The massage therapy profession is filled with passionate and dedicated people who came to massage therapy as a second career. Here, we share the stories of two massage therapists who got their starts as an artist and jeweler, respectively, but found a passion for massage that continues to motivate them both today.

Olivia Hageman: From Art to Massage Therapy

Olivia Hageman, CMT, CIPI, CES, entered the massage therapy profession after living and then studying abroad for 15 years before eventually returning to the United States. When Hageman was a child, her mom took a job as an international broadcast journalist, which meant moving abroad and living in Indonesia. For a young Hageman, those early childhood experiences opened her eyes to not only the rich and beautiful cultures of the world, but also to various massage therapy techniques and modalities. 

“From my time exploring South East Asia, I received massage in a wide variety of modalities, in all kinds of locations, and was lucky enough to be able to try anything on the spa menu, as my mother and I loved to get massages and visit the day spas in Bali, Lombok, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore together,” she explains. “We bonded over these wild and sometimes crazy adventures and extraordinary experiences.”

These experiences stayed with Hageman as she pursued her Bachelor of Visual Arts with a concentration in ceramics at the University of Sydney, in Sydney, Australia. Hageman found, however, that she just wasn’t well-suited for a career in art—she didn’t like to sell her artwork—and needed to find a new profession. “The career of an artist can be a difficult path, and one that I found I was not meant for in the end as I did not like to sell my work,” she says. “It was too personal.” 

While bartending to make ends meet, her coworker was attending massage therapy school. Hageman would listen intently to her stories and then decided to take a leap of faith and enroll in massage school. “After my first day of class at Diamond Light Massage Therapy School of Massage and Healing Arts in Northern California, I knew that this was it for me, massage was what I was meant to do,” she remembers. At the same time, she also decided to concentrate her practice on spa-oriented services and incorporate the traditional Hawaiian Lomilomi massage into her future practice. 

“You have to dream big and start small.” 

The technique that most resonated with Hageman was and continues to be Lomilomi. Literally translated from Hawaiian and Samoan it means to “knead” or “soothe,” Hageman liked the technique because of the connection it imparts on the human body. “I came to [Lomilomi] at a time when I was changing my life from being focused on the material, knowing that was not fulfilling to me, to doing something with this life I had been given that had more meaning,” she explains.

Today, Hageman continues to find meaning in her practice, Menari Body Works in southern Minnesota, where she combines what she learned from all of her childhood experiences with her dedication to massage therapy. “We want our clients to feel that their session has been effective at addressing their body’s needs, their energetic needs, as well as a sense of renewed calm, relaxation, and lightness of being,” she explains. “We work holistically with what we find in the body, guiding our clients toward their goals with home care suggestions, as well as creating a treatment plan that works for their lifestyle.”

Hageman offers clients a variety of options, including Shiatsu massage, Thai Massage, an infrared salt sauna and a Himalayan salt meditation space. 

As she reflects on where she’s come from and how she found her way to massage therapy, Hageman feels compelled to share her experience to help others follow their dreams, too. “If someone is nervous about starting their own business or spa, I would encourage them to take that chance,” she explains. “You have to dream big and start small.” 

Kristy Turner Miller: From Family Business To Massage Therapy

Kristy Turner Miller, CAMT, grew up in the jewelry business. Not just any jewelry business, but a third-generation family owned and operated community staple based in the heart of Coshocton, Ohio.

Miller remembers spending her sick days home from school in the back room of the jewelry store. And, after graduating from Morehead State University and the Gemological Institute of America, she traveled the world with her dad to diamond mines and precious gem caves in South Africa, Brazil, and Belgium. 

Assuming she would follow the family trade, Miller’s life was pulled in a different direction after she experienced a tragic loss. “In 2005, my boyfriend was killed suddenly in a motor vehicle accident.  Prior to his accident, he had a neck injury which I spent many hours massaging not knowing what I was doing and trying to provide relief,” she says. That loss, coupled with her own realization that the family business may not be for her, led to a career in massage therapy. 

While still working part time at the jewelry store, Miller enrolled at the American Institute of Alternative Medicine in Columbus, Ohio. She passed the State Medical Board of Ohio exam in 2008 and opened her own practice, Alternative Therapies and Massage, that same year. As she continued working with clients, some of whom were dealing with chronic conditions, Miller realized there was a lot more to learn. “In 2010, I did an internship and advanced study at the Beijing Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine in Beijing, China,” she remembers. This advanced study helped open more doors for Miller to eventually get certified in Advanced Myofascial Techniques (CAMT). 

“So many people need help.”

Miller currently works with a variety of clients of all ages and conditions, and she credits her CAMT training and dedication to continuing education with giving her the tools to help her clients see the benefits of massage therapy, including her own daughter.

“My daughter was squished in the womb from a short umbilical cord,” explains Miller. “She was born with both legs displaced and the sutures in her head overlapping. Massage therapy helped her head to go back into shape and we were able to work with her legs. Her left hip had to be surgically put in place. I was able to help with pre- and post-surgery. She developed Perthes disease at age six and we have been able to maintain her pain with massage therapy, as well.” 

Miller believes in helping clients find the balance between the mind and body to aid in living a pain free life. That same support she aims to give her clients is what she’s also received from the massage therapy community at large. “The massage therapy community has provided wonderful information for advancing my learning and providing pain relief techniques using different modalities,” she explains. “They have also provided great products and multiple avenues on how to expand your education no matter what area you are interested in.”   

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