Mooresville Team - Elevate Rock School

Elevate Mooresville Team

Ariel Cortez

Drums

Denise Mathern

Owner

Ashley Smith

Front Desk

Heather Foster

Front Desk, Substitute Vocals, Lil Peeps & Guitar Instructor

Rebekah Watterson

Piano Instructor & Front Desk

Carlos Cortez

Music Program Director, Guitar Instructor

Allie Faith Miller

Customer Care & Vocal Director

Jade Kenyon

Vocals

Ryan Pollack

Front Desk, Substitute Guitar & Bass Instructor

Ryan Pollack

Guitar, Bass, Lil Peeps & Front Desk

Ariel Cortez

Drum Instructor

Ariel holds his Bachelor's Degree in Music Business & Worship Arts from Catawba College in Salisbury. He's been rocking the drum kit for 12+ years with his early experience and exposure being from involvement in his worship band at church. The past six years he's been performing and booking shows for the Bergenline Music. You can catch Mr. Ariel around the area many weekends with his band, Berline.

Ariel's other music related experiences includes often performing with other local artists as well as producing & releasing demos, singles & albums with various local musicians. He also has a passion for live sound and runs sound for local shows including Elevate Rock School gigs. Ariel's creativity expands to photography & graphic design for local artists & bands as well. He's excited to bring his past teaching experience to the table for drummers at Elevate Rock School.

Denise Mathern

Owner

As a child, Denise's opportunities to be enlightened by music were limited to traditional piano lessons with a no-nonsense, classical instructor; a chair in the alto saxophone section of her school’s concert band; a spot in the hand bell choir at church and small roles in school musicals when she could muster up the courage to sing for try-outs. The ability to play in a rock band and perform in live production concerts would have been a dream come true.

In her heart of hearts, she is so excited to bring the Elevate Rock School concept to kids in the Lake Norman area. After relocating to Mooresville in 2014 with her husband, Lance and son, Brac (10), Denise looked everywhere for a rock band lesson experience for her son. When the search came up dry, it became Denise’s mission to bring the Rock School opportunity to her community.

Denise brings with her 25 years of leadership experience within her 20-year professional marketing, development and events career. Her favorite career highlights consistently involve delivering high-energy, engaging events and live performances that put smiles on people's faces. The ability to do this while enriching children’s lives and bringing this experience to her community is a true blessing.

Ashlee Smith

Front Desk

Ashley's passion for music began at a young age. She's been singing in church, plays and different productions since she was a child. With an eclectic background, she enjoys everything from gospel, to country, pop, r&b, you name it. Ashley is currently a music major at Mitchell Community College in Statesville and has performed with live bands for over 12 years. She's excited to be on the team at Elevate Rock School!

Heather Foster

Front Desk, Substitute Vocals, Lil Peeps & Guitar & Front Desk

Heather is a singer songwriter from Salisbury, North Carolina. At the youthful age of nine, Heather picked up her first guitar at a local shop where she began to take lessons. After learning the basic chords and their arrangements, songwriting came almost naturally. She used writing lyrics as a creative escape to speak about her life, vent her frustrations, and ultimately express her emotions in a way that felt safe. Influenced by being born and raised in the Carolinas, her music has inherited a homegrown folk and Appalachian sound mixed with today’s alternative country.

As her passion grew, Heather picked up ukulele as a performing instrument along with basic piano, bass guitar, and mandolin. Years of playing these instruments, writing songs, and playing with local bar bands ultimately encouraged Heather to pursue music at a collegiate level. She earned her Bachelors degree in music at Catawba College where she doubled majored in Music Business and Popular Music. Catawba also served as the meeting place for Heather’s most current band which self-released an entire album of her original work in May of 2014 called “Where She Grows, She Remains”. Her college experience landed her with an internship with Soundcheck Nashville where she worked checking backline equipment for major artists including Hunter Hayes, Kacey Musgraves, and Grace Potter for events such as the Country Music Awards.

Post graduation Heather followed a different path and began working with exceptional children at a local middle school while gigging and teached private lessons. Working with children with disabilities opened up Heather’s heart to the educational field. These special kids taught her the important role a teacher has in the lives of students. Teaching music and songwriting for Heather is not just about notes, chords, and rhythm. Her methods also densely incorporate the importance of confidence, providing a healthy outlet for self expression, building band relationships, and teaching kids about having fun with what you love.

Rebekah Watterson

Piano Instructor & Front Desk

Rebekah’s musical journey began at a young age, learning piano from her mother—a classical pianist and music educator. She later pursued her passion for music at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music, specializing in clarinet and continuing her education on piano. With over 10 years of experience in both classical piano education and modern praise band performance, Rebekah brings a rich and diverse skill set to our piano program. Her deep knowledge of piano and music theory, combined with her love for teaching, makes her an incredible fit for our students!

Carlos Cortez

Music Program Director, Guitar Instructor

Mr. Carlos has been a stellar Guitar instructor at Elevate since 2019, and has advanced from Rock Band Manager, to Senior Band Manager to Music Program Director here at Elevate. In his role as Music Program Director, Carlos directs all aspects of planning, organizing, operating and improving our Rock Band & Lil Peeps music programs.

Mr. Carlos trains staff and continuously works with instructors to ensure Elevate lessons are a blast all while also jam-packed with all the many facets of music that are part of our established Elevate curriculum. All while still rockin' in as an instructor on Guitar. Mr Carlos directs all Elevate bands expertly with help from other staff to manage the many day-to-day behind the scenes tasks that make our programs run smoothly. In short, Mr. Carlos is THE GUY directing everything going on in-studio related to music programs, curriculum and equipment at Elevate.

Carlos, also a singer/songwriter, performs regularly as lead vocal/lead guitar with his band, Bergenline, made up of friends from Catawba College, where he obtained his Bachelor's Degree in Music Business. He has a background in many different musical styles including blues, rock, R&B, pop, and contemporary worship. In his original music, you'll hear those diverse influences, but Carlos can also rock a cover like nobody's business. While his instrument of choice is the guitar, he is a multi-instrumentalist as a vocalist, bassist, pianist and drummer.

Ashton Eller

Program Director, Keys

Ashton Eller, a Lexington, NC native is a 2018 graduate of Catawba College in Salisbury, NC, where he received his BA degree in Popular Music and Music Business Studies. While in college, Ashton studied under Adrian Crutchfield who is the saxophone player for Lionel Ritchie, Bette Midler, and the Late Prince. He also studied under Dolph Ramseur, who is the manager for the Avett Brothers and founder of Ramseur Records.

Outside of Elevate, he is a singer/songwriter and performer and currently fronts his own band. While Ashton teaches piano, he also plays guitar, bass, drums, mandolin, and banjo. Ashton also leads worship at Journey Church of Lexington and writes songs for the church. Ashton released his debut single titled “Fast Car” in March of 2019 and is now available on all streaming platforms.

Allie Faith Miller

Customer Care & Vocal Director

Miss Allie has been a shining star at Elevate since 2021 instructing vocal lessons and as our Scheduling & Enrollment Manager. In her role as Customer Care & Vocal Director, Allie directs all aspects of customer service including front desk reception, customer care related communication across our many communication channels, staff & student scheduling, as well as enrolled & prospective student care.

In addition, Miss Allie directs our Vocals core curriculum ensuring that the many intricacies of voice lessons which are part of our established curriculum are taught with the utmost care, precision, professionalism and quality across vocal instructors. Allie holds a Bachelors' degree in Music Performance from Campbell University. She has sung opera internationally, got into Master of Music in Vocal & Opera Performance Programs at Boston Conservatory, Indiana University, Julliard, & Mannes in NYC. Currently, she performs with the Charlotte Master Chorale in Charlotte (1st soprano section leader). Formerly, she was a signed pop singer at a record label in LA few years recording/writing her own music, and continues to write/record independently. We're excited to continue to leverage her vocal expertise at a director level.

Due to her fiance being stationed in the Army in Colorado for the next 8-12 months, Miss Allie works partially remote and partially in-person. She's widely accessible via phone, SMS and email. Therefore, even when remote, she is only a quick message away and you'll continue to be well taken care of by she and the customer service staff.

Jade Kenyon

Vocals

Miss Jade began teaching Lil Peeps at Elevate in August of 2023 and transitioned to our lead Voice Instructor in January of 2024! She has extensive vocal and music experience. Her journey in music began with chorus and saxophone more than 15 years ago. During her education, she grabbed every choral opportunity and band opportunity she could including jazz band, a'cappella groups, wind ensembles, select ensemble choirs, countless musicals, marching band and more. She also kept up her practice on voice and saxophone the past several years since graduating with her Bachelor’s in Funeral Service Administration. Her connection to music goes deeper than just playing, singing and performing, however. She considers music to be an extension of one’s expression - whether that be playing or singing. She's excited to put her experience to work to benefit all of her students.