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Rajni Beri is founder of DSPAC, Dancing Shiva Performing Arts Center. In addition to running a dance studio, Rajni is a full time mother and wife. CitySaheli had the opportunity to talk to Rajni about balancing her career and family life.
Can you tell us a little about DSPAC and your work schedule?
Dancing Shiva opened its doors in September of 2004 with only a handful of students. 5 years later we have over 130 students, 5 teachers and have moved into our own dance studio. Dancing Shiva was created to give people of all ages the opportunity to take different types of dance classes and then choose which one suits them best. We offer classes in Bollywood, Bhangra, Contemporary Indian, Bharatnatyam, Kathak and Hip Hop. Each student gets the chance to perform on stage 2-3 times a year at various local and regional events.
How do you balance your career, growing your business and being a mom?
Being a mom is probably the most fulfilling yet also one of the most challenging jobs any woman could have. It’s the one job that where you will never really know if you’re doing a good job or the right thing. Initially it was really difficult trying to balance my school and my baby. I didn’t want to neglect either part of my life, but there was only one of me, and I couldn’t be in both places at the same time.Luckily, I have a great support system. I rely heavily on my mother to help take care of my daughter. It’s important to have someone you trust in your life, whether it be your spouse, your nanny, or someone else, to be there when you physically can’t be. Since my hours are different than many working moms, I can’t place my daughter in daycare, but have found a great support system in my family. In addition to my mother, my husband is extremely supportive of my career and helps with my daughter in any way he can. He and I are both on the same page when it comes to taking care of our family and our careers. Since my career demands that I work weeknights and weekends, I rely heavily on my support network to care for my daughter.
Dancing is my passion and my school is something I truly believe in. I am extremely busy running it in an organized and efficient manner. Although classes run in the evenings, I spend my days doing a lot of administrative work, scheduling, costume design, contacting events, marketing, etc. We also attend 15-20 different events during the year where I am always present. It’s really important that I attend all the performances, large or small, to support my students. I haven’t even started talking about our competitions. With those, we have a lot of extra rehearsal time, which takes place on the weekends and adds to my already busy schedule.
What advice do you have for women looking to balance both a career and being a mom?
It is really important to realize that you can’t be everything all the time. Being a mom is a full time job itself. Working on your own business in addition can be extremely overwhelming. Make small goals for yourself and let go when you need to. For example, I hired an office assistant to help with marketing endeavors for my business so that I could spend more time with my daughter. Once you set realistic expectations for yourself, you feel better about your accomplishments and are able to accomplish more.
My other piece of advice is that if you don’t care for yourself, you can’t take care of everything and everyone else. It is really important to take time out for yourself. Try to squeeze in one day a month for yourself, whether its going to the spa, taking a dance class, or meeting up with friends for a drink. Taking even 2-3 hours out in a month can make a big difference in the way you manage the rest of your time. You will also feel better about yourself, your relationship with family and your work.
For more information about DSPAC please visit http://www.dspac.com/
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