Dancer, Educator, Lecturer, Entrepreneur, Dancerpreneur….Susan Epstein was born into the dance world, and at an early age worked in her family dance retail business, Taffy’s. She studied dance and began performing at a young age. Susan earned a BFA in Dance from SMU and did her graduate work at Case Western Reserve University. After a NYC dance career, Susan joined the family business full time. In that role she is credited with introducing several innovative products and services, building the business and then selling it to Capezio. Susan then became an industry marketing and merchandising consultant. She is a past president of The United Dance Merchants of America and is the founder of the UDMA Dance Resource and Costume Show, and directed it for over 20 years. Susan continues her interest in dance and dance products, consulting with industry leaders and guiding them to new opportunities.Susan has also created Dancepathways.org, a website and lecture series that invites the conversation, exploration and commentary on the opportunities for dancers. To that end Susan writes blogs, lectures, participates in panel discussions and does speaking engagements focused on dance colleges and careers – with the goal of educating dancers, parents and teachers of the many pathways their training can take them from performing and teaching to community engagement, and from business and entrepreneurial ventures to dance therapy and healing.Currently Susan is the Committee Chair for the New York Exploring program, Advisor for the Discover Dance:NYC program, and Merchandise Consultant for Gibney Dance.She is a member of NDEO and NYSDEA.