Hello

The Ignite Collective and Ignite Dance Co. were founded by Shawna Kassuba, a Positive Psychology practitioner, dance educator, speaker, Motherhood & Life Coach, and nonprofit leader who believes resilience can be intentionally cultivated through meaningful experiences, human connection, and a little wonder.

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Shawna earned her Master's degree in Positive Psychology from Arizona State University, where she explored how emotion regulation, creativity, and human connection contribute to flourishing and well-being. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Psychology, further exploring resilience, well-being, and the conditions that help individuals, families, organizations, and communities thrive.
 

Movement has been a lifelong passion for Shawna, who has danced for more than 35 years, taught dance for over 15 years, and owned and directed a dance studio for more than a decade. Through those experiences, she discovered that movement can be a powerful pathway to resilience, meaningful relationships, and life skills that reach far beyond the studio. Today, those insights are reflected in the Ignite Model®, a framework blending movement, creativity, positive psychology, and human connection to help children and families flourish.

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Shawna also holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Entrepreneurship and a Business Leadership Certificate from the University of Michigan. Her professional journey includes more than seven years serving children and families within Michigan's mental health system, partnering with families, schools, community organizations, and state leaders to develop education, outreach, training, and family-driven initiatives. Her work has helped shape statewide curricula and collaborative learning experiences designed to strengthen resilience, connection, and hope.
 

Her lived experience as a mother has shaped this work just as deeply. Through The Momming Project, Shawna brings together lived experience, whole-child thinking, and positive psychology to support women through the beautiful, complicated work of raising and caring for children, from birth through adulthood. She creates space for mothers and caregivers to trust themselves, advocate with confidence, honor their child's dignity, and care for their own well-being along the way. At the heart of the project is a simple belief: create a world that fits your child, not a child who fits the world. And don't lose yourself while you're building it.
 

Today, Shawna brings these experiences together through The Ignite Collective, from Ignite Dance Co. and The Momming Project to Pause, speaking, education, and community experiences. Her work is research-informed, wonder-inspired, and human-centered, creating spaces where people feel seen, connected, and supported as they discover their strengths, deepen connection, cultivate resilience, and flourish.