How Aliya Janell Is Building Queens N' Lettos with Werk
She turned one heels class into a worldwide community of Queens
She started with a $5 pop-up class at a rented studio, 10 people, and a Missy Elliott song. What followed was a global movement, a sold-out tour, a studio, a franchise, and an empire for royalty worldwide.
What I supply every week is my business. What I post is my business. How I talk is my business. What I wear is my business. Everything that we do is a part of our business.
– Aliya Janell, Founder, Queens N' Lettos
Aliya Janell did not plan any of this. Dance started because her mom couldn't pick her up from school until 6pm, and an after-school program had a folk dance class. Heels came after that – she walked into a class at Millennium in character shoes thinking it was Broadway-style, discovered it was something else entirely, and never left. "I am home, honey," she says. That's how Queens N' Lettos begins: not with a business plan, but with a feeling of arrival.
What she built from that feeling is something the dance world hadn't seen before. A heels style that blended masculine and feminine, hard and soft, aggression and grace. A brand that went viral before anyone called it that, going on a national tour of music venues where fans crowd-surfed her and signed autographs on body parts, expanded into merch, apparel, a studio, and a YouTube channel with 2 million subscribers. And now: a franchise. A network. Am empire.
Aliya Janell is not a dance teacher who also has a business. She is a dancereneur – and she has been building one of the most original empires in the dance world for over a decade.
The Origin: From Folk Dance to Heels to Everything
Dance started as something to do while waiting for her mom. Elementary school, after-school program, a folk dancing class because it was that or art. Hip hop came naturally – teachers pointing her out, putting her in the front, using her as the example – and by high school she was doing cheerleading, dance team, show choir, student body, sports.
But it didn't get serious until after high school. Her mom wouldn't let her move to New York or go to an arts conservatory – "you can't even go to the next city by yourself" – so she stayed local, took classes at Millennium, and walked into a heels class one Wednesday. She wore character shoes because she thought it was Broadway-style. She walked into sexy, slap and whip and bend over, thinking:
Is this even allowed? Either way, I love it. I am home.
From there she started assisting the choreographer who taught the class – two, three years of learning not just the steps but the inner workings of a dance business. What it means to give students an experience.
"Assisting is such good positioning for someone still finding their voice. You're connected to someone people respect – and if they see something in you, other people will too."
Her first job came through that connection: the BET Awards, with choreographer Mikey Mendon.
The Career: Industry, Tours, and a Left Turn at the Light
What followed was the industry career – award shows, commercials, music videos, back to class, repeat.
Her first tour was with K. Michelle in 2016, for the album More Issues Than Vogue. "All you had to worry about was getting up on time, being at lobby call, what songs are we doing today, remembering the steps, and experiencing new cities. I thought that's what it was going to be." Then she met her husband Tallie – the dance captain of the Keisha Cole tour she joined next – and everything shifted.
"He saw things for me that I didn't," she says. "I just saw myself dancing for artists. He saw me as the artist. He saw me as the boss, the star of something." That push changed the trajectory. Aliya had been watching the industry – the cattle calls, the politics, the paychecks that couldn't cover rent – and she was done waiting in line.
"Why am I going to fight for my life at this audition they didn't even want me for anyway?"
So she made a left turn. Rented space at Evolution Dance Studio, charged $5, posted on Instagram, and taught a class to 10 people. That was the first Queens N' Lettos class. "That was the first step of my independence. Me doing something for myself and creating my own space."
"Make a hard left at the light. Everybody else can have all that. I'll be over here in the carpool lane."
The Experience: What Queens N' Lettos Actually Is
From the very beginning, Aliya knew she didn't want QNL to feel like a regular dance class. She'd been in enough of them – walking in not knowing anyone, questioning whether you should even be there, watching good dancers show up and wondering if that meant you shouldn't. She wanted the opposite of that. So she built it in from day one.
Every class opens with a freestyle circle. Not a technical across-the-floor, not something that outs what you can and can't do. Just: go in, do something, anything. A roll, a groove, a twerk.
"There's no right or wrong. Just put yourself out there. Start to laugh, start to smile, let us create a vibe in this class where it is okay to show yourself."
Then a win circle – each person who wants to shares something they're celebrating. Woke up this morning. Quit your job. Got into a relationship. Got out of one. "By the end, you realize you've already won – just by waking up and giving yourself a chance." Then the choreography.
"I don't even care about the choreography, honestly. Get what you can get. But remember who you are. Remember what you could be. Be okay with that. Be proud of how you stand today."
rom that mindset came the language – Queen, Queens, calling each other by what they are. "Not hey girl, hey b*tch. Let's call each other what we all are. Royalty." She was branding without knowing she was branding, building an entire world every Tuesday and Thursday at a rented studio in LA.
The Empire: From $5 Pop-Up to Global Movement
The weekly slots became consistent. The Instagram content – unapologetic, raw, viral before the word was overused – started getting reposted by the celebrities she'd once danced for. Which led to choreographing for those celebrities. Which led to music video credits, industry respect, and a demand that outgrew LA. "Now people are asking us to go across the country. Travel to Europe, Asia, South America. We're sitting in business class. There are 500 students at once."
Then came the tour – but not a teaching tour. A performance tour, in music venues. House of Blues. Artist venues. A step-and-repeat with the QNL logo and their faces. A meet-and-greet that started two hours before the show. Fans showing up with gifts, notes, cakes. Signing autographs on hats, posters, and body parts. "We were the celebrities."
From there: merch, apparel, a studio, a YouTube channel with 2 million subscribers, and now a worldwide QNL teaching tour.
Running It on Werk: Building the Infrastructure for an Empire
Werk came into Aliya's world right as she was opening the studio and gearing up for the next phase of expansion – and the timing, she says, was divine. "I don't know the first thing about tech. I just know: this is what I need to do, this is how it runs, how do I make it come together? How do I keep it organized? How do I give my students an easy process?" Werk was the answer she hadn't known she was looking for.
"Werk came in at such an amazing, incredible, divine time. Werk has supplied a team that I wasn't even expecting."
Pop-up classes across the world, studio bookings, the infrastructure behind everything QNL puts out – it runs through Werk. And what the platform gave her beyond logistics was a shift in how she thinks. "It's not the time for dancers booking dancers anymore. It's time for dancerpreneurs. What I do is my business. What I supply every week is my business. Everything that I do is a part of my brand – and Werk helps us produce and run that."
"It's not the time for dancers booking dancers. It's time for dancerpreneurs. Everything we do is our business – and Werk helps us run it."
— Aliya Janell
The Highest Dream: Queens N' Lettos, Everywhere
The vision is a network. A franchise of certified QNL instructors carrying the experience to every city and country that needs it. A YouTube channel transitioning into a platform where up-and-coming dance entrepreneurs can share their work and access Aliya's following. A film. A scripted series. A non-scripted series. Podcasts. "Everything under the motherf*cking sun," she says. Because if dance can be the starting point for all of it – and she believes it can – then why stop at a class?
"Dancers, if you can dance, you can do everything else. You can DJ, produce, act, sing, design. We're just so multifaceted. Dance is such a good place to start – create your name, create your business, create your brand, and then start venturing into everything else you've wondered about."
She closes with a message to her Queens – the ones who've followed her for ten years, who show up to her classes after traveling across the world, who remind her of who she is on the days she forgets.
"I don't care if you're the best dancer in the world. I don't care what color you are, where you come from, how old you are. Thank you for seeing me. Thank you for valuing me and what I do."
And then, in the way only Aliya Janell can say it:
"It's up. And it's stuck."
Aliya is one of thousands of dancers and creators building their businesses as Werk Members. If you're ready to do the same, join Werk today.
