Cheryl Burke replaced Abby Lee Miller on Dance Moms (who is currently serving her time in prison for fraud). But Cheryl is also a dancer on Dancing With the Stars, and in an interview with Us Weekly she opens up about her endeavors.

“I love working with kids. I know the goal and how to reach it,” Cheryl said. “They all want to make it in this business and I wanted to tell them that the transition from dancer to the Hollywood spotlight is not easy.”

She continued: “[Stepping in] was tough, there were a lot of tears, anger and insecurity. It was shocking to me. I couldn’t believe these beautiful girls that have zero confidence. That’s not the way to live life… They said they’d been traumatized by Abby and her teaching methods. That’s a shame because with teenagers it’s so important to mentor them.”

“I’m not a yeller. But I am strict. I tell it how it is, especially with the mothers because I come from the original dance mom. She was hard on me, but in the right way,” she said.

Read the full interview at Us Weekly.