Meet Claudia Beeny | Founder and Executive Director, House of Shine

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

Hi Claudia, other than deciding to work for yourself, what else do you think played a pivotal role in your story?
Feeding the roots is probably the single most important thing I have done to be successful in the long term. And, it wasn’t a one-time decision, but instead it is one decision I have made many times over the course of my lifetime. What I mean by feeding the roots is working hard and going above and beyond, even when others said it didn’t make sense. For example, I was a resident assistant in college and I treated programming for my residents like it was my full time job. I pulled out the stops, dreaming big and producing programs that were filled with magic and mystery. I presented workshops at conferences that took me hours and hours to prepare and for which I never got paid a dime. Later I took all that knowledge and experience I accrued and consulted with universities around how to effectively build communities on college campuses. Sometimes I got paid a small amount of money and other times I got paid in the form of a mug or sweatshirt from their campus bookstore. I never measured or felt short-changed because I always believed I was gaining experience while doing something I loved. I was feeding the roots. I used the same rationale when spending a year’s worth of weekends co-authoring a leadership model, going back to school to earn a master’s degree and then Ph.D., writing a book, and still today generously giving work away when it makes sense. My decision to feed the roots; to invest in myself without measuring the return on every investment has opened doors and attributed to the success I am experiencing today.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I chose the Artist/Creative designation, despite the fact that I am not a traditional artist. I don’t draw or paint. I’m not an actor, singer, or comedian and I can’t sing or play music. I am however creative and it is my creative thinking, combined with 25 years working in education, that paved the way for me to open House of Shine. It is an educational non-profit focused on providing programs and tools that enable communities and leaders to thrive. The whole thing started as a blog. I committed to sharing a creative idea-a-day for one year, never repeating the same idea twice. At the end of that one year, I didn’t want to stop and what I realized is that I had fallen in love with the project for two reasons. First, I had built a thriving community and second, the blog had evolved from merely sharing creative ideas to using creative ideas to thank people for contributing in their corner of the world. The blog was turning into a movement and the movement was focused on spreading shine by showcasing excellence in people from all walks of life. Years later we realized, if we could deconstruct what it is that made people shine then we could construct curriculum designed to teach young people who they are and how to use what they know about themselves to build fulfilling lives. Today, we’ve taken it one step further by opening a physical location in Grapevine, Texas. It’s creative because it is an interactive museum, focused on the exploration of self. Each exhibit unearths something unique about the visitor, and our accompanying workshops lead participants through our Shine Methodology – the process we teach for crafting a fulfilling and meaningful life. If there is one thing I want people to know about me or House of Shine, it is that the process we teach is exactly the process I, myself, went through to forge my own fulfilling path. And, it works!

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?
Well, I’m on the introverted side, so having a friend visit is more up my alley than let’s say going away for a big party-filled girl’s weekend. Most every day would start out with a walk around beautiful Grapevine Lake, followed by a leisurely cup of coffee at a local coffee shop such as Redefined, Buon Giorno, or Main Street Bakery – all in Grapevine, Texas. From their we would take a short drive to a local attraction. One day we might drive up to the whimsical Chairy Orchard in Denton, Texas, with a pit stop at Rose’s Costumes – another creative haven also located in Denton. Another day we might drive to Dallas to visit Southern Methodist University, where I worked for many years. There sits a bench on campus that reads, “Meet a Friend”. I love it so much, I collect photos of me with my friends on the bench. Before leaving Dallas, I’d pop over to my friend, and Tik Tok sensation Carla Rockmore’s, house to say hello and to hope for an impromptu tour of her closet. For fun another day, I might pop into Brigay’s Unique Goods to have their guest tarot card reader reveal what she sees for our futures and then head all the way up to McKinney for lunch at Snug on the Square and an afternoon of window shopping. Of course, it goes without saying no trip to Texas would be complete without taking my friend to House of Shine for a day of inspiration. I would give her a personal tour of all the exhibits and then set her free in our Shine Shop to pick out one of our beautiful sweatshirts or t-shirts. To cap off her trip, we’d stop at Barnes and Noble for something new to read on her plane ride home and then Nothing Bundt Cakes for dessert.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Many people have been involved in the growth and success of House of Shine, since its inception fourteen years ago. I could thank my parents for instilling in me a sense of creativity and possibility. My husband for all of the support – financial and otherwise that he provided in the early years. A collection of four friends who shared my enthusiasm for the work in the early days and whose encouragement kept me going. But actually, when I think long and hard about how House of Shine has gotten from where it was to where it is today, I have to dedicate my Shoutout to my graphic designer, Maureen Ramirez. In the early days Maureen and I would meet while waiting for our kids in car line. She was an acquaintance who I couldn’t afford to hire full time, but she would let me feed her ideas sketched out on paper and she would return them to me as works of art. The more work she did for me, the more serious and important my work looked and the more opportunity would come my way. People have told me along the way that they always assumed I was a large and credible organization because when I showed up to do workshops, my printed materials were best in class. Today we are bigger and an even more credible organization, still with Maureen’s Midas touch on everything we produce.

Website: www.houseofshine.com

Instagram: houseofshine

Linkedin: Claudia Beeny

Twitter: @houseofshine

Facebook: houseofshine

Youtube: House of Shine