Meet Sara Battaglia

We recently connected with Sara Battaglia and have shared our conversation below.

Sara, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.

As a child, my mother worked multiple jobs to provide me with the opportunities in dance that I received. I often felt the stress and weight that she carried in trying to provide for myself & my brother.

As an adult, I wanted to provide opportunities to children and families where they could enjoy dance the same way I did, without the financial stress.

I greatly know the impact that dance has had on my life as a child and want to be able to share those same experiences and opportunities to children of all abilities, no matter their background or financial situation.

International & American Women of Service pageants has given me a strong platform & outlet to help me do so!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am the founder and director of a nonprofit organization called Dancing for a Difference. Dancing for a Difference is a nonprofit organization with a mission to make dance & the arts available and affordable to the community. We offer free programs for children in foster care, children battling pediatric cancer, and children with disabilities. We have partnerships with local organizations such as CARD-USF, the Down Syndrome Association of Tampa Bay, & more.

I am also a titleholder with American Women Pageants as your 2025 Elite Sunshine State AWOS. With that title, I hope to bring dance and pageantry together, providing more opportunities for children to grow confidence in themselves through both outlets.

I have several fundraisers coming up. The most recent being a “Girls Night Out” fundraiser at Keel Farms on October 7th from 6-9pm. My goal for all fundraiser for my 2024-2025 reign is $10,000! Come out & support a great cause.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Qualities needed for my journey in both dance & pageantry have included perseverance, hard work, & patience.

I have overcame many obstacles as a business owner, including a pandemic, struggles with renting space, being young & underestimated, & negativity. My perseverance has allowed me to push through and has fueled me to work hard. I work hard everyday to not only continue my mission but, expand it. My mission has expanded into pageantry the last few years, where I am encouraging women of all ages to be themselves & work hard for their big dreams.

Lastly, I say patience because although something may not be going right in one moment or you don’t win your pageant the first time, there is always a right time for everything. With patience, perseverance, & hard work, all good things will come to you.

If you are early in your journey, continue working hard, persevering, and be patient! Shoot for the moon, if you miss, you’ll land amongst the stars.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I am always looking for collaborations and partnerships. I am currently doing sister Queen spotlights which feature my sister queens and all that they are doing in the community. I also have been doing live Facebook interviews, featuring questions relating to pageantry and each queens platform.

In addition, I am looking for sponsors for both American Women pageants and Dancing for a Difference.

I am looking for community events & nonprofits to volunteer my time with as well!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Photographer for Professional Headshots: Catalina Sommer

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