We were lucky to catch up with Sindy Flores recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sindy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Have you ever had an amazing boss, mentor or leader leading you? Can you us a story or anecdote that helps illustrate why this person was such a great leader and the impact they had on you or their team?

When you become a Massage Therapist, you become belittled real quick, You’re not taken seriously. You’re not respected. You’re misunderstood.

The best boss that I ever had understood what it meant to be in a “Massage Therapist’s shoes”. She was a Massage Therapist herself. As a result of her experience, knowledge, and courage she decided to challenge these views. And she won. But as she loves to point out, she didn’t do it alone. She made it with the support of the community that she had built and cared for.

This is why I won’t ever forget her: Instead of holding hostage the gift of encouragement and empowerment she received from her community, she passed it on to any therapists who joined her team. She helped me unlock my “superpowers”. She taught me the importance of collaboration, working as a team, and looking after the ones who you care for. She took the time to show me the ropes of running a small business. She taught me how to navigate common challenges that therapists face. When the time came for me to go out on my own, instead of stopping me from taking my clients with me or having them follow me (as many businesses unfortunately do), she gladly supported the relationships I had built with my clients and encouraged me to share the news with them.

She opened many doors for me that I didn’t think were possible and I’m forever grateful for that.

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?

So funny story (and to be honest) being a Massage Therapist wasn’t my first choice as a career. I initially wanted to go into the field of physics or chemistry. However, due to unforeseen personal events, my life changed very quickly. Those fields were no longer an option and I quickly had to figure out how to make it on my own with very little. So after countless nights of research and overthinking, I stumbled across a Massage Therapy program. It seemed to fit everything I needed and I jumped right in. To my surprise, it was exactly what I needed in my life at that time. What I was learning and the people that I had met, all of it changed my life for the better.

My career wasn’t love at first sight, but the kind of love that grows stronger the more you learn about them.

Which is what led me to enroll and complete the Advanced Neuromuscular Massage Therapy program. A program, that I can’t stress this enough, that helped refine and shape me into the therapist that I am today.

Through my education and the mentoring that I have received, I have been given the wonderful opportunity to help individuals who need help with stress management, support during their IVF journey, anxiety, post and pre-natal journies, etc.

I have found through the years, that my approach draws in individuals who want to take a moment to calm down their nervous system and make changes over time with gentle techniques. As my colleagues like to call me, I’m a “Soft” Therapist. A nickname I proudly wear over my heart, as it has allowed me to find my people.

If there’s something I want people to know about me, it’s my goals: Through my business and platform, I want to change the conversation around massage therapy. I want to add a new perspective to the world of Massage Therapy that you haven’t seen before. I want to share my point of view. I want to highlight that there is a reason why the word: therapist, is followed after the word: massage. But most importantly, I want more people to realize that Massage Therapists really are the underdogs in the wellness & health realm.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Being successful in my field, to me, is when you help your clients reach their goals.

So with that in mind, I believe collaboration with other healthcare professionals, who share the same values and goals as you do for your client, can help you achieve such success. Success is a lot more attainable when you work with a like-minded team and a lot less stressful compared to doing it all on your own (which is unrealistic).

Everyone does a lot better when they have a support system.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

That I can help everyone. Not only did it take some time for me to unlearn this lesson, but also be at peace with it.

In the beginning of my career, I wanted to help everyone. I believed that I could help everyone. So with that in mind, I felt disappointed in myself when some clients would express that I didn’t help them by the end of the session. Hearing them express that I let them down and then feel better with other therapists, made me doubt my skills to the point where I wondered if this was the career for me. However, after talking to other therapists and observing how they work, I realized I shouldn’t doubt myself. I just needed to replace one lesson for another: Rather than trying to help the whole world (while burning out), use your strengths to the best of your ability and provide it to those who need it. If you’re worried about who will help the rest of the world, that’s when you join and work with a diverse team that shares the same goals and mindset as you do. More often than not, it takes a whole village to help the village.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://juniperandknots.com
• Instagram: juniperandknots
• Linkedin: Sindy Flores
• Yelp: juniper & knots
• Other: tiktok: @juniperandknots