Today we’d like to introduce you to Robelis Rodriguez Moscovis.
Robelis, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am a Latina entrepreneur immigrant born and raised in Venezuela, now I live in Houston, TX. Since I was a little girl, I knew one of my passions was music and dance. My mom couldn’t afford to put my two sisters and me in dance classes, but in my country, you grow up dancing.
I learned to Belly dance in college, and I loved it. I also did different styles of Salsa, which allowed me to travel for presentations around my country. I graduated in 2010 as a Dietitian (B.Sc. in Nutrition and Dietetics) and I moved the same year to the U.S. where I discovered Zumba® which became an outlet to fulfill my passion for dance, music and find a second chance, reinventing myself in a new country, environment, language, culture. It helped me reconnect with my Latin roots and brought a happy purpose of serving others through dance, joy, movement, health. ZUMBA® fitness is more than a dance, cardio workout for me. It is a great way to express through movement, bring joy, and form beautiful connections with others, plus all the physical, mental, emotional health benefits that it offer.
I teach in person classes in 4 different gyms around Katy, and in 2020 I applied to become a Zumba Jammer, and I was selected from many applicants from around the world, we are hand-picked by the creator of Zumba to train Zumba instructors worldwide in my case this beautiful rhythm called Belly Dance. So besides teaching I lead 3-hour sessions monthly called “ZIN Jam Sessions” to help instructors be more successful in their own classes with new music, choreography, nonverbal cueing, teaching skills, belly dance technique, and networking with other instructors, connecting with each other to make the Zumba community stronger.
Currently working hard to be known in the Zumba community through social media and events in person, virtual to get my work, style recognized and reach more instructors that will benefit from the ZIN Jam sessions.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest struggle was the culture shock when I came to US. I recently graduated from college, young, inexperienced in a new country. I was thinking I will be able to revalidate my diploma here and work in my field (nutrition and dietetics) right away, but no I was supposed to redo my entire degree (5 years) and as an international student is extremely expensive. I found a job in Nutrition eventually and I thought this is it! but no then I realized that I wanted something more fulfilling, to be able to ascend, have more flexibility since I wanted to have a family, and kids, so what used to be my hobby and extracurricular activity in college became my work. Now the challenge is to get myself known in the Zumba community, showing my personality and what I can offer, be myself. I know, believe it will happen eventually with patience, consistency and perseverance.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am Zumba Instructor since 2011 and became a Zumba Jammer in 2021 leading 3-hour sessions monthly called “ZIN Jam Sessions” to help instructors from around the world be more successful in their own classes, bringing new music, choreography, nonverbal cueing, teaching skills, belly dance technique, and networking with other instructors, connecting with each other to make the Zumba community stronger.
What I am known for and that sets me apart is that I bring Belly Dance that makes students feel empowered, beautiful, helps them to let go and be themselves. I like to use unique songs, up beat music and I include most of the time “drum solos” that are very rare songs to find for Zumba classes because they have to be simple, and normally those are very complex songs, but I search, many hours are invested to find the right songs that will be successful in their classes, so I save them time finding the songs with simple structure, creating the easy but fun choreography and create the notes to memorize it.
I explain each move, technique, help them memorize, practice and implement nonverbal cueing so students can follow and they are ready to bring to class the next day, making their playlist fresh, unique, with more genre variety, pleasing all different kinds of students from different cultures and making their class a success, all perfectly wrap up for them in a 3 hour session that only cost $30, they also get fitness credits if they have national fitness certifications like AFAA, ACE, CanFit, a certificate of completion and a badge in their Zumba portal, but I think one the biggest benefits is the networking part, the valuable connections that are created and built when they attend the ZIN Jam Sessions in person or virtually.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Be able to offer value in my Jams to help others succeed in their own classes. I love when I see instructors from around the world using my choreos in their classes making their students feel empowered, happy and healthier.
Pricing:
- $30 ZIN Jam Sessions
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/Robelis
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zj_robelis/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rmoscovis
Image Credits
Nema Specialists @nemaspecialist
