Today we’d like to introduce you to Ana Masacote.
Ana, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’m a queer, Chicana womanpreneur. I wear my nerd cape by day and my Wonder Woman heels by night.
I had a plan in high school: go to MIT (yes, I knew where I wanted to go since 9th grade), study electrical engineering & computer science (fun fact – you can say EE & Comp Sci for short), go to grad school abroad, and become a manager at a tech company. Instead…
I did get to MIT, but my sophomore year, I had a change of heart, or more like an awakening. I realized I didn’t want to sit behind the computer all my life and would rather do something that fed my soul: dance. I’d grown up with dance and always pursued it as a hobby, but suddenly, I had the courage to pursue it as a career. I changed my degree to business, and I co-founded Masacote Entertainment, an Afro-Latin dance and music company, with a partner. It was the best decision I ever made.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Living life as an artist-turned-entrepreneur-international-salsera is tough. But I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. Not to sound cliché, but if you do what you love, with all your heart, the rest will follow.
Now, that doesn’t mean I didn’t have to work. There have been good times; there have been bad. I’ve lived paycheck to paycheck, and at the beginning it was really “what bill do we need to pay this month and what can we hold off on?” No one tells you that you might end up crying on the floor because you didn’t have the money to pay the electric bill.
I remember one month when we’d run clean through our savings due to a failed business venture, and we made a whopping $100 that month. It was 4 weeks of ramen noodle soups, and we learned to survive on $1 McDonald cheeseburgers.
I’m the first-generation daughter of immigrant parents. I’ve learned that talent is nothing without sacrifice and hard work. Quitting was not an option. It was reworking the plan. So, we kept pushing, and we’ve been in business 14 years today. In 2014, we were honored with the SBA MA Minority Owned Business of the Year Award as a testament to our work.
Please tell us about Masacote Entertainment.
We change lives through dance. I like to say that I help people learn to let go – their fears, their insecurities, those little things that hold them back.
Masacote Entertainment comprises a traveling dance troupe, a dance school for people of all skill levels, and event productions in the New England area. We take the science out of what you see on Dancing with the Stars, and teach it to you. Our specialty is Salsa, but we also teach and perform Afro-Cuban, Bachata, Cha Cha, and more.
There’s really something for everyone. If you want to learn to dance, we got you. If you want to wear that beautiful outfit and perform, we got you. If you want to come groove with us in a club and listen or dance to music, we got you.
I took a business course at Babson through the Goldman Sachs 10KSB program. One day, we were learning about how to create company culture, and I thought to myself: is this really something people have to think about? Culture has to be authentic. When passion seeps out your pours, it transcends to the people around you. My family is in Texas, so my company has always been my Boston family, or my MasaTribe as we call our community. We consider dance a lifestyle, and we take a holistic approach to teaching and living it. Connecting people & helping them express themselves is always our first driving force. Teaching them to dance is just a byproduct.
What’s your favorite memory from childhood?
When I was in elementary school, a classmate once asked me, “What countries have you been to?” I come from humble roots, so I could only quietly respond with, “Mexico.” He proceeded to tell me the many countries he had visited. Forget about places I dreamed of, most of these were places I hadn’t even heard of.
Today, I can say I’ve spread the salsa bug to over 30 countries, and counting. I’ve been blessed to have a career that has literally opened up the world to me. I’m even more blessed to be able to share something I love so much with the world.
Pricing:
- $17-$139
- Sign up for our $99 One-Month Unlimited Intro Membership!
Contact Info:
- Address: Masacote Dance School Studio Classes take place at:
The Cambridge Athletic Club
215 First St
Cambridge, MA 02142
Located right in Cambridge, near MIT
Easily Accessible by Train
Plenty of Parking Options
Train: Only an 8 min walk from either the Kendall Square Red Line or Lechmere Green Line T stations. - Website: http://www.salsamasacote.com
- Phone: 617-286-MASA (6272)
- Email: info@masacote.com
Image Credit:
Carven Boursiquot, Valentin Behringer, Enrique Yaptenco, Roberto Matteo
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