November 20, 2023 • 32 mins
A New Wave in Music Education
Welcome to a special episode that introduces Dani Fiore, a pioneering music educator whose vision is reshaping the landscape of music learning. Dani stands out in their field for an unwavering commitment to creating a nurturing, inclusive, and safe environment for students of all backgrounds. The approach is not just about teaching music; it's about using music as a transformative tool to build community, foster self-esteem, and encourage emotional expression in a supportive setting.
Beyond Notes and Rhythms: Building Inclusive Spaces
Dani's philosophy goes beyond traditional music teaching methods. They believe in the power of music to unite and heal, and their teaching style reflects this deeply. In their classroom, music becomes a language of inclusivity, where every note and rhythm weaves a tapestry of diverse voices and experiences. Dani emphasizes the importance of creating a space where students feel safe to express themselves, explore their identities, and connect with others, free from judgment or bias.
Empowering Through Music
In our conversation, Dani shares their journey and the inspirations behind their innovative teaching methods. They talks about the challenges they faced in traditional music education settings and how these experiences shaped their vision. Their story is one of resilience and passion, as they works tirelessly to ensure that their students not only learn music but also gain confidence, empathy, and a sense of belonging. Through their work, Dani is empowering the next generation of musicians and music lovers, instilling in them values of respect, diversity, and inclusivity.
The Impact of a Safe Learning Environment
Dani delves into the transformative impact a safe and inclusive learning environment has on students. They shares heartwarming stories of students who found their voice, overcame personal challenges, and developed a newfound appreciation for music and community. These narratives underscore the profound influence a supportive and understanding educator can have on the lives of young learners.
Innovative Techniques and Inclusive Curriculum
Listeners will get an insight into Dani's innovative teaching techniques and curriculum design. They discuss how she incorporates elements of various musical genres and cultures to create a rich, diverse learning experience. Dani also talks about her strategies for ensuring that each student's unique background and learning style is acknowledged and catered to in their lessons.
Support Dani and Empowered Music : Patreon (current programs and needs) or Scholarship for Students
The Patreon subscription opportunity for anyone who resonates with our mission and would like to contribute on a monthly basis: https://www.patreon.com/empoweredmusic
There’s also a scholarship fund to pay for workshop fees/tuition for students experiencing financial hardship: https://www.empoweredmusicpa.com/support-us
Website: http://www.empoweredmusicpa.com
Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/empoweredmusicpa
Intagram Profile: https://www.instagram.com/empoweredmusicpa
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/100193088/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/danifiore
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Josh Meeder (00:00):
Welcome to the great things LLC podcast, the
show that celebrates people whoare making an impact on the
world, people creating consciousbusinesses that are in alignment
with their own personal values.
Each episode shares the wisdom,experience and the intentions of
those that are following theirdreams. visionaries who have
chosen a different path, foundtheir purpose, and create joy
(00:21):
and abundance while helpingothers. Whether you're already a
trailblazer, we're stillsearching for your path. The
stories will inspire you towardsbeing the best version of
yourself. Hello, friends,welcome to the third episode in
the third season of the greatthings, LLC podcast. My name is
Josh Meeder. I'm your host andtoday I have with me, a very
special guests that I'm excitedto share their story. This is
(00:43):
Danny Fiore of empowered musiceducators. So welcome, Danny.
Dani Fiore (00:49):
Hi, thanks for having me.
Josh Meeder (00:51):
So Danny, we're gonna jump into the story. But
before we get started, I justwant to give people a little bit
about your background, becausewhat we're talking about today
is that you've created thisamazing, inclusive, awesome
music studio and business, butwe want to start kind of back
where you started. So whenyou're a little person, where
did that love of music come infor you? Was there anyone who
kind of fostered it orencouraged for you? That's
Dani Fiore (01:13):
a really good question. Because neither of my
parents are musicians. And, butwhat they did was there was
always music on in the house. Soit was, you know, I grew up in
the, like late 80s, early 90s,mid 90s, kind of you know, and
it was like, where you had theTV on in one room and the radio
(01:33):
on another it was like chaos.
But so I was always surroundedby music, they had MTV or VH one
or and then you know, Z 100 or,you know, one of the New York,
New Jersey radio stations, goingconstantly. So I think I just
absorbed all that stuff like asponge. And for whatever reason,
it really excited me. And Iwould do kind of these, you
(01:56):
know, mini performances as kidsdo. But I think for me, it felt
more real. And I wanted it to bemore real. So who knows maybe if
that's where the passion firststarted. But as far as
encouraging that my parents weregreat about encouraging me to
get involved in music, eventhough they weren't, which is,
(02:17):
you know, I don't know howcommon that is, a lot of times,
you know, we want to divert ourkids to the things that that we
like and or that we're involvedin, and they they were like,
okay, cool, you're into music,and they definitely helped me
with obtaining differentinstruments. And even when, you
know, my interests would change.
(02:40):
I think I picked up oddly enougha bass, bass guitar first. And
then I want a sixth string. Andthat was all I want drums and,
and that's where I finally foundmy my true passion. My first
real love in rhythm anddrumming. So,
Josh Meeder (02:55):
okay, I was curious where the drumming came in. I
know that is a big, big part ofwhat you do. And I think your
story is actually not thatuncommon, a lot of parents that
don't have musical ability, Ithink it's kind of scary for
them to encourage their kidsbecause they don't know how to
support them. So lovely that youhad supportive parents in that
now. Did you participate in inschool musical? Was it outside
(03:19):
with the just kind of lessons?
What was your early days? Yeah,
Dani Fiore (03:24):
it was all in school, actually, this is this
influences. Mostly in school,I'll get to that this influences
the way that I teach. Because Idid not have private drum
lessons. I learned everything inschool, which is for like a
school band director, you know,they've got kind of the basic
(03:45):
knowledge of all theinstruments, they, they can't
really go deeper, depending onwhat instrument they play. And I
was not surrounded by drummentors, I just wasn't. So I
learned how to read notation inschool. And I was just so into
it. And my friends were so intoit, that we learned on our own.
(04:08):
And we would listen to, youknow, CDs or the radio and try
to just copy note for noteexactly what everybody was
playing. And my friends who werebetter than me, they would get
it first and then I would learnit from them. So, you know, I
really have a very self taughtmindset, self taught background
(04:28):
for the most part. I had amentor later on. I took vocal
lessons for a short period. Andmy teacher in Jersey, her name
is Jody Joseph. And she I thinkhad a really large impact on the
way that I teach now because itwas very much like she was also
(04:51):
not, to my knowledge, notclassically trained to think she
had a college degree in music oranything. But she was just so
passionate about it and so Werevery talented. And she taught in
a way that was not just about,like, let's show up in, you
know, read the page, it waslike, you know, let's think
(05:11):
about how we're feeling. Andlet's learn about how you know
how to how to get our feelingsout by writing a song about it.
And I didn't know how to do anyof that stuff. So, you know,
between between Jodi and JerryRamana was my other mentor in
school, he was my band director,another above and beyond kind of
kind of person where it wasn'tjust about, you know, you're,
(05:34):
you're my student, and we'regonna play and go home. And he
really took his time with me toget me excited about other
things outside of school band,he was like, why don't you check
out, you know, Drum and BugleCorps, he would pass me CDs,
like all the time, why don't youlisten to this new jazz CD, you
know. And so we formed a bondand a relationship around that
(05:55):
that was, again, deeper thanjust kind of an academic surface
relationship. And both of thosementors in my early days really
informed how I teach and how Iperform now. Yeah,
Josh Meeder (06:08):
well shout out to not only those mentors, but the
those teachers that reallyinstalled the passion and the
excitement, not just theacademic learning. Let's fast
forward a couple years, so thatthere is some point that you got
into the music profession froman educational standpoint, and
that's leading up to where we'regoing. So you know, just
briefly, what where did youstart teaching? How did that
(06:31):
come about? And what did it looklike for you? At first?
Dani Fiore (06:34):
I was 17. And I, my parents, I think it was my
parents had a friend who had akid who was just a little bit
younger than me, and it juststarted playing guitar. And, and
it was like, would you want to,you know, have him over and
teach him a couple things. Andthat's that was it like that was
(06:54):
my first experience of showingsomeone else how to play an
instrument that I really barelyknew how to play. But you know,
again, is set like, just, youknow, leading with whatever
little knowledge that you have,even if it's just a little bit
more than the person behind you.
So that was a great experience.
And I just did that out of myhouse once a week. And then I
(07:17):
think it was like, Well, I canif I can do this with one
person, I can do this with acouple people. And I started
reaching out a little bit. Andto be honest, I don't remember
how because this was pre socialmedia. So I really am not sure
but I started making contactwith folks. And I was just
driving. Once I got my driver'slicense, I would put my guitar
(07:38):
in the car, drive around todifferent students homes and
just in teach them right therein their house. And that's how
it all got started.
Josh Meeder (07:46):
Oh, I love that one just being of close to your
generation a little previous isyeah, the prior to social media,
how things conducted its, youknow, kids today won't
understand that. Yep. Oh, so sothen you eventually started
teaching and you're in thecentral eastern part of
Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg.
So you were teaching as aninstructor in a music school.
(08:09):
But then something somethingreally unfortunate and ugly
happened. So if you want to tellus where the genesis of that
came from, to get us here todayto unpowered music.
Dani Fiore (08:21):
Yeah, so this is the birth story of empowered, and
I'm really happy to talk aboutit. I was at a private art
school here in Central PA andfor five years, and really got a
chance having a home base tobuild up my business. You know,
driving around to studentshomes, is one thing but having
(08:42):
somewhere you know, a collectivewith other teachers, other
students. And, and a brick andmortar building a place to be it
was a really good grounding forme to to actually grow.
Somewhere in that five yearmark, it was actually in April,
there was an incident ofharassment, it was actually an
(09:02):
incident of anti LGBT harassmentfrom one of the other members
inside the organization. And Ithought, you know, okay, I can
handle this. This, this happensto our community quite a bit. It
hasn't happened to me like this.
But all right, I'll, you know,go to my mentors will figure out
how to handle this. And itreally just didn't get handled
(09:26):
well. The leadership wasn'texactly set up to handle it. And
as it escalated, I had to figureout another situation. I had to
figure out how to get mystudents and myself somewhere
that we could still do thisreally important work that we've
(09:49):
been doing for the last fiveyears this this was this was
very important and it was, youknow, not to be squandered. This
is again, it's we're going we'regoing deep so I wanted to take
Are the students and myself?
Because I've put a lot into itas well. So I just started
reaching out to other schools inthe area to see, okay, you know,
(10:12):
how do you guys feel about this?
I'm coming in I got students,you know, or is this an
inclusive environment? Are wegoing to be safe here. And
unfortunately, none, none of theother institutions around here
were were set up for, for what Ineeded. And that was a really
scary time, there was a coupleof months over the summer that
(10:32):
were just, you know, my wholelivelihood was, I could just see
it crashing down, not only mylivelihood, and you know, taking
care of my own family, but mystudents, my students, well,
being their their, you know,attachment to music, and, you
know, was all coming crashingdown. And I had no idea what I
(10:55):
was going to do.
Josh Meeder (10:59):
Yeah, I can't imagine the, the tension in the
fear of that. And, you know, andI love the place of
responsibility to the students,because it as you, you've shown
me, it's not just a teachingrelationship. It's it's a
personal development, it's anencouragement, there's a much
broader action happening withinyour music studio. So, you know,
(11:23):
what were some of those? Whatwere some of those challenges?
And you know, those fears? Andreally, how did you get through
them? Because through yourstory, you move this through
very quickly from from awfulnessto beauty in a matter of months,
which is not common.
Dani Fiore (11:40):
Yeah, I recognize that. And I guess, you know,
there were a lot of things, youknow, seen and unseen on my
side, I don't know how else tosay it, I had a mentor who said
something, to me that that wasso profound, it stayed with me
every day, for years, and shesaid, nothing falls into your
lap for no reason. And this wasone of those situations where
(12:04):
things started, quote, fallinginto my lap. And, and I had to
trust that there was a reasonfor that, and, and keep putting
one foot in front of the other.
So, you know, like I said, oneof the challenges was not being
able to find a space that fitmy, my needs. And, and then the
other challenge was, it becamefinances, it became like, Okay,
well, if you can't just slideinto another, you know, space
(12:27):
that's already made for you, itlooks like you're gonna have to
make one, you're gonna have tomake a space where you fit. And
so I just started reaching outto people who knew about things
that I know absolutely nothingabout, like, real estate, and
accounting. You know, I'm not,I've never owned a business, you
know, really like this before Ijust, I teach music, you know, I
(12:52):
play music. This is this isoutside of my areas of
expertise. So I got hooked upwith with someone who knew about
commercial real estate, and theyjust so happened to have a
building available. That wasright in the price range that I
figured out I could afford. AndI so at that time, I think it
(13:14):
was July, that the tenant wasmoving out the current the
tenant was in there, and Julywas my month off. And that was
one of those often falls intoyour lap for no reason moments
like, this is lining up for you.
Go with it, you know. So I wasto begin teaching in August,
(13:37):
that I didn't, there's not a lotof time there. So I just said,
Okay, let's sign this lease. Ilike like, let's go. And I just
dove in with both feet, notreally knowing how it was going
to work out. But what I did knowis that I was going to make it
work out, if that makes sense.
So yep, sign the lease and on toother instructors from my
(14:01):
previous location actuallydecided to come with me, they
thought that what happened overthere was not acceptable to them
or to anyone or to me. And sothey said, We want to join you.
And so that took an enormousfinancial burden off of because
I was going to be paying forthis by myself. Like I said, I'm
(14:22):
gonna make it work. I gotta dothis. And then something else
fell into my lap. So I had to,okay, all right. There's a
reason for this. I'm gonna gowith it. And so now two of them
came over with me. And then Ialso did, I had help from, from
the community. I had help frommy students, my students,
families, everyone cametogether. In light of what
(14:43):
happened. It was reallybeautiful. To see people who
seemingly were not affected. Butthey were, you know, they were
affected because I was affectedand I think it showed them that
it mattered. I think it reallyHe showed everyone around that
when, you know, one of us andpeople when one of us is getting
(15:05):
hurt or attacked or, orsomething that it really does
affect each and every one of usthat are nearby. So they, they
came together, some peopledonated money, some people
donated equipment. It was it wasquite awesome. So with all of
that support, we were reallyable to launch we had, we had a
(15:25):
window of four days from whenthe old tenant was leaving, and
when lessons would start. And Iwas at the great rhythm revival.
So there was a very short windowthat we could move everything in
and get it done. And everyonejust came together. I have
people calling me showing up,can I help move things, you
(15:48):
know, in this in this four daysthat we put everything up, and
we did it
Josh Meeder (15:55):
that I love the advice that you got in a lot of
people turn away from or runfrom adversity, no one welcomes
it. But when it when it comes toyou followed your heart, your
passion and your beliefs, whichI think is really hard to stop
in any any scenario. And thatadversity really builds the
(16:17):
strength and you know, wonderfulfor the community for friends
popping out of the woodwork. Iknow, you had to not only fill
the space and get ready, but youhad to, you know, source all the
instruments and having all thatstuff come together in such a
short period of time is nothingshort of amazing. Now, now
you're in empowered, and let'stalk about empowered. Like,
(16:39):
first off, let's start about thevision and the underlying
because it is much broader thanjust teaching kids how to play
an instrument.
Dani Fiore (16:50):
Yeah, you're right kids and adults to that. So
that's part of it a greater partof it as well that it's anyone,
regardless of your perceivedmusical ability, I kind of made
it important point to sayperceived because a lot of
people, you know, might thinkthey don't have musical ability.
But, you know, I believe it's ineach and every one of us. So
(17:14):
anyone regardless of thatperceived ability can you know,
get started, can keep going, andthey can get better, and they're
gonna have fun doing it. So thatthat's like my main mission,
every day when I when I walk inthe classroom, I think that,
that anyone can do this, andwe're definitely going to have
fun. So, you know, and byanyone, I really do mean anyone,
(17:38):
and especially folks that havehad challenges that have kept
them from pursuing music,whatever those challenges might
be, they could be societalchallenges, they could be
personal, internal challenges.
And we really want to make anexample of, you know, I thought
I couldn't do this, we reallywant to make examples of those
(18:00):
each and every day. So I workwith a lot of people who've got
tons of anxiety, I work withpeople who've got physical,
mental disabilities, ADHD,autism spectrum, Parkinson's,
you know, and then just kind ofgeneral depression, you know,
(18:21):
people that just have likethings that are like would stop
them, you know, in any othercircumstance. And if it's not
fun, they're not, they're notgoing to want to keep coming
back. And that's the piece thatallows us, you know, the Getting
Started part is sometimes easy.
(18:42):
The keeping going part is thisbig hump in the middle that
that's where we, you know, dothe most work to keep people
engaged, keep people involved,because that's how we actually
get to the part where, over thathump, that you're having a ton
of fun playing an instrument. So
Josh Meeder (19:00):
the identifying someone's perceived musical
ability is fabulous, because weall have that self limiting
belief. You know, I'll justshare my personal stories. You
see my drum behind me? Well, acouple years ago, I was invited
to the first drum circle, andI'm like, I do not have any
rhythm at all. And I went, andyou know, it didn't matter. The
(19:21):
drum circle itself brought outthat that excitement, I'm like,
Well, I'm terrible, but I'mhaving a lot of fun, and just
stuck with it. And it wasbecause of that environment of
one. It was exploration, it wascreativity. There was a safety
and there was a laughter aroundit. So the ability to show that
to kids to get them out, breaksdown that barrier. And also, I
(19:41):
think in our earlierconversations, you may, you
know, seeing kids who might bemarginalized or underserved when
they see someone else that looksor feels or sounds like them,
it's got to bring them forwardand giving them that competence
to step up and try somethingnew. Now, one of the things I
loved about what you're doing,not only from the inclusiveness
(20:05):
and the fun in the teaching, youknow, here, we talk a lot about
business as well. And youcreated a wonderful model on how
you treat your students andparents from almost almost a
subscription basis. And if youwant to talk a little bit about
how your studio handlesindividual and group lessons, I
think it's fascinating andreally, really welcoming and
(20:25):
easy for people to step into.
Dani Fiore (20:28):
Yeah, great question. Um, lesson music
lessons business is, you know,at least around here, there's a
standard of studio fee whereteachers will pay by the time
slot that they teach. And wenormally teach in half hour
increments. So if you have 3040students, and you're counting up
(20:52):
half hours each week, it becomesreally tedious. And then also,
you've got to do hours of thatwork on paper. And then you have
to relay that to each and everyone of your, you know, however
many students you have, thatcould be 10 students, but it
could be 40. So this is a verytime consuming, very tedious
thing. And I just thought, why.
Maybe we can simplify thisbecause the easier it is, it's
(21:16):
just like teaching theinstrument, the easier it is,
and the more fun we're having,the more we're going to do it.
Not that paying for lessons isalways like the most fun thing,
but you get what, you know, themore ease with which we have it,
you know, the more likely theyare to do it. And so I yeah,
just decided, why don't wesimplify this, I'm just going to
(21:39):
take all the lessons that Iteach per year, divide that, you
know, multiply that by mycurrent rate divided by how many
weeks I'm there, and we have anaverage that we can go
subscription each month. Sobasically, how it works is they
have a flat rate each month, andwhether the calendar spits out
four or five weeks for them thatmonth. It's the same price every
single month, nobody has tothink about it or contact me
(22:02):
every month. You know, it's justthere. And it's all laid out and
very easy to follow.
Josh Meeder (22:10):
Yeah, that's, that's, to me. It's brilliant.
You know, as a parent who had ason who tried a music lesson
once, it was like, Okay, howmany times how did you go? If
you just know what it is, youknow? Oh, that's easy. That's in
the budget. That's great. Nowyou've been in so your student
base has grown and your teacherbase is expanding as well.
Dani Fiore (22:31):
Yeah, yeah, we have five teachers now total,
including myself, teaching avariety of different
instruments. We've got guitar,drums, voice, piano, flute,
trumpet, and actually evenmixing audio engineering,
covered through our fiveteachers. So the
Josh Meeder (22:49):
school has been welcomed in the community, and
how is it being seen? How's itgetting out to the community?
Dani Fiore (22:56):
Great question. So I play drums for a band. And my
bandmates are really, reallysupportive. And they're behind
my model. They're behindeverything that we're doing and
empowered. And so we had thiscollaborative idea that maybe on
some of our gigs, we can invitesome students to sit in with us.
(23:18):
And this has been reallyexciting. I think it's one of
the most exciting parts and oneof the most engaging parts of
our of our program that thestudents get mentors in the
music industry, just like I didwhen I was young. So we have
them learn a song, from usuallyone of our original tunes,
actually, which is prettyimpressive for the students. And
(23:42):
we invite them to come sit inwith us on the gig. And what
this does is it gets the studentup on a stage in an atmosphere
where maybe they thought theywould never be. So getting the
students on stage. They'recontributing to visibility
there, they're actually in a waythey're giving back without even
knowing it. I'm getting up onstage. I and I'm out in the LGBT
(24:07):
community. I've been out for along time. And I think
visibility is super important,whether it's you know, trans
visibility or any other kind ofmarginalized community, if we're
not seeing folks that look likeus doing the things that we want
to do, we're going to be lesslikely to get out there and try
them. So, you know, my gettingup on stage and being an example
for my students is great, thatgets them up on stage. And now
(24:31):
they're actually inadvertentlyan example to other students.
And it's a really beautifulprocess of of giving back. So I,
you know, often will askstudents who think that they're
ready or maybe they'requestioning I try to get to the
ones that are you know, maybethey're a little anxious about
(24:51):
it, and try to build thatconfidence in them. Because
maybe they've never seen anyonethat looks like them, get up
there and do it. So their headAs a tent, so we work on
confidence building, we work onstage performance techniques in
the classroom. And then when itcomes time to do it, they get
out there and they get up onstage and they conquer, they
conquer their fears.
Josh Meeder (25:12):
So imagine what these performances and given the
kids this chance to be on thestage to gain that confidence,
there's got to be some justheartwarming stories from them,
their parents or even any thatyou can share with us.
Dani Fiore (25:26):
Yeah, I'm remembering one of our student
performances, that wascompletely unplanned at our
grand opening. So tons of peopleshowed up to this event. We had
a big stage setup, nice bigaudience, big PA system, it was
the real deal. And one of ourstudents who is autistic and has
(25:47):
never performed in front of anaudience before on the drums.
decided that that was that wasthe day. So his mom came up to
me in the middle of anotherperformance. And she said, Hey,
he wants to play. And I think wewere all very surprised. And,
(26:08):
you know, without anyhesitation, alright, he's next.
Let's go, you know, and he cameout and without saying a word to
anyone. He sits down behind thedrums. He had his laptop with
him. Press play on the laptopspeakers on the song, and he
wanted to play a police song.
And yeah, and I think it wasRoxanne. And you can faintly
(26:31):
hear Roxanne like, coming fromthis kid's laptop speak. I say,
kid, I think he might be 18 nowcoming from his laptop speakers,
and he hit every groove, everybackbeat, every drum fill, it
was epic, and the entireaudience that was there. I don't
(26:52):
think anyone said anything thewhole time he was playing. They
were just watching him. And itwas just one of the coolest
moments.
Unknown (27:02):
Well, I
Josh Meeder (27:03):
can feel that that that's, that's beautiful. That's
that is. That's the work thatyou're doing. To me. That's,
that's absolutely beautiful.
Now, what's next? I hear that,you know, you've been recognized
for what you're doing and talk alittle bit about what's next and
how people can support you inyour mission.
Dani Fiore (27:24):
Sure, yeah, I applied to a program called the
ownit program that is run by theNGL. CC. And it is a an
entrepreneurship developmentprogram for trans owned
businesses or newly transitowned businesses or aspiring
businesses. And so I applied, Igot in, and I went through this
(27:50):
eight week program. And at theend of that eight week program,
the NGL CC helps you get, whichis the National Gay and Lesbian
Chamber of Commerce. They helpyou get certified as an LGBT
owned business through theirorganization.
Josh Meeder (28:06):
Wonderful, congrats. Thank you. Now I would
imagine that's probably new. Andone of the one of the few
businesses in in the area in thestate where you're at. Yeah,
Dani Fiore (28:17):
I did a little bit of research on that. And I could
not find any other businesseslike me that are certified LGBT
owned. So it might be, it mightbe a new thing. You know,
visibility is kind of funny likethat, like, you're not sure if
you're the only one some folksthat might not be out. But yeah,
(28:38):
to be certified. Looks like wemight be the first or one of the
first. Well,
Josh Meeder (28:43):
it's no surprise that you're cutting the path and
showing the example for others.
So congratulations. Now, ifpeople are interested in
supporting and powered music,how can they find you? What are
the two options or a coupleoptions that you have for
support?
Dani Fiore (28:59):
Yeah, we we are looking for support in a couple
of different ways. We would loveto develop our scholarship
program. Again, we had ascholarship program for folks
that want to take either lessonsor workshops and might be
experiencing some financialhardship, maybe their current
students or new students, itdoesn't matter. We want to have
(29:19):
a scholarship fund that wouldhelp pay for them at a reduced
or removed cost for a temporaryyou know, time if they need it.
And to do that they can go toour website, it's empowered
music pa.com And they'll find adonate to our scholarship fund
(29:40):
link specifically for thatscholarship program, if they're
interested in supporting thatway, and then just in general to
support our mission and reallysponsor our programs. We have
ongoing support through Patreon.
We actually just had our veryfirst open mic it was a Patreon
sponsored open mic and what acool event and It was fantastic.
We had someone say that, youknow, what did she say? She
(30:03):
said, I never danced at an openmic before. And another
performance, she actually playedpiano for the first time in
front of people that night atour open mic. And that whole
entire event was made possiblebecause of our Patreon
subscriptions. And so that linkis also on our Support Us page
on our website. And they canalso just go to
(30:27):
patreon.com/empowered music tomake an ongoing donation that
way.
Josh Meeder (30:33):
And that the money that you raised through your
Patreon, that is for the schoolitself for equipment, what's
what's that supporting?
Dani Fiore (30:43):
Great question that's gonna go to support
programs, and or anythingleftover would go toward any
equipment that we might need atthe moment, we actually don't
need any equipment. So that'sgonna go straight into
programming right now. So that'sgoing to go to pay for any, you
know, facilitators that want tocome in to do group workshops,
(31:04):
any wellness workshops that'sgoing to go to pay the person
who host the open mic, etc.
Josh Meeder (31:11):
And if someone wants to reach out and just
donate directly, they cancontact you through the website,
if they're interested in doingthat, as well.
Unknown (31:19):
Absolutely. All right.
Well, Danny, I
Josh Meeder (31:22):
appreciate your time. I appreciate you. And I
appreciate knowing you theselast couple of years, you are an
inspiration and congratulationson all you pulled together.
While we close up here. Anyfinal words for the audience or
young students out there lookingto get into music or old
students even?
Dani Fiore (31:39):
Yeah, anyone? That's that's the that's the thing.
It's, there's never a right timeor you know, a bad time or a
wrong time or a great time.
We've got right now and so ifyou're thinking about trying
something new, anything new,really, if it's, you know,
music, or trying something old,maybe you used to play, you
know, maybe you want to rekindlethat, that just getting your
(31:59):
foot in the door, any way thatyou can, that getting started,
right and get started, keepgoing get better and try it.
Trust yourself, you know, thatthought maybe that thought
didn't fall into your lap for noreason.
Josh Meeder (32:21):
There you go. Well, thank you, Danny. Best wishes
for everything. And thanks fortuning in everyone. I hope
you've enjoyed this episode ofthe great things, LLC podcast.
If you did, be sure to share thelink with this episode with your
friends, and share it to yoursocial media with your biggest
takeaway tagging me a greatthings LLC. Make sure to
subscribe so you never miss anepisode. There's so much more to
(32:44):
come. You can support me byleaving a rating and a review of
the show and that will helpothers to find their purpose,
dream, collaborate and createtheir own success story. Until
next time, this is Josh Meederyour host signing off
Welcome to the great things LLC podcast, the
show that celebrates people whoare making an impact on the
world, people creating consciousbusinesses that are in alignment
with their own personal values.
Each episode shares the wisdom,experience and the intentions of
those that are following theirdreams. visionaries who have
chosen a different path, foundtheir purpose, and create joy
(00:21):
and abundance while helpingothers. Whether you're already a
trailblazer, we're stillsearching for your path. The
stories will inspire you towardsbeing the best version of
yourself. Hello, friends,welcome to the third episode in
the third season of the greatthings, LLC podcast. My name is
Josh Meeder. I'm your host andtoday I have with me, a very
special guests that I'm excitedto share their story. This is
(00:43):
Danny Fiore of empowered musiceducators. So welcome, Danny.
Dani Fiore (00:49):
Hi, thanks for having me.
Josh Meeder (00:51):
So Danny, we're gonna jump into the story. But
before we get started, I justwant to give people a little bit
about your background, becausewhat we're talking about today
is that you've created thisamazing, inclusive, awesome
music studio and business, butwe want to start kind of back
where you started. So whenyou're a little person, where
did that love of music come infor you? Was there anyone who
kind of fostered it orencouraged for you? That's
Dani Fiore (01:13):
a really good question. Because neither of my
parents are musicians. And, butwhat they did was there was
always music on in the house. Soit was, you know, I grew up in
the, like late 80s, early 90s,mid 90s, kind of you know, and
it was like, where you had theTV on in one room and the radio
(01:33):
on another it was like chaos.
But so I was always surroundedby music, they had MTV or VH one
or and then you know, Z 100 or,you know, one of the New York,
New Jersey radio stations, goingconstantly. So I think I just
absorbed all that stuff like asponge. And for whatever reason,
it really excited me. And Iwould do kind of these, you
(01:56):
know, mini performances as kidsdo. But I think for me, it felt
more real. And I wanted it to bemore real. So who knows maybe if
that's where the passion firststarted. But as far as
encouraging that my parents weregreat about encouraging me to
get involved in music, eventhough they weren't, which is,
(02:17):
you know, I don't know howcommon that is, a lot of times,
you know, we want to divert ourkids to the things that that we
like and or that we're involvedin, and they they were like,
okay, cool, you're into music,and they definitely helped me
with obtaining differentinstruments. And even when, you
know, my interests would change.
(02:40):
I think I picked up oddly enougha bass, bass guitar first. And
then I want a sixth string. Andthat was all I want drums and,
and that's where I finally foundmy my true passion. My first
real love in rhythm anddrumming. So,
Josh Meeder (02:55):
okay, I was curious where the drumming came in. I
know that is a big, big part ofwhat you do. And I think your
story is actually not thatuncommon, a lot of parents that
don't have musical ability, Ithink it's kind of scary for
them to encourage their kidsbecause they don't know how to
support them. So lovely that youhad supportive parents in that
now. Did you participate in inschool musical? Was it outside
(03:19):
with the just kind of lessons?
What was your early days? Yeah,
Dani Fiore (03:24):
it was all in school, actually, this is this
influences. Mostly in school,I'll get to that this influences
the way that I teach. Because Idid not have private drum
lessons. I learned everything inschool, which is for like a
school band director, you know,they've got kind of the basic
(03:45):
knowledge of all theinstruments, they, they can't
really go deeper, depending onwhat instrument they play. And I
was not surrounded by drummentors, I just wasn't. So I
learned how to read notation inschool. And I was just so into
it. And my friends were so intoit, that we learned on our own.
(04:08):
And we would listen to, youknow, CDs or the radio and try
to just copy note for noteexactly what everybody was
playing. And my friends who werebetter than me, they would get
it first and then I would learnit from them. So, you know, I
really have a very self taughtmindset, self taught background
(04:28):
for the most part. I had amentor later on. I took vocal
lessons for a short period. Andmy teacher in Jersey, her name
is Jody Joseph. And she I thinkhad a really large impact on the
way that I teach now because itwas very much like she was also
(04:51):
not, to my knowledge, notclassically trained to think she
had a college degree in music oranything. But she was just so
passionate about it and so Werevery talented. And she taught in
a way that was not just about,like, let's show up in, you
know, read the page, it waslike, you know, let's think
(05:11):
about how we're feeling. Andlet's learn about how you know
how to how to get our feelingsout by writing a song about it.
And I didn't know how to do anyof that stuff. So, you know,
between between Jodi and JerryRamana was my other mentor in
school, he was my band director,another above and beyond kind of
kind of person where it wasn'tjust about, you know, you're,
(05:34):
you're my student, and we'regonna play and go home. And he
really took his time with me toget me excited about other
things outside of school band,he was like, why don't you check
out, you know, Drum and BugleCorps, he would pass me CDs,
like all the time, why don't youlisten to this new jazz CD, you
know. And so we formed a bondand a relationship around that
(05:55):
that was, again, deeper thanjust kind of an academic surface
relationship. And both of thosementors in my early days really
informed how I teach and how Iperform now. Yeah,
Josh Meeder (06:08):
well shout out to not only those mentors, but the
those teachers that reallyinstalled the passion and the
excitement, not just theacademic learning. Let's fast
forward a couple years, so thatthere is some point that you got
into the music profession froman educational standpoint, and
that's leading up to where we'regoing. So you know, just
briefly, what where did youstart teaching? How did that
(06:31):
come about? And what did it looklike for you? At first?
Dani Fiore (06:34):
I was 17. And I, my parents, I think it was my
parents had a friend who had akid who was just a little bit
younger than me, and it juststarted playing guitar. And, and
it was like, would you want to,you know, have him over and
teach him a couple things. Andthat's that was it like that was
(06:54):
my first experience of showingsomeone else how to play an
instrument that I really barelyknew how to play. But you know,
again, is set like, just, youknow, leading with whatever
little knowledge that you have,even if it's just a little bit
more than the person behind you.
So that was a great experience.
And I just did that out of myhouse once a week. And then I
(07:17):
think it was like, Well, I canif I can do this with one
person, I can do this with acouple people. And I started
reaching out a little bit. Andto be honest, I don't remember
how because this was pre socialmedia. So I really am not sure
but I started making contactwith folks. And I was just
driving. Once I got my driver'slicense, I would put my guitar
(07:38):
in the car, drive around todifferent students homes and
just in teach them right therein their house. And that's how
it all got started.
Josh Meeder (07:46):
Oh, I love that one just being of close to your
generation a little previous isyeah, the prior to social media,
how things conducted its, youknow, kids today won't
understand that. Yep. Oh, so sothen you eventually started
teaching and you're in thecentral eastern part of
Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg.
So you were teaching as aninstructor in a music school.
(08:09):
But then something somethingreally unfortunate and ugly
happened. So if you want to tellus where the genesis of that
came from, to get us here todayto unpowered music.
Dani Fiore (08:21):
Yeah, so this is the birth story of empowered, and
I'm really happy to talk aboutit. I was at a private art
school here in Central PA andfor five years, and really got a
chance having a home base tobuild up my business. You know,
driving around to studentshomes, is one thing but having
(08:42):
somewhere you know, a collectivewith other teachers, other
students. And, and a brick andmortar building a place to be it
was a really good grounding forme to to actually grow.
Somewhere in that five yearmark, it was actually in April,
there was an incident ofharassment, it was actually an
(09:02):
incident of anti LGBT harassmentfrom one of the other members
inside the organization. And Ithought, you know, okay, I can
handle this. This, this happensto our community quite a bit. It
hasn't happened to me like this.
But all right, I'll, you know,go to my mentors will figure out
how to handle this. And itreally just didn't get handled
(09:26):
well. The leadership wasn'texactly set up to handle it. And
as it escalated, I had to figureout another situation. I had to
figure out how to get mystudents and myself somewhere
that we could still do thisreally important work that we've
(09:49):
been doing for the last fiveyears this this was this was
very important and it was, youknow, not to be squandered. This
is again, it's we're going we'regoing deep so I wanted to take
Are the students and myself?
Because I've put a lot into itas well. So I just started
reaching out to other schools inthe area to see, okay, you know,
(10:12):
how do you guys feel about this?
I'm coming in I got students,you know, or is this an
inclusive environment? Are wegoing to be safe here. And
unfortunately, none, none of theother institutions around here
were were set up for, for what Ineeded. And that was a really
scary time, there was a coupleof months over the summer that
(10:32):
were just, you know, my wholelivelihood was, I could just see
it crashing down, not only mylivelihood, and you know, taking
care of my own family, but mystudents, my students, well,
being their their, you know,attachment to music, and, you
know, was all coming crashingdown. And I had no idea what I
(10:55):
was going to do.
Josh Meeder (10:59):
Yeah, I can't imagine the, the tension in the
fear of that. And, you know, andI love the place of
responsibility to the students,because it as you, you've shown
me, it's not just a teachingrelationship. It's it's a
personal development, it's anencouragement, there's a much
broader action happening withinyour music studio. So, you know,
(11:23):
what were some of those? Whatwere some of those challenges?
And you know, those fears? Andreally, how did you get through
them? Because through yourstory, you move this through
very quickly from from awfulnessto beauty in a matter of months,
which is not common.
Dani Fiore (11:40):
Yeah, I recognize that. And I guess, you know,
there were a lot of things, youknow, seen and unseen on my
side, I don't know how else tosay it, I had a mentor who said
something, to me that that wasso profound, it stayed with me
every day, for years, and shesaid, nothing falls into your
lap for no reason. And this wasone of those situations where
(12:04):
things started, quote, fallinginto my lap. And, and I had to
trust that there was a reasonfor that, and, and keep putting
one foot in front of the other.
So, you know, like I said, oneof the challenges was not being
able to find a space that fitmy, my needs. And, and then the
other challenge was, it becamefinances, it became like, Okay,
well, if you can't just slideinto another, you know, space
(12:27):
that's already made for you, itlooks like you're gonna have to
make one, you're gonna have tomake a space where you fit. And
so I just started reaching outto people who knew about things
that I know absolutely nothingabout, like, real estate, and
accounting. You know, I'm not,I've never owned a business, you
know, really like this before Ijust, I teach music, you know, I
(12:52):
play music. This is this isoutside of my areas of
expertise. So I got hooked upwith with someone who knew about
commercial real estate, and theyjust so happened to have a
building available. That wasright in the price range that I
figured out I could afford. AndI so at that time, I think it
(13:14):
was July, that the tenant wasmoving out the current the
tenant was in there, and Julywas my month off. And that was
one of those often falls intoyour lap for no reason moments
like, this is lining up for you.
Go with it, you know. So I wasto begin teaching in August,
(13:37):
that I didn't, there's not a lotof time there. So I just said,
Okay, let's sign this lease. Ilike like, let's go. And I just
dove in with both feet, notreally knowing how it was going
to work out. But what I did knowis that I was going to make it
work out, if that makes sense.
So yep, sign the lease and on toother instructors from my
(14:01):
previous location actuallydecided to come with me, they
thought that what happened overthere was not acceptable to them
or to anyone or to me. And sothey said, We want to join you.
And so that took an enormousfinancial burden off of because
I was going to be paying forthis by myself. Like I said, I'm
(14:22):
gonna make it work. I gotta dothis. And then something else
fell into my lap. So I had to,okay, all right. There's a
reason for this. I'm gonna gowith it. And so now two of them
came over with me. And then Ialso did, I had help from, from
the community. I had help frommy students, my students,
families, everyone cametogether. In light of what
(14:43):
happened. It was reallybeautiful. To see people who
seemingly were not affected. Butthey were, you know, they were
affected because I was affectedand I think it showed them that
it mattered. I think it reallyHe showed everyone around that
when, you know, one of us andpeople when one of us is getting
(15:05):
hurt or attacked or, orsomething that it really does
affect each and every one of usthat are nearby. So they, they
came together, some peopledonated money, some people
donated equipment. It was it wasquite awesome. So with all of
that support, we were reallyable to launch we had, we had a
(15:25):
window of four days from whenthe old tenant was leaving, and
when lessons would start. And Iwas at the great rhythm revival.
So there was a very short windowthat we could move everything in
and get it done. And everyonejust came together. I have
people calling me showing up,can I help move things, you
(15:48):
know, in this in this four daysthat we put everything up, and
we did it
Josh Meeder (15:55):
that I love the advice that you got in a lot of
people turn away from or runfrom adversity, no one welcomes
it. But when it when it comes toyou followed your heart, your
passion and your beliefs, whichI think is really hard to stop
in any any scenario. And thatadversity really builds the
(16:17):
strength and you know, wonderfulfor the community for friends
popping out of the woodwork. Iknow, you had to not only fill
the space and get ready, but youhad to, you know, source all the
instruments and having all thatstuff come together in such a
short period of time is nothingshort of amazing. Now, now
you're in empowered, and let'stalk about empowered. Like,
(16:39):
first off, let's start about thevision and the underlying
because it is much broader thanjust teaching kids how to play
an instrument.
Dani Fiore (16:50):
Yeah, you're right kids and adults to that. So
that's part of it a greater partof it as well that it's anyone,
regardless of your perceivedmusical ability, I kind of made
it important point to sayperceived because a lot of
people, you know, might thinkthey don't have musical ability.
But, you know, I believe it's ineach and every one of us. So
(17:14):
anyone regardless of thatperceived ability can you know,
get started, can keep going, andthey can get better, and they're
gonna have fun doing it. So thatthat's like my main mission,
every day when I when I walk inthe classroom, I think that,
that anyone can do this, andwe're definitely going to have
fun. So, you know, and byanyone, I really do mean anyone,
(17:38):
and especially folks that havehad challenges that have kept
them from pursuing music,whatever those challenges might
be, they could be societalchallenges, they could be
personal, internal challenges.
And we really want to make anexample of, you know, I thought
I couldn't do this, we reallywant to make examples of those
(18:00):
each and every day. So I workwith a lot of people who've got
tons of anxiety, I work withpeople who've got physical,
mental disabilities, ADHD,autism spectrum, Parkinson's,
you know, and then just kind ofgeneral depression, you know,
(18:21):
people that just have likethings that are like would stop
them, you know, in any othercircumstance. And if it's not
fun, they're not, they're notgoing to want to keep coming
back. And that's the piece thatallows us, you know, the Getting
Started part is sometimes easy.
(18:42):
The keeping going part is thisbig hump in the middle that
that's where we, you know, dothe most work to keep people
engaged, keep people involved,because that's how we actually
get to the part where, over thathump, that you're having a ton
of fun playing an instrument. So
Josh Meeder (19:00):
the identifying someone's perceived musical
ability is fabulous, because weall have that self limiting
belief. You know, I'll justshare my personal stories. You
see my drum behind me? Well, acouple years ago, I was invited
to the first drum circle, andI'm like, I do not have any
rhythm at all. And I went, andyou know, it didn't matter. The
(19:21):
drum circle itself brought outthat that excitement, I'm like,
Well, I'm terrible, but I'mhaving a lot of fun, and just
stuck with it. And it wasbecause of that environment of
one. It was exploration, it wascreativity. There was a safety
and there was a laughter aroundit. So the ability to show that
to kids to get them out, breaksdown that barrier. And also, I
(19:41):
think in our earlierconversations, you may, you
know, seeing kids who might bemarginalized or underserved when
they see someone else that looksor feels or sounds like them,
it's got to bring them forwardand giving them that competence
to step up and try somethingnew. Now, one of the things I
loved about what you're doing,not only from the inclusiveness
(20:05):
and the fun in the teaching, youknow, here, we talk a lot about
business as well. And youcreated a wonderful model on how
you treat your students andparents from almost almost a
subscription basis. And if youwant to talk a little bit about
how your studio handlesindividual and group lessons, I
think it's fascinating andreally, really welcoming and
(20:25):
easy for people to step into.
Dani Fiore (20:28):
Yeah, great question. Um, lesson music
lessons business is, you know,at least around here, there's a
standard of studio fee whereteachers will pay by the time
slot that they teach. And wenormally teach in half hour
increments. So if you have 3040students, and you're counting up
(20:52):
half hours each week, it becomesreally tedious. And then also,
you've got to do hours of thatwork on paper. And then you have
to relay that to each and everyone of your, you know, however
many students you have, thatcould be 10 students, but it
could be 40. So this is a verytime consuming, very tedious
thing. And I just thought, why.
Maybe we can simplify thisbecause the easier it is, it's
(21:16):
just like teaching theinstrument, the easier it is,
and the more fun we're having,the more we're going to do it.
Not that paying for lessons isalways like the most fun thing,
but you get what, you know, themore ease with which we have it,
you know, the more likely theyare to do it. And so I yeah,
just decided, why don't wesimplify this, I'm just going to
(21:39):
take all the lessons that Iteach per year, divide that, you
know, multiply that by mycurrent rate divided by how many
weeks I'm there, and we have anaverage that we can go
subscription each month. Sobasically, how it works is they
have a flat rate each month, andwhether the calendar spits out
four or five weeks for them thatmonth. It's the same price every
single month, nobody has tothink about it or contact me
(22:02):
every month. You know, it's justthere. And it's all laid out and
very easy to follow.
Josh Meeder (22:10):
Yeah, that's, that's, to me. It's brilliant.
You know, as a parent who had ason who tried a music lesson
once, it was like, Okay, howmany times how did you go? If
you just know what it is, youknow? Oh, that's easy. That's in
the budget. That's great. Nowyou've been in so your student
base has grown and your teacherbase is expanding as well.
Dani Fiore (22:31):
Yeah, yeah, we have five teachers now total,
including myself, teaching avariety of different
instruments. We've got guitar,drums, voice, piano, flute,
trumpet, and actually evenmixing audio engineering,
covered through our fiveteachers. So the
Josh Meeder (22:49):
school has been welcomed in the community, and
how is it being seen? How's itgetting out to the community?
Dani Fiore (22:56):
Great question. So I play drums for a band. And my
bandmates are really, reallysupportive. And they're behind
my model. They're behindeverything that we're doing and
empowered. And so we had thiscollaborative idea that maybe on
some of our gigs, we can invitesome students to sit in with us.
(23:18):
And this has been reallyexciting. I think it's one of
the most exciting parts and oneof the most engaging parts of
our of our program that thestudents get mentors in the
music industry, just like I didwhen I was young. So we have
them learn a song, from usuallyone of our original tunes,
actually, which is prettyimpressive for the students. And
(23:42):
we invite them to come sit inwith us on the gig. And what
this does is it gets the studentup on a stage in an atmosphere
where maybe they thought theywould never be. So getting the
students on stage. They'recontributing to visibility
there, they're actually in a waythey're giving back without even
knowing it. I'm getting up onstage. I and I'm out in the LGBT
(24:07):
community. I've been out for along time. And I think
visibility is super important,whether it's you know, trans
visibility or any other kind ofmarginalized community, if we're
not seeing folks that look likeus doing the things that we want
to do, we're going to be lesslikely to get out there and try
them. So, you know, my gettingup on stage and being an example
for my students is great, thatgets them up on stage. And now
(24:31):
they're actually inadvertentlyan example to other students.
And it's a really beautifulprocess of of giving back. So I,
you know, often will askstudents who think that they're
ready or maybe they'requestioning I try to get to the
ones that are you know, maybethey're a little anxious about
(24:51):
it, and try to build thatconfidence in them. Because
maybe they've never seen anyonethat looks like them, get up
there and do it. So their headAs a tent, so we work on
confidence building, we work onstage performance techniques in
the classroom. And then when itcomes time to do it, they get
out there and they get up onstage and they conquer, they
conquer their fears.
Josh Meeder (25:12):
So imagine what these performances and given the
kids this chance to be on thestage to gain that confidence,
there's got to be some justheartwarming stories from them,
their parents or even any thatyou can share with us.
Dani Fiore (25:26):
Yeah, I'm remembering one of our student
performances, that wascompletely unplanned at our
grand opening. So tons of peopleshowed up to this event. We had
a big stage setup, nice bigaudience, big PA system, it was
the real deal. And one of ourstudents who is autistic and has
(25:47):
never performed in front of anaudience before on the drums.
decided that that was that wasthe day. So his mom came up to
me in the middle of anotherperformance. And she said, Hey,
he wants to play. And I think wewere all very surprised. And,
(26:08):
you know, without anyhesitation, alright, he's next.
Let's go, you know, and he cameout and without saying a word to
anyone. He sits down behind thedrums. He had his laptop with
him. Press play on the laptopspeakers on the song, and he
wanted to play a police song.
And yeah, and I think it wasRoxanne. And you can faintly
(26:31):
hear Roxanne like, coming fromthis kid's laptop speak. I say,
kid, I think he might be 18 nowcoming from his laptop speakers,
and he hit every groove, everybackbeat, every drum fill, it
was epic, and the entireaudience that was there. I don't
(26:52):
think anyone said anything thewhole time he was playing. They
were just watching him. And itwas just one of the coolest
moments.
Unknown (27:02):
Well, I
Josh Meeder (27:03):
can feel that that that's, that's beautiful. That's
that is. That's the work thatyou're doing. To me. That's,
that's absolutely beautiful.
Now, what's next? I hear that,you know, you've been recognized
for what you're doing and talk alittle bit about what's next and
how people can support you inyour mission.
Dani Fiore (27:24):
Sure, yeah, I applied to a program called the
ownit program that is run by theNGL. CC. And it is a an
entrepreneurship developmentprogram for trans owned
businesses or newly transitowned businesses or aspiring
businesses. And so I applied, Igot in, and I went through this
(27:50):
eight week program. And at theend of that eight week program,
the NGL CC helps you get, whichis the National Gay and Lesbian
Chamber of Commerce. They helpyou get certified as an LGBT
owned business through theirorganization.
Josh Meeder (28:06):
Wonderful, congrats. Thank you. Now I would
imagine that's probably new. Andone of the one of the few
businesses in in the area in thestate where you're at. Yeah,
Dani Fiore (28:17):
I did a little bit of research on that. And I could
not find any other businesseslike me that are certified LGBT
owned. So it might be, it mightbe a new thing. You know,
visibility is kind of funny likethat, like, you're not sure if
you're the only one some folksthat might not be out. But yeah,
(28:38):
to be certified. Looks like wemight be the first or one of the
first. Well,
Josh Meeder (28:43):
it's no surprise that you're cutting the path and
showing the example for others.
So congratulations. Now, ifpeople are interested in
supporting and powered music,how can they find you? What are
the two options or a coupleoptions that you have for
support?
Dani Fiore (28:59):
Yeah, we we are looking for support in a couple
of different ways. We would loveto develop our scholarship
program. Again, we had ascholarship program for folks
that want to take either lessonsor workshops and might be
experiencing some financialhardship, maybe their current
students or new students, itdoesn't matter. We want to have
(29:19):
a scholarship fund that wouldhelp pay for them at a reduced
or removed cost for a temporaryyou know, time if they need it.
And to do that they can go toour website, it's empowered
music pa.com And they'll find adonate to our scholarship fund
(29:40):
link specifically for thatscholarship program, if they're
interested in supporting thatway, and then just in general to
support our mission and reallysponsor our programs. We have
ongoing support through Patreon.
We actually just had our veryfirst open mic it was a Patreon
sponsored open mic and what acool event and It was fantastic.
We had someone say that, youknow, what did she say? She
(30:03):
said, I never danced at an openmic before. And another
performance, she actually playedpiano for the first time in
front of people that night atour open mic. And that whole
entire event was made possiblebecause of our Patreon
subscriptions. And so that linkis also on our Support Us page
on our website. And they canalso just go to
(30:27):
patreon.com/empowered music tomake an ongoing donation that
way.
Josh Meeder (30:33):
And that the money that you raised through your
Patreon, that is for the schoolitself for equipment, what's
what's that supporting?
Dani Fiore (30:43):
Great question that's gonna go to support
programs, and or anythingleftover would go toward any
equipment that we might need atthe moment, we actually don't
need any equipment. So that'sgonna go straight into
programming right now. So that'sgoing to go to pay for any, you
know, facilitators that want tocome in to do group workshops,
(31:04):
any wellness workshops that'sgoing to go to pay the person
who host the open mic, etc.
Josh Meeder (31:11):
And if someone wants to reach out and just
donate directly, they cancontact you through the website,
if they're interested in doingthat, as well.
Unknown (31:19):
Absolutely. All right.
Well, Danny, I
Josh Meeder (31:22):
appreciate your time. I appreciate you. And I
appreciate knowing you theselast couple of years, you are an
inspiration and congratulationson all you pulled together.
While we close up here. Anyfinal words for the audience or
young students out there lookingto get into music or old
students even?
Dani Fiore (31:39):
Yeah, anyone? That's that's the that's the thing.
It's, there's never a right timeor you know, a bad time or a
wrong time or a great time.
We've got right now and so ifyou're thinking about trying
something new, anything new,really, if it's, you know,
music, or trying something old,maybe you used to play, you
know, maybe you want to rekindlethat, that just getting your
(31:59):
foot in the door, any way thatyou can, that getting started,
right and get started, keepgoing get better and try it.
Trust yourself, you know, thatthought maybe that thought
didn't fall into your lap for noreason.
Josh Meeder (32:21):
There you go. Well, thank you, Danny. Best wishes
for everything. And thanks fortuning in everyone. I hope
you've enjoyed this episode ofthe great things, LLC podcast.
If you did, be sure to share thelink with this episode with your
friends, and share it to yoursocial media with your biggest
takeaway tagging me a greatthings LLC. Make sure to
subscribe so you never miss anepisode. There's so much more to
(32:44):
come. You can support me byleaving a rating and a review of
the show and that will helpothers to find their purpose,
dream, collaborate and createtheir own success story. Until
next time, this is Josh Meederyour host signing off
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