Today we’d like to introduce you to Allison Fink.
Hi Allison, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
In 2005 I moved to Atlanta from my hometown of New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina. Once in Atlanta and trying to figure out my life, I kind of just fell into school for massage. Once I was in, my passion for the human body ignited. Come 2007 I was graduating with highest honors, at the top of my class. From then I started working mostly for franchise massage salons. In the beginning of 2015, a month after having my daughter, I began to experience the biggest health crisis of my entire life. Over that year I gained 80 lbs, endured two surgeries, countless specialists, and ended that year with my last two months in the hospital with pneumonia. There was 17lbs. of fluid in my lungs and my heart started to fail. Doctors said I would need to be on breathing treatments for life. I refused to go down like that without a fight; after all my daughter wasn’t even 1 yet.
The following year I hired a trainer to get my life and health back on track. What I ended up getting was much much more. Three months into training I was off of all breathing treatments and getting stronger and healthier by the day. During my training sessions, my trainer would often ask me about my career and what I wanted. I told him I wanted to work with athletes. He told me in order to work with athletes I had to become an athlete. My journey to become an athlete myself after being obese motivated my passion even more of learning about the human body, how it functions, and gaining a deeper perspective on what it takes for the body to recover, especially that of an athlete. Over the course of two years often my trainer would talk to me about entrepreneurship and what it would take for me to be on my own. Daily, he would encourage me to step out on my own. Even broken down things financially of what I would need on a daily basis to take care of all my needs. He shared with me one day he would own a large gym with a massage room and I could set up shop in his gym.
Fast forward to 2018, that trainer became one of the owners of The Loft Athletic Club. The day he posted signing the papers for the building on Instagram, I immediately sent a message asking if there was a massage room, lol. He replied, “come see me on Monday”. I went in on a Monday and jumped into being an entrepreneur that week and hit the ground running. My office has been inside The Loft Athletic Club now almost five years.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. Some of my biggest challenges were learning about my systems of how to run a business and all things entrepreneur. Along with adapting a new mindset that I was even capable of doing something like this and being successful.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My license says massage therapist but I consider myself to be a Relief Specialist. Specializing in bringing relief to the body via manual and holistic treatments. My specialties include deep tissue, trigger point therapy, myofascial release, cupping, sports massage, low back pain, art, reiki, resistance stretching, prenatal, lymphatic drainage, athletic injury rehab and recovery. Most recently, I started hosting guided meditation and sound bath classes. I am most known for my deep tissue/mfr, cupping for injury rehab and athletic recovery. I am most proud of what I have built, a place where athletes and non-athletes can experience real therapeutic bodywork and treatments that enhance the function and quality of one’s overall health. What sets me apart from others is that I am an athlete myself. I understand body movement and muscle mechanics with more depth from first-hand experience. Also to my devotion to furthering my knowledge about the inner workings of the body on multiple levels, in order to achieve ultimate relief and functionality in the most simplistic holistic approach.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
Most people don’t know that I use to weigh over 200 lbs and almost lost my life from being so unhealthy.
Pricing:
- relief treatments starting at $130
Contact Info:
- Website: www.relieftherapyatl.com
- Instagram: relief_therapy
- Facebook: relieftherapyatl
Image Credits:
Shan Roberts Photography
