We recently connected with Arista & Shawnte Hunter & Knox and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Arista & Shawnte with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
1. Shawnte: My work ethic stems from my family, upbringing and education. I have seen from my elders and peers that working hard, speaking up for what you want and going after your goals truly pays off. I think the combination of working smart not harder, voicing what your strengths and knowing when to reach out for assistance is a great work ethic style.
Arista- My strong work ethic stems from my upbringing. Being able to witness both of my parents work tremendously hard for what they have and accomplished today, is what encouraged me at a young age that I too wanted to work as hard to experience and enjoy the fruits of my labor. I am forever grateful for my parents paving the way and providing me with the necessary tools and guidance to become successful in my career and business.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
3. The Double Dutch Swing Squad LLC (DDSS) is a great organization we have build over the last four years. What started over a text message discussing how there are not any fitness opportunities that involve jumping rope and double Dutch in our community, we decided to create a space for it. Our organization provides health and fitness programs to youth and adults; ranging from after school programs, demonstrations, coaching at community events, summer camp and more. What’s special about DDSS is that we began from a love of the double dutch art and it continues to grow and expand. We have amazing volunteers who see our vision and go above and beyond to support the organization. We also have been blessed to partner with many local businesses and organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club, Big Brothers Big Sister, Urban Academy Charter School, The YMCA, Sto Rox School, The Children’s Museum, and many more. An exciting addition to DDSS is our youth performance team, Jammin Jumpers. The Jammin’ Jumpers is a great addition to our organization. The Jammin’ Jumpers consist of youth ages 7-17 excited about learning double dutch, new tricks and perform in front of crowds each summer. We have also had the opportunity to be apart of my interviews throughout the years, but one opportunity that we would never forget is when we were apart of an event, ‘The Gallery Crawl’, and we had a chance to appear on KDKA- Pittsburgh Today Live. We not only were able to speak on what activities we did at the event but we were also able to showcase our skills.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three impactful skills during this journey; organization, time management and communication. Advice for anyone early on their journey is to make sure you have a passion for what you are building, stay organized by not overwhelming yourself or your schedule and build strong communication skills.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
We believe being in this business with a lifelong friend really has helped things be so much easier to jump over any hurdles or challenges that may come our way. With the passion for helping people, living a healthy lifestyle and both having great communication, has helped us to have a successful business/organization. So, we have been a help to eachother navigating through the ups and downs of our success. Also having positive continuous partnerships with local companies and organizations really helped us develop the essential skills, qualities, and knowledge to be successful, because many people we have partnered with were willing to provide any information or guidance on certain things we needed to be successful. Team work really makes the dream work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/doubledutchswingsquad?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=5c3e3ab2-2c8b-4981-a1fd-202b6229e7c8
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doubledutchswingsquad?igsh=MWtveWJzZDhoZDI4dA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EmHzQuWLv/?mibextid=wwXIfr
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
