We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Melissa Hailemelekot . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melissa below.

Melissa, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?

I moved to Denver from New York City in September 2019. I wanted to open up a practice in Denver that offered Prenatal Massage, Acupressure, Cupping, Gua Sha, Infant Massage and a Korean Intuitive Lineage based massage called Amma Therapy. After devising my plan and concept, in March 2020 a week before quarantine I had signed my lease in the Denver Highlands area which was located within a wellness marketplace called Nurture that housed over sixty wellness practitioners. The day of what was supposed to be our grand opening was the day that Denver announced our shut down. The shut down allowed me to spend more time on strategically setting up my practice. In May of 2020, I was allowed, by Denver, to open my massage practice.

My practice, Moss North Therapy, had opened in a city where my family didn’t know anyone and also during a pandemic. Because of my advanced certifications in Prenatal Massage, Infant Massage, Traditional Chinese Medicine and as a Doula it had allowed me to carve out my niche and have a successful massage practice. Through networking on social media, I had also connected with a marketing visionary who helped me fine tune my strategy, I had help with pricing, SEO and service package offerings.

My practice is now located primarily in Old Town Arvada… at Electric Cherry Shops + Studios and on average has a 4-6 week waitlist. I am now looking at how I can add new therapists onto my team so that more clients can be seen without the waitlist. To anyone starting a new practice, I highly recommend defining your niche, analyzing the market and it’s competitors, creating your business plan, finding the right location, choosing your name and aesthetic, coming up with the right pricing, securing the legal front and knowing what you need help with and where to get the support that you need.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?

Hi! I am Melissa Hailemelekot and I am the owner of Moss North Therapy. For over 20 years, I have been a Licensed Massage Therapist and a Practitioner of Asian Bodywork Therapy. Additionally, I am a 500-Hour Certified Vinyasa Yoga Teacher and a Doula, proudly trained by Debra Pascali Bonaro. For five years, I was a Professor of Massage Therapy in New York City. There, I trained massage professionals in: Shiatsu, Swedish and Myofascial Therapy. I am one of very few Colorado healers part of the Certified Practitioners of the American Organization of Asian Bodywork Therapy (AOBTA-CP). As an Asian Bodywork Therapist with over 500 hours of Traditional Chinese Medicine, I offer Amma Therapy which is a highly specialized Intuitive Korean Lineage based massage. In 2014, I visited Chengdu, China, for advanced studies on Traditional Chinese Medicine. After living a lifetime in NY, in 2019 I moved to Denver with my husband Sean and our now three year old daughter, Skylah. We live in Denver proper with our Great Pyraneese, Two Goats and Five Hen.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

Absolutely 100%

Have you ever had to pivot?

Yes, I have been a Licensed Massage Therapist and Wellness Professional since October 10, 2020 so I have had to pivot a few times. I have worked intuitively through my career which I believe has carried me through in this profession.

A quote that sticks to my core which is about flexibility and pivoting, “I understood that I was inventing myself, and that I was doing this more in the way of a painter than in the way of a scientist. I could not count on precision or calculation; I could only count on intuition”. Jamaica Kincaid.

If you stick to a profession that you love prepare for many pivots and always be ready to accept them as guides to get you to your next phase.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mossnorththerapy.com/
• Instagram: Moss_North_Therapy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissatara

Image Credits
Tina Floersch Photographer of Visualflo Models: Tabor Aragon and AJ Foxx