About Shaté

Shaté L. Hayes is a creative at the intersection of education and media production with a passion for producing programming that inspires personal and professional advancement, especially for marginalized communities. She started her own career as a professional dancer and choreographer. After graduating with honors from Spelman College, she performed extensively throughout the U.S. and China. Her work has been commissioned by performance companies throughout the country, and she’s choreographed and produced dozens of productions including industrials, concerts, musicals, and more. Shaté served as assistant choreographer for Tony award winning Dallas Theater Center's and AT&T Performing Art Center's 2018 production of Hairspray: The Broadway Musical. Critics have called her “a talent to watch” and her movement has been described as “alone worth the price of admission.”

Shaté earned an MFA in dance and spent several years serving as an adjunct dance professor. She’s taught and mentored students of all ages and from all walks of life on issues such as self-confidence, professional development, and career trajectory.

She’s all about people and performance—her background in psychology and the arts colors everything she does.

Since her performance career, sh’es authored several books such as The Freelance Dancer’s Roadmap as well as 100+ career and business articles published in Dance Magazine, Pointe, Dance Teacher, and Dance Business Weekly among others. In 2015, she founded The Working Dancer, an online career resource for aspiring and early career artists. Through that platform and her work in the community, she’s contributed to numerous panels, conferences, and podcast discussions focused on purpose and career building.

Shaté then went on to build a high performing career learning team at a market leading EdTech company for over 5 years. She drove the production of a high volume of digital content, learning programs, corporate videos, and live virtual events. From there, she became an executive at a non-profit leading the delivery of technical, career, and community programs for working adults from historically excluded populations.

Now, she has the pleasure of using all her background and past experiences to…

  • Produce learning experiences and content for mission-driven organizations.

  • Speak to university, corporate, or community audiences on a range of professional development topics.

  • Coach creatives and creative thinkers through her training company, Career Steward.