My journey in the "spa world" started in 1998 when I got my manicurist license and a job at Beyond Beauty in Mashpee, MA (it still has an original owner and is an excellent salon & spa). But I had wanderlust and in 1999 I moved away from small town Cape Cod living and down to Memphis, TN (what a culture shock that was). I waited tables and attempted to get my cosmetology license but hated it and dropped out (yep I am a beauty school drop out). In the summer of 2000 I moved to Michiga...
My journey in the "spa world" started in 1998 when I got my manicurist license and a job at Beyond Beauty
in Mashpee, MA (it still has an original owner and is an excellent
salon & spa). But I had wanderlust and in 1999 I moved away from
small town Cape Cod living and down to Memphis, TN (what a culture shock
that was). I waited tables and attempted to get my cosmetology license
but hated it and dropped out (yep I am a beauty school drop out). In
the summer of 2000 I moved to Michigan, I just wasn’t ready to go home.
I landed a job as a manicurist at a spa just outside of Detroit and
attempted to apprentice for cosmetology (no I do not learn lessons
easily) I lasted about a year and I decided that I really hated hair and
doing manicures and pedicures really wasn’t that fulfilling so I quit
and went back to waiting tables and enrolled in the massage program at Baker College of Clinton Township.
I knew that my wanderlust could take me anywhere and this amazing
program offered a 1000 hour of training which left me compliant with
every state in the country, plus it was tied in with an associate’s
degree. Massage school was the best thing I ever did, I was lucky to
find one of my true gifts early in my life. A few semesters into my
program at Baker College I met John Gifford
one of my amazing instructors at Baker college. John was everything I
wanted to be, professional, successful and incredibly knowledgeable. I
made it my mission to learn everything that I could from him and after I
received my certificate and was into my associates program I became
Baker College -massage therapy program’s first student teacher. I did
my externship at John’s business Motionwise
and after graduation I worked in his office for over a year, where I
learned so much about the mind body connection, trigger point work and
professionalism. About 6 months after graduation Baker College called
me and asked me to be adjunct faculty and teach for them. I was
ecstatic and jumped at the chance. Teaching was so rewarding and I
believe it is what helped to give me such extensive knowledge of massage
and the human body. After 2 years of teaching, my sister had brain
surgery and I found myself back in Massachusetts.
I still wasn’t ready to come back to the Cape so we moved closer to the city and I found myself a job at the Bella Boutique
(formerly Bella Skin) in Newton. This is when I learned that I wanted
to be an aesthetician… the girls at Bella are some of the best in the
business as is clear from their yelp page
and I saw them turning business away as I was struggling to start up as
a new massage therapist in the area, so I decided to get my Aesthetics
license in 2008 and add facials and waxing to my every growing list of
services. I worked at Bella until I moved with my military husband to
Fort Bragg North Carolina in 2009, where I opened Cross Therapies. In April of 2012 we moved back to Massachusetts, I changed my business name and here I am.
Massage therapy is one of the greatest loves of my life. It is truly a
gift to be doing what I love each and every day and I strive to advance
my profession. Over the past few years I have as a volunteered in many
facets for the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association. I am currently taking a break while I finish my Whole Health Education but I plan to return to this wonderful association very soon.
MA # 3346
MA # 6006046
Associates in Applied Science with a concentration in Massage Therapy