Meet Carrie DeMont | Founder/Owner DeMont Family Swim School

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

Hi Carrie, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I think it’s the way we truly care about people, both our team and customers. It’s more than “just swimming” (although the lifesaving impact of learning to swim is pretty incredible and impactful!!!). We are passionate about our company core values of: kindness always, work hard, seek growth and improvement, be responsible. We try to funnel everything we do back to these values (including: hiring decisions, reviews/conversations, the way we connect with each other and our customers.)

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My husband and I visited our friends swim school in Half Moon Bay, CA in the summer of 2002. At the time he was a swim coach at the University of Arizona (and former World Record Holder swimmer) and I was working in early intervention (birth to 5) with children who were deaf, hard of hearing and deaf blind. Upon observing the indoor swim school, a fire was ignited inside me! I remember feeling like, “this is a perfect fit for us”! On our drive back to Arizona I came up with our motto: be as comfortable in water as you are on land…. Tucson did not have any indoor learn to swim facilities. So, I took my background in working with children and developmentally appropriate practice and applied it to learning to swim and the DeMont Family Swim School was born. Along with a friend, Jill Hutchinson, we started in our backyard in the summers and drove up to Phoenix weekly to the Hubbard Family Swim School (friends of ours and experts in the industry), attended any United States Swim School Association conference available, all while working on the business plan, obtaining loans and finding a location where we could build our dream. It was a long process with many obstacles, but we finally opened in August 2009, seven years after the initial spark! We opened our doors with 63 swimmers/week and grew to approximately 1800 swimmers a week in 2020.

There were many obstacles–We signed the lease in 2007. Construction started in 2007 and then stopped because the landlord encountered financial hardships. We almost went bankrupt before opening our doors! We finally opened our doors in 2009. I had a 4 year old and a one year old at this time and I was wearing 100 hats!! I honestly don’t remember this time of my life… it was exhausting and challenging. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other! Failure was not an option– I did not want to let anyone down!!

I think it also helped that I was always trying to improve and be better… always looking for ways to grow. I used mistakes (business mistakes or leadership mistakes) as opportunities to learn.

If there’s ever been a time that I wanted to give up, it was during the pandemic. That time was extremely difficult on our “face to face, in person” business. Even with PPP money, we were funneling our personal retirement money into the business to keep things going. We went from 1800 students per week to 165 students per week. It was beyond exhausting. But, in those moments will always keep going because of our incredible team and the valuable work we do. I also can usually spin something into a feeling/perspective of gratitude -and this helps me to keep going. (I’m not perfect—it might take a few days of wallowing/anger/obsessing/arguing with the story in my head before I am able to find the gratitude!!!)

What sets us apart from others:
1- Our Culture: I think First and foremost, we treasure our employees! They are our MOST IMPORTANT asset! We often receive compliments on the incredible people who are a part of the DFSS team. As a leader, I worry more about if my team is happy than if the customer is happy. Everything comes back to our “WHY” and our “Core Values:
· hiring, training, reviews (both annual and during a “core value check in”)/feedback/peer to peer assessments, promotions, everyday operations, and branding/customer communications.
We hire as a team, 3-part interview to make sure we have a good culture fit for both DFSS and the applicant. Our Team has an opportunity to give feedback and a part of hiring.
· On day one we emphasize that we are here to do good things for other people.
2- Our customer service: We make it a goal to be the best part of people’s days! We know how lucky we are to be able to work with children and help them acquire the lifesaving skill of learning to swim. We strive for what we call “anticipatory service”—anticipating the needs of our customers (and staff) before they know what they need.
3- Reinvesting in our community/giving back:
We love our community and vow to be a support and return value to the place we live. We do this in a variety of ways. One way is through quarterly donations to local nonprofit silent auctions. Year to date we have donated thousands of lessons through auction donations.

Educating the public about water safety is one of our primary goals. We are happy to go to any school and conduct a presentation for preschooler age children on up. In addition, as a member of Safe Kids Pima County, we bring staff volunteers to their “Water Safety is For You” Days. These events target approximately 800 local, at risk first graders and educate them on water safety. The schools work on a water safety curriculum prior to coming to the free, fun event. This is an annual event and tradition for our school.

As an entrepreneur, I enjoy speaking to industry groups about incorporating company core values into all aspects of the business, finding your company “why”, and working with children who have special abilities. In addition, I periodically volunteer/teach at high school economics class about what it’s like to dream, start and own/run your own business. I enjoy giving my time to talk about my passions! Finally, I am the chair for the United States Swim School Associations national certification committee.

DFSS Gives Back Program: As a team, we love to donate our time and dollars to the community. We offer each team member 3 paid hours/year to volunteer at a local non-profit of their choice. In addition to our team members spreading the love by volunteering with their individual causes/passions, here are the community events we volunteer time as a team: cooking for the Ronald McDonald House, sponsored, participated, and volunteered in the CF Great Strides Event, Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona bundling party, annual sponsor for RMDH walk, sponsor for local arts programs, sponsor for school events.

Finally, we are also passionate about using our business along with our awesome customers as a vehicle to help others! Since we have so many great customers who are generous, each year we are proud to put on an incredibly successful toy drive for foster children in the Tucson community, and an annual diaper collection drive for the Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona.

What do we want the world to know about our brand? Our “WHY”– Our goal is to connect, encourage and inspire through kindness so that we positively impact others!

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?
Rent bikes and go down to Tucson Hop Shop & Ciao pizza. (off the “loop” in Tucson)

Take the “tram” up Sabino Canyon, have a picnic next to the water.

Start any day at Barista Del Barrio (coffee and breakfast burritos)

Day Spa at Miraval.

Dinner at Tavolino or Uptown Burger

Take the street car down 4th Ave– have lunch at Bisonwitches– then head over to Corbetts for pickleball and cocktails. Finish off dinner at Kukai (in the MSA Annex)

Coffee at Cartel.

Drive up Mt. Lemmon for lunch and a hike– it’s 30 degrees cooler up there, plus you get to smell pine trees!!

Go for a mountain bike ride on any of Tucson’s amazing trails!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The United States Swim School Association and the incredible members of the association all helped push me along, kept me learning and growing n this amazing industry. We are so very fortunate to have many incredible people in our lives who helped this dream become a reality. Bob and Kathy Hubbard from Hubbard Family Swim Schools in Pheonix were excellent mentors. Jill Hutchinson helped write the business plan, knock on bank doors, and drive things forward with getting our doors open. Bob Davis, was always connecting us with his massive network– without Bob, we would never have made it– he not only was an initial investor, he connected us with the right people to get loans and build our facility. Brian Lambert (who was a school principal at the time) came in every Saturday and was our deck manager for years … his positive energy was a gift. A few years in, Cristi Santiago came on as GM and helped elevate and systemize the business and prepare for continued growth. We have always attracted amazing people at every step of the way– this led to incredible growth and impact.

Website: https://www.demontswim.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/demontswim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeMontSwim

Image Credits
Sacha Brown