Life & Work with Hannah Mico and Paige Gabert of Midwest Movement Collective

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Mico and Paige Gabert. They share their story with us below:

Paige Gabert and Hannah Mico met through pole dancing a number of years ago. Both co-owners danced recreationally and competed regionally in Chicago. Hannah and Paige, amongst dozens of other dancers and instructors at their previous studio, found that they outgrew the space and were looking for something more catered to their values and goals. They realized there weren’t many options for where to go next: none of the dance studios in Grand Rapids offered a full schedule of adult-focused classes, and finding offerings that were actually inclusive of a wide spectrum of identities was even harder. After months of ideating during the pandemic on Hannah’s front porch in the Garfield Park neighborhood, Paige and Hannah set out in the beginning of 2021 with a business coach to hammer out their ideas and put pen to paper. They announced their name and branding a few months into the year, and were met with outstanding support and excitement: Midwest Movement Collective was going to be Grand Rapids’ first all-in-one dance and movement studio for adults, offering pole dance, aerial arts, and traditional grounded dance under one roof. Not only is the focus on curating an adult-friendly space, but to do so in a way that is intentionally inclusive for all bodies and identities.

Fast forward to May 2021, and the pair launched a public crowdfunding effort to raise their first round of capital for their new business. With $10,000 in the bank, Midwest Movement Collective was able to secure a lease on the Northwest side of town and has been working on securing additional capital to build out their new studio since. Competing in pitch competitions, applying for grants, and hosting fundraising events have all helped piece together their vision. The studio will be opening in Winter 2022.

Alright, 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?
The road to opening a small business has not been smooth. For starters, we began this process in January 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. We envisioned the pandemic passing by the time we were ready to open Midwest Movement Collective, but here we are jumping into construction with the impacts of COVID-19 still greatly affecting our personal and professional lives. With the prices of construction materials and labor inflated so greatly, and the supply chain issues causing delays with equipment and material, we are facing a really difficult time as a startup. We’ve been persistent from day 1, though: planning ahead, having contingencies, and being transparent with our support team and future clients has kept us going strong.

Without the pandemic, we imagine this would still be a difficult endeavor. We have appreciated, abundantly, the amount of support, coaching, and resources there are for small business owners. The amount of free information is astounding. However, the one thing small businesses need the most is funding (especially when the small business is owned by two single women, who both have single-income households, one of which is raising a daughter). We stuck our necks out willingly to pursue this dream and were encouraged greatly by support and excitement from our community and others. However, that enthusiasm didn’t translate into the dollars we needed, and expected, to get going. We’re not alone: iFundWomen, the platform we used for our crowdfunding campaign, specializes in funding and supporting women entrepreneurs. They report that 72% of women founders cite lack of access to capital as the number one barrier to starting a business, even though women found and start businesses at 4.8 times the national average. TL;DR: the funding landscape for women entrepreneurs is overly competitive and severely lacking – it creates a rocky road for all of us!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
In her day job, Hannah is an environmental nonprofit professional who specializes in assisting local water-focused organizations make change in their communities. She works for an organization called River Network, which is the only national nonprofit whose sole purpose is to connect and support local water protectors nationwide. Prior to working for River Network, Hannah simultaneously worked part-time for a number of environmentally-focused nonprofit organizations in Grand Rapids. Hannah’s career is informed by her B.S. in Natural Resource Management from Grand Valley State University, as well as being very active in her community in Grand Rapids. 

In her day job, Paige owns and operates her own photography businesses: Boudoir by Paige Gabert and Paige Gabert Photography are her brands, focused on portraits, weddings, events, lifestyle, and boudoir (obviously). For over ten years, she has excelled at creating comfortable environments for her clients and capturing real, vulnerable images. Paige is also a specialist in marketing and social media management, having done this work for other dance studios in the past. Paige studied business and photography at Grand Rapids Community College before launching her business. 

As co-owners of Midwest Movement Collective, Hannah and Paige balance each other out incredibly well: Paige’s creative perspectives and previous experience make her the marketing and social media expert, always churning out new engagement ideas and managing the studio’s brand and communications. Hannah, however, pulls from her experiences working for nonprofits to manage the administrative side of things: grant applications, finances, contracts, and operations fall more squarely into her comfort zone, after wearing many hats while working at small startup organizations. Together, Hannah and Paige see themselves as a highly adaptable team, and they aren’t too shy about owning their expertise. 

What matters most to you? Why?
When it comes to opening Midwest Movement Collective, what matters most to us is building a truly welcoming and inclusive space. The dance studio we attended previously was exclusive to women, to a degree that was harmful to gender non-binary people and transgendered women, and even women who identified as gay, bisexual, asexual, or who identified outside of being cisgendered and heterosexual in other ways. We also encountered other dance and movement studios whose doors were “open to everyone,” but that people felt excluded from or uncomfortable in due to a variety of reasons related to their racial, gender, sexual, or other identities. We are not going to tiptoe around the topic of inclusivity and hope that folks feel welcome in our space: we are making deep investments off the bat to ensure our entire team understands how to create an inviting and supportive environment for everyone who wants to dance with us. 

We’ve identified partners in Grand Rapids who will be hired to deliver training on a regular basis to our staff, including Disability Advocates of Kent County, Grand Rapids Pride Center, and West Michigan Center for Arts & Technology. We’ve also had a number of discussions with individuals about the experiences they’ve had in dance studios throughout the course of their lives, and listened intently when they’ve offered ways for us to avoid causing harm. At the core of our mission, our values, and our vision for this space is one simple statement: everyone can dance. We intend to curate a space and a culture where everyone wants to. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://linktr.ee/midmovecollective
• Instagram: @midmovecollective
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/midmovecollective