alittle bit lower to the floor
(03:31):
than static trapeze artists, andI think there might be a lot of
heavier influence on using theropes as an apparatus as well,
and I think I hesitate tobecause I don't do a lot of
trapeze and I don't want tospeak wrong but I think with the
static trapeze people tend todo a lot more dynamic movements
(03:53):
of like, like, gymnastics typemovements or acrobatic type
movements, and for both of thoseyou'll see multiple artists on
one apparatus at a time, sothey'll do duo acts or, you know
, group acts, things like thatVery cool, fascinating.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
I love it.
How did you get started in this?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
When I was a kid I did gymnastics very
recreationally.
I come from a big family.
I have four brothers and it wasdifficult for us to all be
involved in sports all the time,so there was a brief period of
time.
I want to say, when I was likeeight to 10, that I did just
like a weekly gymnastics classand I loved it.
(04:35):
I loved back then that was thenineties we had the magnificent
seven was our Olympic team andDominique Luciano was one of
those uh athletes and I justthought it was the coolest thing
.
I didn't get to keep at it likeI wanted to, so I didn't get
bored with it, I didn't overdoit.
I kind of continued having thatlonging to move in that way.
(04:57):
Fast forward, I think to like2009 or 10,.
A friend of mine went to alocal music festival and did
like a five minute silks classand came back and told me about
it because she knew I wasinterested in trying to find a
gym.
I had actually been looking foran adult gymnastics class,
which is not easy to find.
(05:17):
So she knew I was interested inthat.
She brought this idea back andshe said let's go take a class.
So we did and I was instantlyhooked.
I started taking multipleclasses a week.
I would take two to threeclasses a night, multiple times
a week.
Within the first year of takingclasses I started performing.
Actually, I want to say it waslike seven months.
(05:40):
I rehearsed for a performancetroupe and got in.
I started performing Shortlyafter that.
I started teaching beginnersand kids classes and workshops.
I then started traveling andhosting specialty workshops that
featured material I puttogether that was specific to me
and my interests and then webuilt a teacher training program
(06:03):
.
So that's a big part of my focusnow is training other
instructors, with less emphasison performing and specialty
workshops.
We built the teacher trainingspecifically for our space and
we built them through a friendof ours who had already been
offering pole teacher trainingsand that's how we learned how to
(06:25):
do and teach pole at our space,because I really only had a lot
of aerial background when weopened.
So, yeah, we built theseteacher training programs.
We have really greatcurriculums.
There's clear progressions forstudents.
There's kind of clearexpectations of what's needed to
be in each level.
So, yeah, that's that's kind ofmy background in aerial and
(06:47):
nowadays coaching students andother instructors is kind of my
focus.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Wow.
So, pardon me, is the teachertraining program?
Is that a larger portion ofwhat you do?
Or what's your main, I guess,product that you offer?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Through the studio or through, like Waverly Jones.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Either one.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
For a while there there was like I was kind of
managing two different entitiesor two businesses.
There was like me as theperformer instructor that would
travel, and then I also had mystudio, empyrean Arts.
Nowadays my main focus ismainly Empyrean Arts, local
things, local teaching, localworkshops and stuff like that.
I do occasionally still offersome teacher trainings at other
(07:35):
studios where people are invitedto come participate, whether
it's their instructors or otherpeople in the area that just
want some sort of course to kindof give them some guidelines
and ideas about how to manage aclass and how to put together
your own timelines and that sortof thing.
So nowadays Empyrean Arts iskind of my main focus.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Very good, Very good.
Well, outside of work.
If there is time outside ofwork, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 3 (08:02):
I am teaching pretty lightly nowadays.
I do a lot of studio admin onthe computer and then when I'm
not working I spend a lot oftime outside, especially this
time of year.
My yard, I love my yard.
Whoever lived here before meput a lot of beautiful stuff
around.
I have a lot of hibiscus bushesgrowing and a lot of just like
(08:22):
kind of tropical plants, so itfeels like a little tropical
oasis and just living in WesternNorth Carolina and being close
to Tennessee, of course we do alot of stuff outside in the
woods and like walking my dogand I just try to be outside as
much as possible.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Could you describe a hardship or a life challenge
that you've overcome and how itmade you stronger coming out the
other side?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, I would say opening the business and keeping
it open for 10 years.
When we opened I was 26 yearsold.
I didn't go to college.
I went, did a couple of yearsat community college but I
didn't get any certificates.
I didn't.
I didn't graduate high schoolwith the rest of my class I
(09:04):
dropped out and got a GED.
So I feel like I was kind ofuntethered and just kind of
unsure about where my life wasgoing to take me of untethered
and just kind of unsure aboutwhere my life was going to take
me, considering I didn't havelike a scholastic path.
So I think, just yeah, comingfrom not a super wealthy family
we were poor.
(09:25):
So coming from like not a lotof money and like just some
adversities I faced in life andopening a business in general is
just kind of a feat for anyoneKeeping it open through.
Everything that we've gonethrough, like locally and
nationally and like the world atlarge over the past few years,
is kind of a feat.
You know we saw a lot of spaceslike ours close.
(09:47):
I experienced a lot of anxietyin opening the space.
At first it felt like a reallybig project that I was like
presenting to Asheville andWestern North Carolina and I
just took it very seriously.
So it mentally it took its tollon me, um, so I guess, in short
, just opening the space,keeping it running, um, and then
(10:10):
, as far as how it's helped meoutside of being a business
owner, I feel like I have bettercommunication skills.
I feel like I have gotten betterabout having difficult
conversations with people.
I wouldn't say I'm better atstarting them.
I always struggle with thatright, like it's hard to start
difficult conversations, but Ifeel better at being able to
(10:30):
regulate my emotions whentalking to people.
We have 40 staff members, so Ifeel better at being able to
regulate my emotions whentalking to people.
We have 40 staff members, soI'm in contact with people on a
daily basis and sometimes it'slike difficult things we have to
talk about, but overall I feellike I've gotten better about
that and that's also leaked outinto my personal life to getting
better about communicating withmy loved ones, people close to
(10:52):
me.
So, um, yeah, I think owningthe business has been great.
As a business owner, but alsoas just like a human on planet
earth, I feel like it's.
It's helped me improve a lot,uh, with my interpersonal
relationships and just kind ofhow I, you know, take care of
myself.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Well, no question, it is not easy to start a business
.
It is incredibly difficult, andto keep it going and and uh uh
successfully for 10 years is anincredible feat, so
congratulations with that.
I mean this is my smallbusiness and, uh, I've been
doing this about a year and,yeah, it is not easy very
(11:31):
fulfilling and, uh, veryfulfilling and satisfying when
you can score a win.
But yeah, not nothing, not easy, not easy at all.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, you wear all the hats, don't you?
It's like I learned how to doso many different positions, a
lot of which I have been able tofill in that time, where, you
know, now I have an accountant,and now I have a social media
person, and now I have, you know, a staff liaison for somebody
that they can go to if they needhelp, you know.
(12:02):
And so, yeah, eventually itbecame a little bit more
autonomous, but, man, there wasa long time where we just wore
every single hat and that coatrack got real heavy, you know.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Amen, amen.
I can attest so Waverly.
If you, you could think of onething that you would like our
listeners to remember aboutEmpyrean arts, and or you, what
would that be?
Speaker 3 (12:28):
I'd say come as you are.
I think that a lot of peoplekind of already have an
expectation of what they can orcan't do and they think about
themselves taking a class likeones that we might offer.
It's physical, so you know, ifyou might be a person that has a
difficulty just getting in andout of the car or up and down
the stairs like you, mightalready kind of have an
(12:49):
expectation of how a class likethis might go.
We have a lot of experience.
We have a lot of experienceworking with beginners.
Our points are on pulleys.
So you know, I can hang atrapeze six inches off the
ground if I need to, I can getyou out of your wheelchair and
onto the trapeze, you know.
So, you, you, it's veryaccessible in that way for all
(13:11):
kinds of people.
So I guess I want folks torealize that that I think
typically people leave kind ofsurprised at what they were able
to do and kind of what all wasaccessible to them, considering.
You know, everything they'realready bringing with them
mentally and physically.
Yeah, I, you don't need to be.
(13:32):
You know to do 10 pull-ups tocome take a class.
You don't need excessive upperbody strength.
We can really work with peoplewhere you're at and we can.
There's so many different waysthat we can make this art
accessible to so many differentpeople ages, sizes, backgrounds,
what have you so?
Yeah, I guess.
In short, just come as you are,you know.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Awesome, come as you are.
Very good thing to remember.
Well, if any of our listenersare intrigued, as I am, and
interested in checking, checkingyou out and seeing what
opportunities there may be forfor them, specifically, how can
they learn more?
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Definitely social media.
We've got Instagram, we'reEmpyrean Arts it's
E-M-P-Y-R-E-A-N space arts.
Empyrean actually is like thehighest realm of heaven that you
can be in before you're just inlike boring old outer space.
So it's kind of like as high asyou can get and still be in a
heavenly environment.
(14:29):
That's kind of the definitionof Empyrean.
And then we have a website,empyreanartsorg, and then the
best way to contact us is viaemail and our main email address
is info at empyreanartsorg.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Well, waverly, I can't tell you how much we
appreciate you taking time outof your busy schedule, and it's
been fascinating.
I can say this this is thefirst performance arts interview
that I've done, and so I'mintrigued and we really
appreciate you.
I'm sure our listeners are aswell, and thanks again for being
(15:05):
here and moving forward.
Wish you, your family and yourbusiness all the best.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Skip, thank you so much, and same to you.
I really appreciate the time.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Absolutely Thank you, and maybe we can have you back
sometime.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Would love that.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
All right, thanks so much.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnptry-citiescom.
That's gnptry-citiescom, orcall 423-719-5873.
Thank you.
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