Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura-Marie Small.
Laura-Marie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It all started with a box of Crayola crayons. At a young age, when I was asked what I wanted to become when I grew up, I would say an artist. Little did I know that a simple answer to a childhood dream would take me on the most fantastic journey! Kidcasso was born in my Watertown apartment. I found myself as a public school art teacher, that spent my summers teaching art to kids in small camp-style groups in my apartment…this was the start of Kidcasso Art Studio. In 2007 I began with 10 summer art students in my new home located in Wakefield, MA. By the holidays I grew to 50 kids a week who were taking semi-private fine art lessons in my home-based studio. In the winter of 2008, I moved my studio to what is now known as the Kidcasso Boutique location located at 101 Albion Street in center of Wakefield, MA. Like most “American Dream” stories, I continued to teach in both public and private schools, took nanny jobs on the side, worked part-time at Tiffany & Co. and worked as many hours at my brick and mortar art studio to help pay the rent. Today, 10 years later, we see over 200 students in our Wakefield location and we are proud to announce our first two franchises opening this October 2017 in Newton and our second opening in January 2018 in Boston!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nothing fun is ever smooth. So to answer your question “no”. In 2009 after teaching long hours and working a zillion different job to help pay the bills, I made the choice to go all in… I literally jumped head first into owning a small business and making it a full-time career. While I was in the process of growing Kidcasso Art Studio, my husband and I started to “try” for a family. Being a natural teacher, the oldest child of five, and surrounding myself with children within my personal family and Kidcasso family, becoming a mother, myself was a no-brainer. This, however, did not go as planned. After multiple miscarriages, and failed fertility treatments my husband and I were deemed as an “undiagnosed fertility” case. The ups and downs of starting a family were happening smack dab in the middle of trying to start a successful children’s business.
Interacting with parents and pregnant couples for a career became a daily struggle. This is, and was, my greatest hill that I have had to climb in my line of work. The feeling of emptiness during a very personal time, while keeping up the brand of a happy and joyful children’s art teacher was unbearable at times. However, it was ultimately my Kidcasso families that gave me the strength to move forward to become a mother too, two amazing little boys through domestic adoption. It was this struggle that in return made me, my brand, and my Kidcasso families that much stronger and connected. Is struggle easy? Never. Is it vital to personal growth, acceptance, and success? Yes.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Kidcasso Art Studio – what should we know?
Kidcasso Art Studio is to…See Art, Create Art, and most of all to Love Art! We are a fine arts program for children from High Chair to High School. We teach drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, collage, and art history in an engaging, energetic, and non-traditional way. We build our curriculum on the elements and principles of art and design and fully encompass the National Art Education standards in all that we do at Kidcasso. Our teachers are the best of the best! We seek out creative, loving, kind, and compassionate educators that we can mold within our own Kidcasso Certification Program. Strong educators, committed parents, and creatively charged kids are what sets us apart from the rest.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
While it is no secret that I have struggled with becoming a parent, I also was a child who at a young age was diagnosed with a language-based learning disability. School was a constant battle for me as a child. The place I felt most successful was in the art room or in a theater arts class. It was the teachers in those programs who ultimately taught me how to fight again and again and to get up after falling flat on my butt. My best quality is not taking “No” for an answer. I simply don’t believe in the word. It only makes me work harder. If you want to challenge me…tell me “No”, tell me that I “Can’t” and I will prove to you that I can. This characteristic is embedded in my teaching practice and all that we do at Kidcasso. I want all of our students to say, “Yes, I can and I will…watch me.”
Contact Info:
- Address: Kidcasso Art Studio
Boutique Location
101 Albion Street
Wakefield, MA 01880 - Website: www.kidcassoart.com
- Phone: 617-257-3010
- Email: laura@kidcassoart.com
Image Credit:
Stephanie Goryl
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