Jami Stigliano

Founder & CEO of DivaDance®

Jami Stigliano is the founder and CEO of DivaDance, an adult dance class franchise with more than 50 studios across the United States and Mexico. Before launching DivaDance in 2015, Jami spent eighteen years in the music industry working with global recording artists at Jive Records, Primary Wave, and ICONIC Talent. Today she leads a company that has helped tens of thousands of women rediscover joy, build friendships, and find confidence through choreography classes set to the music they love.

From pop music to pop culture

Jami earned her degree from The University of Texas at Austin and built her early career in the music industry. At Jive Records, she contributed to album campaigns for Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, P!nk, Jordin Sparks, and Usher. After Jive, she moved to Primary Wave, where her roster included CeeLo Green, Melissa Etheridge, and Cody Simpson. She later joined ICONIC Talent Network, working with The Chainsmokers and other touring electronic artists. Across nearly two decades in music, she developed a deep instinct for what makes a performance feel alive: rhythm, emotion, and the ability to bring strangers into a shared moment.

The corner of 57th and Broadway

DivaDance began in New York City. Jami had walked out of an intimidating beginner hip-hop class on the Upper West Side and decided she could build something better. She rented a $20-per-hour rec room inside a children's physical therapy center near Columbus Circle and started teaching her own classes: high-energy, judgment-free, set to current pop hits, structured so anyone could follow. Word traveled fast. Within months she was teaching weekly classes plus Saturday bachelorette parties for groups celebrating across the city. She kept that bachelorette routine going for more than a decade.

From side hustle to 50+ studios

In 2015 Jami formalized DivaDance as a company. By 2016 she had stepped away from the music industry and moved to Austin to focus on the business full time. The franchise model launched soon after, designed to give entrepreneurial women a turnkey way to bring DivaDance to their own cities. The company now operates more than 50 studios across the United States and Mexico, and Jami's work has been featured in People, USA Today, InStyle, Refinery29, PopSugar, and Telemundo. In 2024, 1851 Franchise named her to its Top Women in Franchising list. The owners themselves, who Jami affectionately calls her BossBabes, span fitness instructors, attorneys, teachers, and corporate refugees who wanted something more meaningful than a 9-to-5.

Speaking, writing, and community

Jami is a member of Chief, the executive network for senior women leaders, and a contributing writer for Austin Moms. She speaks publicly on franchising, women's entrepreneurship, and the power of community-driven small business. She lives in Austin with her family and became a mom of two after 40, an experience that shapes how she thinks about the women DivaDance serves. Most of them are showing up between life stages, looking for something that's just for them.

Connect with Jami

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jamistigliano
• Instagram: @jamistig
• Personal site: jamistigliano.com
• Interested in opening a DivaDance studio? Visit franchise opportunities.

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