We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nora Tapia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nora, appreciate you joining us today. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?

My hero’s are Veronika Castillo and Monica Lopez. A mother and daughter who came across my path in 2018 and forever changed my perspective on life, how I am as a mother, and as a business owner. When I first heard Monicas story about how much she has overcame, it made me feel hopeful. As a single mother of two, I had no idea what my life would entail. Monica has been such an inspiration to me just by displaying such grit, optimism, and loyalty, to herself, her children, and her friends. I have never met anyone more hardworking and disciplined. Being able to witness her character has helped me become a better parent to my two children. She started her fitness journey a few years ago and I witnessed this women shed into a completely different human being. Even before she started her journey I still thought she was nothing short of amazing. Every time I am around her she radiates such a positive loving energy. The amount of confidence this women has is super contagious.

Veronika Castillo, being able to witness someone first hand who never gives up has been rewarding. Veronika displays strength, vulnerability, and grit. The reason I ended up becoming a business owner was because Veronika helped push me do the uncomfortable and just go for it. Watching her move to a different state to follow her dreams all alone was intimidating. I knew moving and starting all over to a different state, where no one knows you was scary to me. Just a little over two years after she had decided to move, I followed. I moved with my two kids to Arizona and started my business from scratch. I underwent financial struggles, my childhood trauma had surfaced, and an immense amount of anxiety. Veronika was playing soccer at Benedictine university during the time I moved to Arizona. Her grit and will to keep fighting the toughest battles was what helped me get through. We both were finding anything and everything that could help us feel better. Together we decided to go deep within ourselves mentally and physically. Veronika was my inspiration during that time. Because of her I would not be where I am today. I have gained a whole different perspective on life just by watching her willingness to become a better human being every single day.

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?

My name is Nora Tapia, I have been a massage therapist since July 2014 and a Fascial Stretch Therapist since October 2020. I decided to start Rx Therapeutics in November of 2020. When I hit year 2 of massage I knew this is something I really enjoyed doing. Helping people feel better, move better, or even just forgetting the world around them was satisfying enough for me to want to pursue it further. When i became licensed at 18I knew I had so much to learn, I wanted to do endless certifications by the time I was 22.For the first few years of my career I was working in chiropractic offices, pain clinics, and would occasionally work at the BNP tennis tournament. When the pandemic happened allot of us got laid off due to the nature of the job. I was extremely stressed with no idea how I was going to pay my rent, food, or any bill for that matter. Around October of 2020, I was surrounded by an immense amount of positive encouraging people that helped me find the courage to go off on my own. I was renting a room to massage out of back in Palm Springs for $300 a month. Starting off was relatively easy because I had an established clientele. At the time something still didn’t feel like I was on the right path. Yes, i was making way more money, had room to grow so much more in Palm Springs but I knew there was something else that I couldn’t quite put my finger on at the time. When I decided to make the move to Arizona I was challenged beyond comprehension. I moved to AZ with two kids, no money, and no job. I thankfully was able to rent a room out of CrossFit Majestic in Chandler. Starting there was the start of figuring out who I was as a person and as a business owner. I slowly began to realize over time I didn’t wanna focus so much of my time with athletes. I felt so fulfilled when working with those who deal with chronic pain, stressful day to day jobs, or are just looking to relax. My vision and goals were beginning to seem more clear once I began to discover who I was and what I even wanted for my business in the future. I am now entering 2 1/2 years of being here in Arizona and im finally getting booked out 3-4 weeks in advance. I’m extremely grateful to those who continue to support me since being here. Being able to provide a service that makes people feel better.

When starting my business from scratch, I utilized instagram to bring in clientele. I would try and record as many videos as I could at the time and paid anywhere from $20-30 per week with instagrams advertisements. Each post would bring me anywhere from 3-4 clients each post. The videos would always show what each session would look like along with the different modalities I incorporated into the session. A few of those modalities are cupping, Graston technique, and Fascial Stretch Therapy. The videos that would bring me the most clientele were the massage and Fascial Stretch Therapy sessions. You get the best of both worlds with the massage and stretch combo.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Growing up I had to figure out life on my own.I had no emotional support, no one to teach me basic day to day things, I was legitimately alone. There was allot of abuse going on in the home, my life was what it was for the longest time. I had the freedom to do whatever and whenever I wanted. Hanging out with the wrong crowds it was began to escalate my life downhill even faster. I would not come home at times, get rides from strangers at the age of 13-14. Did drugs with random people. Feeling lost, unworthy, and incapable of being loved was the norm, I never knew anything else. Tying ecstasy for the first time was something I had never experienced in my life, it made me feel things I never even thought were possible. Feeling happiness, carefree, love all at the same time. It felt like I never wanted to let go of it. I got severely addicted very quickly after my first ecstasy experience. I was taking them when I was alone, with friends, and at school. My body began to build up a tolerance to them, I got to the point where I took 9 pills within a span of a few hours. My chest was hurting, I began to sweat, and felt extremely nauseous. I knew something was wrong but that did not spot me from seeking something else that was gonna possibly give me the same experience ecstasy did. Meth was introduced to me at the age of 14. It definitely was not the same as ecstasy but it still made me feel numb. Being 13-14 I couldn’t tell anyone why I would made those decisions I just knew they made me feel good, which is something I had never experienced before in my life. There was a moment where I was smoking and got this sudden wave of sadness and fear, like I needed to call my mom and tell her what I was doing. I stepped into the restroom and called her crying and told her I was doing drugs. She immediately came to pick me up and the next day I ended up finding out I was pregnant. My entire life switched at that very moment and until this day I find it the strangest thing ever. Having my daughter was the biggest pivotal moment for me. I had just turned 16, no education, no clue what I was doing. All i knew was that I wanted to be better for myself so I can be better for her. I went back to finish high school through a teen mom continuation program and then when to school for massage almost two years later. Massage Therapy gave my life purpose, it helped me find a potential passion. I had never gotten a massage prior to starting school for it. It felt right at the moment and went for it. Of course of met people along the way that helped be who I am today but it all began with my daughter. That is where resilience came from.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When moving to Arizona, social media was my only source of marketing. Instagram was my primary ,if not my only source of marketing. As a massage therapist I knew people would want to see how I worked during my sessions and what they looked like. I recorded a lot of time lapsed videos from beginning to end. Sessions would vary from 60,90, or 120min. I would set my phone on a tripod and clicked record for the entire time. Time lapse did pretty well, I feel people really enjoyed seeing what the session would entail. Once clients were coming in, i would get feedback and they would always say they felt comfortable enough coming in because they would see the videos. It helped them establish trust. Another thing that helped was talking more about where I came from, who I was , and why I chose to be a massage therapist in the first place. Being real, authentic. And kind went a very long way over time. Recording comedy skits or anything relatable for massage therapist or clients has also been very helpful. If i could change one thing back when I first started it would be the quality of my videos, educate more, and not be afraid to be who I really am on camera.

Contact Info:

• Website: Rxtherapeutics.org
• Instagram: Norathemassagetherapist
• Facebook: Norathemassagetherapist

Image Credits
Angel Martinez