Meet Tammy Scholz of TNT Entertainment in Waxahachie

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tammy Scholz.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Many years ago, in about 1985 I met a lady who was a face painter here at a fair here in Waxahachie. She asked me to ride along with her to see if I would be interested in Face painting. She took me to a North Dallas birthday party and then to a pre-game party for the Dallas Mavericks hosted by a local radio station. The first thing I ever painted on a face was the old Dallas Mavs logo. I was hooked. We never painted on the skin with acrylic paints that was designed to go on a canvas. It shocks me to see people using such harmful products on skin still today.

I made the choice to stay at home with my children. Being home with my babies was more important to my husband and myself than things. Face painting on the weekends gave me a creative opportunity as well as being able to earn extra money for my family. My husband, Tim, was an auto mechanic Monday – Friday. He was always offended when people asked him if he was babysitting our children while I painted on the weekends. He would say “why would you ask me if I was sitting my own children?”

One day I casually mentioned to my husband that I would see these cute little barrel trains at events where I was painting. They seemed unsafe. I told him I bet he could create something cute and safe. Next thing I knew, he was building a cute safe train. We named it the Circus train. We decided to name our business TNT Entertainment because of our names Tim & Tammy.

At the time, we had no clue that our little train would grow into a full-time business. Children love trains and the wildly popular Thomas the Tank Engine series fueled that love of trains. As time went on, we grew the side of the train of our business to 3 trains. Tim has redesigned our trains to resemble the old 1800’s steam engines. We now lovingly call our train Stanley the Steam Engine. We have “steam blowing out of the smokestack.” Our business now has 3 hand-built trains. The steam engine is a perfect theme for many events. During the Christmas season, our trains get invited to do pajama parties for Polar express themes. We have been able to participate in many cultural events due to the universality of the train across many countries. Tim was able to leave his auto mechanic job and plunge himself into full-time care and maintenance and operation of the trains. All of our trains must be yearly inspected by the State and licensed. We must also carry insurance. These things are expensive, but it is important to protect your clients. Be wary of anyone who operates without the proper requirements.

After our children were grown, I worked for a few years in Dallas in sales and was not able to continue to paint and do the travel that my job required. So, I put my artwork on hold, the job in Dallas was a great experience, but it was clearly time to go back home to my original love of Face Painting. I have been able to rebuild my personal bookings and continue to do the office side of TNT Entertainment. We also book other entertainers. I have also expanded my job title to include storyteller. I go with the train to schools and tell a story about Stanley the Steam engine and why the “train designer” made Stanley different than all of the other trains. It is educational and has a life moral to the story. I love working with children.

Both Tim and I never dreamed that our little entertainment business would become full-time for both of us, but it is an adventure we have been truly blessed by. We love to tell people that we “party for a living”.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it has not been easy, taking risks in what you believe in, is often scary. All expenses are ours. We do everything debt free. We do pay all taxes owed and make sure we comply with all laws. We were willing to live simply and do the work ourselves.

We recently had a drunk driver, run a stop sign at 55 mph and plow into one of our trains on the way to a gig. The train and trailer were both destroyed. The little girl, whose party we were on the way to had been wanting the train at her party since she was very little. This was the first year she was able to physically be able to ride the train since she had been in a full body cast. Although we were very late, we had friends pick up one of our other trains and at least give her a couple rides. I was able to go and face paint again late but they did enjoy the painting. We have that same train booked all through the upcoming holiday season. We are unsure of how insurance will work because the drunk driver had borrowed the car he had wrecked. Tim is feverishly trying to repair the train cars if possible and do maintenance on our backup engine. The last thing we want to do is disappoint any other bookings that we have, but we are not sure he can.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about TNT Entertainment – what should we know?
We provide children’s entertainment. We have 3 trackless trains and I am a face painter, balloon artist and I do storytelling and glitter tattoos. We also have friends that also entertainers that we also book.

We pride ourselves in our quality work and professionalism. Even though I have been at my trade longer than many, I continue to educate myself to stay up with the trends in face painting and balloons.

Our trains are hands down the best. My husband hand-built each train and the quality and theme and reliability are far above any other hand-built trains. Our engineers are great people as well as the other contract labor/ talents that we use.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
We are both very creative and that is very important. I think our personal morals and professionalism are the most important. We hold ourselves personally to a higher standard.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tntentertainmentdfw.com
• Phone: 972-921-6296
• Email: tntentrtainmentdfw@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tntentertainmentdfw/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TNTentertainmentDFW/?modal=media_composer

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.