We recently connected with Melissa Somma and have shared our conversation below.

Melissa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Our business initially started out as a fun project my husband and I wanted to do together. We were newlyweds and wanted to combine our talents – which were quite different, really – into a single endeavor that tapped into all of the senses. For most of my life, I have studied wellness, healing, and metaphysics: I’ve been a Martial Arts instructor, a Licensed Massage Therapist, a Holistic Healer, and a Psychic Medium. My husband, on the other hand, is a Photographer, Graffiti Artist, and has owned a few art galleries. So when it came to bringing all of this together into a single endeavor, at first we were at a loss. Were we trying to do too much in a single business? How could it all possibly work together and make sense?

Then one day, we were on vacation and visited a Curiosity Shoppe. It was then that we realized that the term “Curiosity” was the perfect description for what we were trying to do. We were curious about everything and wanted to bring it all into our Shoppe. Heck, we were even curious about how we were going to pull it all off! So we felt that we were finally onto something.

The rest of the business name was more of our mission statement: everything we wanted to do was about working with Light, and our main goal was to create an atmosphere, a community where people wanted to hang out, where they felt that they belonged. And the name of the business became “LightClub Curiosity Shoppe”.

In the beginning, we had a few handmade products – candles, incense, sprays, and kits. We had some choice healing and spiritual items such as crystals, pendulums, and essential oils. There were some antique oddities we’d come across, plenty of photography and art, and I offered massage and healing sessions, psychic readings, and metaphysical classes. Many people who visited the Shoppe didn’t necessarily understand everything that we were offering, but they were “curious”, we were having fun, and that was enough.

And even though we weren’t necessarily trying for a huge success, I truly feel that the love we had for what we were doing created plenty of momentum and made everything take off. People could feel our enthusiasm, and it was contagious! Even if they didn’t know what they wanted, they were drawn to the positive energy that was in our little Shoppe.

The energy of a business is really the catalyst for whether or not it will work. It needs to be authentic, it needs to tap into who you truly are because it is an extension of you. For us, the business was like our child. We celebrated and savored every little victory, and I feel that this is what kept people coming back and supporting the Shoppe.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have such an eclectic background that I had to create a business just as eclectic to support it all!

It all started when I got into martial arts at the age of 11. This was at a time when not many children studied martial arts, particularly girls. Against the odds, I made it all the way to black belt (not an easy feat at that time), then instructor, and eventually Master Instructor. I believe I was the youngest female Master in New York State. I opened a martial arts school at age 22 and to build a strong reputation in the field (mainly because I was so young), I started competing professionally. This eventually culminated in winning 4 consecutive World Titles. None of this was easy, and I had to fight for every little bit of respect because I was doing something that hadn’t really been done before. This taught me tenacity, persistence, and confidence.

I had also been working a great deal with practices that tapped into the natural spirituality of the earth: Native American healing and philosophy, and especially Witchcraft. This became a central part of my practice because it helped me to figure out who I was, and how I fit into and connected with everything around me. I worked with divination practices and with years of experience in meditation as a Martial Arts practitioner, this ended up being a natural transition into Psychic Reading and Mediumship.

After many years of martial arts and spiritual practice, I eventually got into holistic healing. I became a Reiki Master and then a Licensed Massage Therapist. I specialized in Acupressure and Shiatsu, having the advantage of my Eastern knowledge from my Martial Arts practice. After having a successful healing practice for many years, I got into working with and creating products that supported the healing practice: essential oil blends, candles, incense, crystals, and more.

I think this is what I’m the most proud of – after so many years of growth in the Shoppe (now we have two locations, in Sugar Loaf, NY and Warwick, NY), we still create our products by hand. The personal touch is everything to me because I have to be certain that the energy was just right in its creation. Was it made in a positive atmosphere? Was it made with loving care? Was it made at the best possible time to be infused with the energy of the environment? Our personal stamp of approval has to go on every product in our Shoppes, just as it did when we first opened our doors in 2015.

We have also evolved into a Metaphysical School (both in-person and online) that teaches all of these values: how to tap into the energy around you, how to build your psychic ability, how to manifest, and how to discover the magic of self-mastery. We have built a beautiful community of seekers who support each other in all of these endeavors and I am so blessed to be working with so many amazing people. We are constantly growing into not only classes and events, but also festivals, a YouTube Channel, a local radio show, and who knows what is next!

Have you ever had to pivot?

For the first five years our business was open, both myself and my husband still worked full-time. On our only days off, we would drive up to Sugar Loaf to open up the Shoppe. In the beginning, this wasn’t as difficult because we were only open on weekends. Then, as I started to teach classes and book appointments for healing or psychic readings, I had to be at the store more and more often. I would get out of work and drive 40 minutes to get to the Shoppe (usually eating dinner in the car on the way). Then I would drive home, go to bed, and get up in the morning and start all over again at the full-time job.

As the Shoppe became more and more popular, I ended up working every single day, well into the wee hours of the night. Yes, it was satisfying work, but it was also exhausting. I felt like I couldn’t keep up – there was always something that needed to be done, no matter how much I thought I had accomplished. Website management, Social Media, bookeeping, scheduling…all these things absorbed any free time outside of when the Shoppe was open. And there was still a full-time job to contend with!

All of this started to take its toll on me, and I ended up with adrenal fatigue and depression. My body was forcing me to make the decision to fully invest in our business and leave my full-time job. This was a scary thing to face because my job was a great deal of security…I’d been there for over 10 years. But I realized that I couldn’t expect others to believe in our business if I wasn’t willing to take that leap of faith myself. So I left my job to pursue our business full-time.

I ended up getting immediate confirmation that I did the right thing – I think our business practically doubled over the next few months, to the point where I almost wish I had left earlier. And the best thing was I was teaching healing and wellness, which meant that I had to heal myself first and foremost in order to be an authentic teacher. And this was exactly what I needed.

To this day, out of all the wonderful people I have worked with, I think my best healing success was myself. I am so grateful for what I do and have never been happier in my life!

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

When we first started our business, it was more of a whim and we had nothing saved up in order to get it going. In fact, we had just enough to pay the first month’s rent and security and that was about it. No capital for set-up costs/construction and certainly no capital to stock the business. When I look back at it now, I’m still amazed at how it all came together.

At the time we rented our very first storefront, the only thing we were doing was selling handmade “Money Candles” online. My husband made the candle; I made the active ingredient (which was a Success potion) that went into it. So right after we signed the lease and the full magnitude of what we had gotten ourselves into hit home, we immediately lit one of our Money candles. We put out as many positive intentions and hope that we could possibly muster. But we had no idea what would come next.

Three days later, seemingly out of nowhere, my husband got booked for a major photography job. It ended up being the exact amount we needed for our startup costs. We celebrated ecstatically and kept burning candles. Then a few days after that, another job came through. Before we knew it, we had everything we needed (and then some) to get our little business venture off the ground.

I am a firm believer that it was our belief in what we wanted to do and the resolve to think positively that helped our business to get going. And because it was birthed in such good luck and positivity, this is what keeps it going and constantly growing.

Contact Info:

• Website: MyLightClub.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightclub_curiosity_shoppe/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LightClubCuriosityShoppe
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr5HzBWTuxKMySRh5ajw_xQ
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@lightteacher

Image Credits
Photos by Catello Somma Photography