Life & Work with Norma Ruiz of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Norma Ruiz.

Hi Norma, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
1st Impression began 25 years ago, I was Coaching at Allesandro’s Elementary School in Elysian Valley. As time went by the kids would get to the 6th grade and wanted to continue so they would say ” Do an independent team in older levels so we can continue with you” so I told them ok let’s try it and see how it goes but just this 1 time
, 7 kids and we did it and called it 1st Impression and planned to do it once. Season ended and they said can we continue, and I said if we get 15 kids ok! I only said it because I didn’t think we would get more. So they made fliers, and began to spread the word, there was NO social media at all at that that time. So when the day finally came I saw 6 kids, I told them I will
Go to the office and be right back… 15 minutes I came back and to my surprise close to 100 kids showed up… and so it was 1sr Impression grew.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been easy , ups and downs , I learned as a went . I knew nothing and had to learn step by step.. one of the hardest time of my life I lost a students to tragedy and a best friend to illness. Times got hard! We were also told after years that we can no longer use that space to practice. So I found myself asking g what do it do now

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At 1sr Impression we began with teaching Drillteam, then expanded to Hip
Hop dance and later Cheerleading.
We now train future coaches , work with kids of all ages, have had so many amazing performance opportunities

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Never stop learning! Embrace growth I’m always educating yourself. And remember who you are and where you came from

Contact Info:

• Instagram: 1st_impression