Today we’d like to introduce you to Sandra Detamore.
Hi Sandra, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have always been very active growing up. I juggled many activities as a teen and as a young adult. Band, Varsity Cheerleader, Feature Twirler, and Volleyball in my high school years. I did receive a scholarship for my clarinet to Southwest Texas State (that’s what it was called before changing its name to Texas State).
I had decided I was going to be a Band Director! But I really never liked the school I was always more of a hands-on individual. My first year after graduation, I attended San Antonino College, and again I was a “Cheerleader”, I even was a Semi-Pro Football Cheerleader for the San Antonio Charros.
Again school never interested me. But my activities always keep me busy. I started working for McDonald’s because my high school band director was the store manager. I loved it. Back then they didn’t allow girls in the grill area( cooking patties). But I was relentless I wanted to learn so I would take extra shifts when people would call in sick and before long I was working the grill.
With McDonald’s, I worked my way up from crew to Supervisor and at one point I was going to purchase a McDonald’s. That was the year when they had that coffee lawsuit. I changed my mind. I worked various jobs, owned my first cafe in my early 20s, and had a specialty gift shop in my late 30s but throughout my years I would always return to McDonald’s.
McDonald’s fostered my talents and taught me how to lead, manage and grow a business. Sure I had multiple awards including a few prestigious ones but working in the community through my church with my family was always at the top of the list. When I left the corporate world so to speak, I wanted to look for something that I could give back to the community.
I had always been involved with my church through the Choir, President of the Orchestra, and Children’s ministry of music but drama and singing were always my favorite. I loved to teach the kids how to tell a story through Drama. I had already been through the LA scene as a “Mama Manager” for my son, so when I bought my Drama Kids International Franchise, I really felt at home and I knew that I could pass on my experience to my students.
Everything I have learned throughout my life I feel like it’s a valuable commodity that I can pass on to my employees, parents, and students. I feel like my failures can be turned into others’ successes. It’s never really been about the money it’s always been about what can I give back to others.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
When you focus on a business you tend to lose focus on other important aspects of your life. My marriage suffered at the beginning but we weather the storm and my Husband, Tommy and I have now been married for 37 years.
He is a professional musician and owns a recording studio so as you can imagine, both of our schedules are very different. Money has always been tight because we are both self-employed so that too can add stress. But I would not change a thing. Nothing worth having is easy and fighting to keep it whether is a family or a business it’s worth it if you can weather the storm.
My outlook on all my struggles is opportunities. I always look up (God) and sometimes scream… What is it that you’re trying to teach me here? Ray Kroc the founder of McDonald’s said: “As long as you’re green, you’re growing. As soon as you’re ripe, you start to rot.” So I want to be green and growing.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am known as Drama Mama.
If I teach at a school and I am simply walking down the hall or the cafeteria and the students see me, I feel like a celebrity, because all you hear is kids shouting out “Hi Drama Mama”. I have to stop and wave and that just warms my heart because I feel like I have made that connection and hope that it will last a lifetime. I remember one incident at the airport.
I was behind a group of University students and I just love to meet new people. They were going back home from a competition. I told them about my Drama Kids program and even gave them a few pointers to use next time. They were so excited and said hey I wish I had taken your class as a kid then maybe I would have been able to face my fears today.
This is why I love what I do. I love that my franchise, Drama Kids International teaches students life skills through drama. We help students realize their creative potential through drama. We help them face their fears of public speaking or help foster those talents that will help them become actors.
I am not aiming to create Broadway stars, but rather I want to foster my student’s talents and focus on building creative thinking skills, communication skills, confidence, and self-esteem. These skills are vitally important for success later in life and are not currently being taught in the school classroom. My son Thomas, now 33 years old, is my Assistant Director.
Thomas graduated from Texas State University with a B.A. in English and a minor in theater. I’m so proud that he is now teaching high school English in our hometown of Floresville. But those acting skills he learned at a young age came in handy for all those job interviews.
So my goal is to help children and young adults develop so that whatever career they choose in life, they will be able to use the skills they learned through Drama Kids International to achieve success. I truly feel blessed with this opportunity and am grateful for all the parents who feel that it is important for their children to learn these skills. After all, children are our future.
When I bought my franchise back in 2009, I had business cards made with this bible verse: Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” I know that this is my calling and hopefully one day My Lord will say “Well done, good and faithful servant” Matthew 25:21.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I think we all learned that life is too short and that our children need us. They need interaction. My franchise was the only one in the whole USA that still performed our final spring presentation shows during Covid-19. As it turned out, our show that year was a western show and the other one was grasshoppers and ants.
So bandana’s worked great as mask coverings. As for my grasshoppers and ants, they looked great with masks on because they were cute little bugs. We were able to continue online and the students rehearsed and performed together for the 1st time in person on show day and they all did a fantastic job. I learned that kids are adaptable and flexible and that they needed a creative outlet. They needed some normalcy.
I was happy that I was able to continue to give some of my students that during Covid-19. It had its struggles because not everyone is used to virtual communication, I certainly am not but at least we all came together to try to make the most of the situation.
I wasn’t happy that I had to take out a loan to keep some classes open and to keep my teachers employed, but it was worth it.
Pricing:
- $20 per one-hour class.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dramakids.com/tx6
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/texasdramamama
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/mydramakids
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/texasdramamama
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCouT5M59HHGGfbavk3WXb_g
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/drama-kids-international-floresville
