Meet Tamekia Smith | Competitive Cheerleading Gym Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tamekia Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tamekia, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I decided to start my own competitive cheerleading organization as a platform to reach and teach our youth. This has become a ministry through cheerleading.

My organization’s mission is to emphasize the importance of community, respect and personal dignity. Through self respect and respect of others, our athletes lift each other up both figuratively and literally. We are each other’s cheerleaders! Through hard work and competition, our athletes learn lifelong lessons in friendship teamwork and discipline..

We also focus on promoting sportsmanship, respect for our peers, all while having fun. We pride ourselves on promoting appropriate training and safety in our sport, including conditioning, technique, and gradual skill progression. Life is also about experiences. Through our competitive cheer team Bombshells Youth Cheer and Dance, we are able to provide those experiences of a lifetime that our youth will remember for a lifetime.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Here at Bombshells Youth Cheer and Dance we pride ourselves on development, mentorship, uplifting and teaching young girls how to preserve and handle adversity through sisterhood. There is so much personal development that allows athletes to gain practical life skills. These skills include discipline, teamwork and goal setting, all while instilling confidence.

Cheerleading is greater than practices, games, community events and competitions that take up a pretty busy schedule, however it’s also about teaching and developing the athletes that join our gym to be the best version of themselves and allow them to seek for their greatest potential in life. Our goal is not only to prepare them to be able to make their middle, high school and college cheerleading team, but to prepare them for life. We want them to never stall dreaming and know that anything is possible in life if they work for it. Nothing worth having is easy. It takes lots of hard work and here at Bombshells Youth Cheer and Dance, we know what the work looks like and we pride ourselves on teaching work. All of our coaches are also aspiring entrepreneurs so we have a great deal of knowledge combined to also teach our youth the power of entrepreneurship.

Starting a business is far from easy. It takes a lot of hard work and most business require a lot of start up cost and a lot of time dedication. It’s even painful at times but I’ve learned that pain is your greatest teacher.

I’ve been a traditional business owner for over 18 years before becoming a gym owner and I’ve experienced a lot of pain through risk taking, profits, and loss. So it’s my knowledge of business most importantly that will allow me to provide the best service to my cheer athletes.

I am focused on building one of the strongest competitive cheer organizations in the east. My mission is to help young girls and boys know that they are special, valuable, amazing, and that they can do anything they put their mind to. I want to challenge them to be the best versions of themselves all while helping build a relationship through Christ.

With a religious background, my organization uses different kinds of ministry to connect with our youth, including a ton of giving back to the community events. We also participate in coat drives, back to school drives, feeding the homeless, just to name a few.

It is one thing to dream, but it takes courage, determination, hard work, faith, and the willingness to go where many will not go to make a difference in the lives of others. Being apart of the Bombshells Cheer family does not only dare you to dream bigger than your wildest imagination, you are given the support, encouragement, and guidance that is needed to dream big and achieve it. We coach and mentor boys and girls ages 3-12. No experience necessary to become apart of our organization.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Tucker, GA and that’s just about 15-20 min away from Atlanta so there is always something to do in the Peach State! Everyone knows that Atlanta is the new Hollywood! Well for one, anyone who knows me know that I pride myself on being a food connoisseur so we would definitely have to check out the food hot spots in the city. Atlanta is also known for some of the BEST brunch spots with having great food and drinks. I too am a travel business owner so I’m also advising my clients on some of the best food and hangout spots in whatever city or country they are in.

Some of my favorite brunch recommendations in the city are-
The Atlanta Breakfast Club, Breakfast at Barney’s, Toast on Lennox, Another Broken Egg, Flying Biscuit, and Roc South Cruisine.

Some of my recommendations for fun in Atlanta would be visiting the Georgia Aquarium, The MLK Center, MLK History Tour, Main Event, just to name a few. I’m personally a big sports fan so if you are ever in the city make sure to catch out a basketball game with our Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena, or a Baseball Game with the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park, or the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes Benz Stadium.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First and foremost, I would like to give all praise to God for allowing me to get this far because without him I would not be where I am today. I would like to give a special thanks to my husband for always believing in me and all of my business ventures. He plays a dynamic and supportive roll in all that I do and he’s just as much responsible for the success that I’ve been able to obtain being a serial entrepreneur. With him being a coach with over 30 years of expertise and having a great deal of success on his own, his knowledge plays a big factor in my business being sustainable and flourishing.

I am beyond grateful for family and friends who actually believe in my vision and support me and my organization. I would be remised if I didn’t thank my amazing coaching staff who comes in and dedicates countless hours away from their family to help build our youth, our brand, and our organization. They see my vision and they embrace it. We all strongly stand on one of my favorite bible verses Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, The people perish.”

I’m also thankful and grateful for my “Cheer Mentors” in the industry that has helped me to grow in the right direction. I believe in building long and strong relationships, and these individuals have always been there for me teaching and mentoring me. No matter when I call for questions and or guidance, they are right there to assist. This is very powerful and important for me to actually see other black women able to work together, to compete but not compare, and they understand collaboration over competition.

Lastly, I would have to attribute where I am at this point in my life and business career to my business and success coaches/mentors within the PlanNet Marketing family. Mr. & Mrs. Donald and Deborah Bradley has provided me with a vehicle that allows me to have personal freedom, time freedom and financial freedom. Through this vehicle I’ve been able to create freedoms which allows me more flexibility to be able to grow my cheerleading organization, travel the world with the teams showing them new experiences, and most importantly being in position to fund the business. I’ve been able to be one of the most affordable cheer gym organizations to be apart. This allows more less fortunate families to come in and be apart of what we are doing not only in the cheerleading world, but the community.

This company and my success coaches and mentors Orlanda Moore, Letoria Mayberry, Gregory Scott, Tanisha Burke just to name a few has also been key attributes to my success. They have taught me not only the power that entrepreneurship has, but they’ve helped me grow and propel in my leadership areas as well. Successful businesses rises and falls on its leadership so my ability to be able to effectively lead, grow, and overcome adversities and challenges throughout my journey is very important to me and I don’t take my role for granted.

Website: www.bombshellselitecheeranddance.com

Instagram: Bombshellselite

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Bombshellselitecheer?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Other: For more information on becoming a corporate sponsor or joining our team, please email: Bombshellselitecheer@gmail.com