When I started Balloon Distractions my oldest daughter Claire was just entering kindergarten. Tonight she completed her restaurant training with our talented Tampa Bay trainer, Linda Amato, and she is signed up for 2 restaurant gigs later this week. The pic above was taken just an hour ago.

Claire is 16, and she just finished her sophomore year in the advanced IB program at the local high school. She also plays violin with the Tampa Bay Youth Orchestra.   

She’s been doing event gigs by my side for over a year, but this week she will fly solo at her first restaurant gig, and I’m very proud of her! Claire is a great example of what we look for in entertainers: outgoing, personable, and she’s great with children. Through working with me, our local trainer and our Online Orientation she has picked up the technical skills needed to fill a gig, and she’ll continue to learn new shapes as she fills gigs during the summer.     

To some people it may seem like Claire is just entertaining kids in restaurants, but she is also learning responsibility, poise, how to be comfortable with the public and the value of hard work. She might just fill a few gigs while in high school, which would be great, but she also has the option of training a crew and earning a sales commission from the company.

This is just the beginning for Claire, let’s see what the next decade brings us!

-Ben Alexander