Austin, TX

They said dancing wasn't 'professional,' now she runs her own business

Published

1 month ago

October 14, 2024

They said dancing wasn't 'professional,' now she runs her own business

AUSTIN, Texas — Tucked away at the Casa de Luz Village in South Austin are standalone rooms separated from nature’s ambiance. One of them is dark, filled with people chatting while they wait for Monica Landois to start the music.

Landois rents the space to provide the fitness dance class to her students, though it might be more accurate to call them followers or friends.

“I love bringing joy to people and I love bringing joy through movement,” Landois said.

After class, Landois sits down next to a bouquet of sunflowers just outside the dance space reflecting on life. She’s a first-generation Austinite and graduate of Texas State University in San Marcos. There she received her bachelor’s in geography natural resources and environmental studies. She minored in business Spanish.

“I thought I would do something with environmental investigations and maybe I could help the Latin community and bridge gaps with language,” she said.

Out of college, Landois accepted a job with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. She remembers her parents were thrilled when she shared the news.

Landois had a short gap between graduation and starting her new job. That’s when she discovered Zumba classes. Zumba is described as a group exercise class that blends rhythmic Latin music with high-intensity cardio dance moves according to its website.

Instructors noticed her ability to keep up with the class and suggested she audition to be an instructor.

“It’s one of those things that was so random that kind of just fell in my lap,” Landois said.

Her first class had more than 50 people.

“There was so much community. I would meet so many people from different walks of life,” she said.

As her community grew, she would discover even more opportunities, including a contract position with the City of Austin, to teach Zumba classes. Landois says she got paid significantly more for 45 minutes of her time than she did at the TCEQ for the same amount of time. There were several of what Landois calls “aha” moments along the way.

“That’s where the wheels started turning,” Landois recalls.

Eventually Landois got married and welcomed her first child, a baby boy. At this point, she was trying to gather how she could be a present mother, work her government job with an added commute and teach fitness classes. By the time her son was around 4 months old, she decided to quit the TCEQ and focus on her dance classes.

“Even though I like this job, I can’t sustain being a mom and working those hours,” she recalled thinking.

Unfortunately, her then-husband doesn’t understand what she’s trying to do.

“Sometimes your partner or your parents or people closest to you don’t really see your vision because they’re not in your shoes,” Landois said. “They don’t have the knowledge you have within the spaces that you’re in.”

Landois separated from her partner. Culturally, her parents didn’t approve of the divorce. But Landois pressed on, determined to provide for both of her kids. She had since brought a second boy into the world.

“At any point you can say, ‘I’m not going to listen to the noise. Even though I’m in this space, I can still walk my path’,” Landois said.

Landois admits the path wasn’t always easy to travel. Two weeks after going all in on herself, the pandemic swept across the state, closing businesses deemed nonessential. Landois had already shot dance videos for Amazon’s Prime Video service, so she was at least a step ahead, ready to provide virtual classes to anyone who needed movement.

“I learned about resilience, having grit and how it’s so worth it,” Landois said. “As soon as you feel like giving up and decide not to, those are the moments.”

The number of hours she works week to week can change, but recently she’s been able to manage on fewer than 20 hours a week while raising her two boys. She’s proud to share she didn’t miss their first steps or their first words.

Landois just recently trained two more instructors to provide more classes for her community. She’s a motivational speaker, sharing her mom-preneur story with other women. She also gives dance lessons to couples interested in learning new styles of dance. But most importantly, she’s happy.

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Austin, TX

Texas boasts 10 restaurants on OpenTable’s top 100 list for 2024

Published

2 hours ago

November 24, 2024

Press Room

Texas boasts 10 restaurants on OpenTable’s top 100 list for 2024

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas had a strong showing on OpenTable’s 2024 Top 100 Restaurants with 10 establishments making the list.

What You Need To Know

The best foodie city in Texas, at least according to OpenTable, was Austin, with seven restaurants making the list

The rest of Texas’ major metropolitan areas–Houston, Dallas and San Antonio–each only had one restaurant on the list

OpenTable compiles its top 100 list every year by looking at diner reviews from its 14 million verified users

The Lone Star State had the second-most restaurants on the list, tied with Illinois, behind California, which had a whopping 19 restaurants featured.

The best foodie city in Texas, at least according to OpenTable, was Austin, with seven restaurants making the list.

Aba – Austin
J Carver’s
Jeffrey’s Restaurant
Red Ash Italia
Sammie’s Italian
Uchi Austin
Uchiko Austin

The rest of Texas’ major metropolitan areas–Houston, Dallas and San Antonio–each only had one restaurant on the list.

Steak 48 – Houston
Signature – San Antonio
Hudson House – Lovers Lane – Dallas

OpenTable compiles its top 100 list every year by looking at diner reviews from its 14 million verified users.

According to OpenTable’s website, restaurants with enough reviews are automatically considered and are evaluated by their ratings, percentage of five-star reviews, number of alerts set, percentage of reservations made in advance, percentage of capacity and direct searches.

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Austin, TX

‘Superman!’ Jelani McDonald Proves to Be Crucial Piece to Texas Longhorns Defense

Published

11 hours ago

November 24, 2024

Press Room

‘Superman!’ Jelani McDonald Proves to Be Crucial Piece to Texas Longhorns Defense

AUSTIN — Texas defensive back Jelani McDonald made his mark in the Longhorn secondary on Saturday.

McDonald recorded his first career interception, and it was one for the books.

With five minutes left in the first half as Texas led 14-7, Kentucky had possession. The crowd went wild as McDonald dove for the ball to get possession back to the Longhorn offense. Commentators described the play as a “Superman” performance.

WENT FULL SUPERMAN FOR THIS PICK 👀🤯@TexasFootball x 📺 ABC pic.twitter.com/ZV5AxOSWo7
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) November 23, 2024
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McDonald’s teammates also had their takes on the play.

“Superman…I mean everybody knows how athletic Jelani is, we’ve been talking about that all season, and even tied back to last season,” Michael Taaffe said. “He’s so athletic. I’m glad he finally got to show that and for you all to see, because we’ve known that forever.”

McDonald has totaled 22 tackles this season, playing in every conference and two non-conference games.

While he’s not a name on everyone’s mouths, like Quinn Ewers, Isaiah Bond, Taaffe or Kelvin Banks Jr., McDonald proved once and for all his impact on the team. McDonald could very much have a breakout season in 2025, and this play, which recorded Texas’ 16th interception of the season taking the national record, opened up the doors for his campaign.

That pick could even be awarded play of the year.

“I’ve been just happy to see him grow and get better as a player,” Anthony Hill Jr., who played with McDonald in the Freshman All-American game, said.

“He was playing corners, so I was like ‘Who’s this guy,’ and then one the game, he’s playing linebackers, and at one game he’s playing safety,” Hill said.

McDonald has one more shot to showcase his talent in the regular season as Texas faces Texas A&M next Saturday. But with two years left of eligibility, the sky is the limit.

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Austin, TX

No. 3 Texas ends UK’s bowl chances

Published

19 hours ago

November 23, 2024

Press Room

AUSTIN, Tx. (WKYT) – The Kentucky Wildcats (4-7, 1-7 SEC) ended their SEC slate with a 31-14 loss on the road against the No. 3 Texas Longhorns (10-1, 6-1 SEC). For the first time in eight seasons, UK will not be bowl eligible.

Junior quarterback Brock Vandagriff started the game for the Cats, going 3-7 for 51 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The staff opted to once against start true freshman Cutter Boley in the second half. The LCA alum wet 10-18 for 160 yards and an interception in the loss.

The Wildcats went 1-2 in the red zone and just 2-12 on third down conversions.

Senior inside linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson had a 25-yard fumble return for a touchdown, and also led the defense in tackles with eight.

Texas junior QB Quinn Ewers went 20-31 for 191 yards and two touchdowns for the Longhorns.

The season concludes next week as Kentucky hosts the Governor’s Cup game against Louisville at Kroger Field. Kick-off is set for noon on the SEC Network.

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