Life

Dorothy was raised in Idaho Falls, ID. The 2nd to youngest of 5 kids. Shy from the beginning, and “chubby”. “My mom enrolled me in dance, so I ‘wouldn’t get fat’. Dance woke something up inside me, made me less embarrassed, more confident.” Raised in a tumultuous home, she learned from good examples and bad examples and grew to be introspective, and intentional. “I think because of my upbringing, I sought out my own excellence, setting a course for fearless trying, and developing the art of practicing (where you actually hold yourself accountable to improvement).”

After breaking a board at a church activity, Dorothy got very passionate about martial arts. She studied Japanese Jujitsu and karate in high school, American kenpo, and Shaolin kung fu in college. This led to opportunities to teach CageFitness, kickboxing, and (currently) a private women’s self defense class.

She met her husband just before her senior year of college. They were married that winter and have 4 children. Motherhood teaches many lessons. “My understanding of teaching kids music has been greatly added to by my experience as a mother!”

Dorothy discovered that fearlessness in the kitchen was another of gifts. “In high school I started changing recipes to cut fat, add whole grains…just trying to make them healthier.” On a whim, in 2009 she entered a Better Homes and Gardens recipe contest, and won the Grand Prize! See the recipe! https://www.bhg.com/recipe/chocolate-cakes/whole-wheat-chocolate-blueberry-cake/

https://www.bhg.com/recipes/chefs/dorothy-olsen-annual-challenge-recipe-winner/

“Its surreal now. Sometimes, when I’m having a bad day, I google this. It is on so many different recipe websites! This recipe changed the world in a small way! A true lesson in ‘You never know unless you try’. This wonderful, bold concept has helped me inspire cello students to fearlessly chase their dreams, whatever they are.”

In 2011, she became a Beachbody coach. She did hundreds of hours of training in life coaching; overcoming obstacles, conquering doubt, time management, motivating people, positive psychology, law of attraction, etc. “Though I never had any financial success as a BB coach, I learned so much! I think this ‘job’ was the crowning jewel of my cello teaching career! I was trained by lots of self made millionaires. All of my training related directly to me as a cello teacher, and I pass that to my students.”