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Ofelia de La Valette, owner and founder of Dance 101 didn’t find her calling to the dance world until the age of 35. A successful insurance agent with her own company in Atlanta, Ofelia had been pounding away on the treadmill at her gym when the sounds of a cardio dance class caught her attention. Though humiliated at her own lack of skill, Ofelia jumped right in. Despite her embarrassment at being the worst in the class, Ofelia found a strengthened sense of self and scorched 20 pounds in the process. She was hooked.
After 10 years of intensive dancing, she was asked to teach a class at Emory University, and after two years there, she took a huge leap. At the request of five of her students, Ofelia dropped her lucrative career and opened the original Dance 101 location off of Miami Circle in Buckhead. The first studio of its kind in the WORLD, Dance 101’s unique offerings and accessibility made it an instant hit.
Ofelia teaches weekly dance classes and manages all aspects of the business. Currently, she is working on expanding her studio both locally and nationally. Driven by a passion for dance and an innate need to make the world a better place, Ofelia has picked up numerous awards in her years at the helm of Dance 101. With the advent of her new Alpharetta location, Ofelia is looking to develop Dance 101 into a franchise—so fellow dance fanatics can reap the benefits of adult beginner classes nationwide.
Her efforts have been featured in several local as well as national publications, webisodes, podcasts and recently in CNN Small Success Stories, Passion to Portfolio, Making It In America (both CNN domestic and International) as well as Headline News. In July, 2011 Ofelia was invited by the White House to deliver the afternoon key note speech at the Atlanta Urban Entrepreneurship Forum and was presented with The Phoenix Award by Mayor Kasim Reed. She was recently featured in the top 10 Atlanta Best Self magazine’s Over 40 and Fabulous Atlantans and was one of 50 women profiled in Marlo Thomas’s book, It Ain’t Over…Till It’s Over.
Ofelia is providing the public with an opportunity to do for themselves what, until now, they could only watch others do on TV: to make their own leap — from their living room to a classroom, from the audience to the stage. Listen and prepare to be transformed by the power of dance at Dance 101!
W.O.E. Women Only Entrepreneurs is not your average networking event and not your average ladies’ night.
Treat yourself to dancing, champagne, a soul-level interview, and affirmations among this beautifully ambitious tribe.
In a program that we lovingly describe as Ellen meets Oprah for Atlanta’s lady bosses, we promise that you’ll leave with your cup overflowing.
