07/07/2026
I was so excited for massage school to start!
And then I was so excited for massage school to be over! 🤣🤣🤣
Who knew 15 friggin years ago that I'd be here now? I certainly didn't. Some people have asked me what made me want to be a massage therapist? The answer is: I didn't. Not really. I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to teach algebra.
So then why go to school for massage? Well, when I was a senior in high school, my dad told me I had to go to school or get a job, and ya girl didn't want to work 🤭🤣 so I did a Google search on schools near me. I knew I wasn't ready (or maybe wasn't built) for a traditional 4-year school. I was looking for a program that I was mildly interested in that would buy me some time with my old man 🙃🙃 YTI Career Institute came up with a program in Massage Therapy.
My mom and my best friend's mom would often have me rub their feet. I was good enough at it and enjoyed it well enough so I was like "let's give this a shot."
I actually liked the program a lot. I learned a lot. I made some friends. And as it turned out, I was pretty good at it. When the clinical part came around and I started working on people who weren't my classmates, I really enjoyed it. Clients weren't able to "request" any certain students, but if there was a preference, it would be attempted to fit them into a certain student's schedule, and I had a few clients with a preference. That felt pretty awesome out the gate.
I breezed through my licensing exam in July of 2011. I was barely even nervous because something in me felt proud of the work I was doing. After school, I worked in a spa for about a year, and then put massage away for a while as I worked a "real job" at a dairy manufacturing plant. A couple years into that and I felt the pull. I opened my own business in Chambersburg in 2016 and worked at it while working full time and going back to school for a business degree (that I did not finish, sadly).
I closed that business in 2021. I was having a baby and moved to Everett to have a family. I got another big girl job. It was hard on my daughter to be at daycare so often, she was having problems with biting other kids... A lot. So I decided to go part time. About a year into that, the pull started again.
In August 2024, I opened my business again at Black Valley Barbell. I was scared. I didn't know anyone. I didn't have connections or a network. Nobody knew who I was, either. But I wanted this time to be different. My goal with this business was to help people. That was it. I just wanted to give back to my community.
And the impact it has made on my life is absolutely tremendous. I have the best clients. I tell myself and others that all the time. And every time I say it, it proves itself to be more and more true.
The work I do is effective. People tell me I give them their lives back. My work, my hands, my knowledge... Changes lives. 🤯🤯🤯
I get to take my dog to work with me every day! And people love him, too!
I am so grateful for that search result popping up on our desktop computer 16 years ago. I absolutely love what I do. I love living and working in Everett. I love my clients. I love learning something every day.
Maybe you're seeing this because you're getting nudged to try something, too. You're tired of living life the same way every day. The same aches and pains. The same OTC pain relief ritual. The same patterns of headaches. I understand, and I can help.
KineticTouchRestorativeMassage.ClinicSense.com is the easiest way to get scheduled. You can always contact me with your questions or concerns before booking.
