Today we’d like to introduce you to Sakari Nichols.
Hi Sakari, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The idea to become a massage therapist came from my mother. She was in school to be a chiropractor from the time I was in 7th grade to when I was a sophomore in high school. She would have me sit in some of her classes with her at Life University in Marietta to watch and observe the lectures. Some lectures were boring to my adolescent self but others were very fascinating. Unfortunately in 2015, during her last year of school, she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. During the remainder of her time in school, she was resilient but it was becoming harder and harder for her to focus on her studies. Then, I was introduced to the idea of doing reflexology on the feet and using aromatherapy to soothe the side effects of chemotherapy. Reflexology is an eastern medicine technique that involves using acupressure on the hands, face and feet. This helped her out greatly whenever she had a headache or was feeling super nauseous, which was pretty often. In May 2018, she sadly passed away at the young age of 37. I was just a freshman psychology student at North Carolina A&T State University.
After she passed, my life was in shambles. I lost my financial aid because she was my only parent on there and I was flunking out due to the stresses and distractions of college and dealing with the fact that my only true supporter and caregiver might soon leave this earth. I also lost my student apartment. Since my mother was gone and I could no longer afford to go to A&T, I had to move back home to Atlanta. After moving home, I decided to continue to go to school at Georgia State. Unfortunately after my mother died, my passion to have a career in the psychology died with her. I dropped out after just one semester and decided to take a break to find my passion and what I wanted to pursue. During that time, I realized that college and universities just aren’t for me. I didn’t see how my life would benefit from spending thousands on school and not making it back anytime soon. After all, now that the only person I could have on my financial aid was gone, the bills for my student loans was on me now. My family was very upset when I told them this and said if I don’t figure out something, I was going to have to leave. During this time, I was also pursuing a modeling career which I still love to do from time to time but it wasn’t as fulfilling for me. I did some soul-searching while I was working at a UPS store at the time and decided to pursue massage therapy. It is similar to my mother’s profession, so I had to make sure I really wanted it. My whole life I felt like I never really had a say to what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
So when I finally chose what I wanted to do with my life with no validation, it was liberating. I was enrolled at Gwinnett College Sandy Springs and I was set to start school in April 2020. From March 2020 to April 2020, I was dealing with a guy that knew I should not be dealing with and ended up getting pregnant in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic. I was broke, had no car and was nowhere near ready to be a mother. So the same day as my first day of massage school, which was on a Zoom call at the time, I had an abortion. Again, my world was crushed. I was so happy to be starting school in something I know I’m going to love but devastated because I had to let go of my baby. After months of grieving, healing and reinventing myself, I finished massage therapy school in December 2020. After finishing school, I was doing mobile massage therapy using Uber and MARTA until March 2021 when I got my first car. My business was called “Peace By Sakari”. It was going good until I had an incidents that happened in which men made sexual advances with just me in their home. I knew then I needed to know more about the spa and wellness industry and how they handled situations like that. Meaning I needed to learn more about business systems in this industry. The best way I knew how to learn this is to work at a spa. Then in June 2021, I worked at my first spa job. I learned so much the industry and more about myself as a massage therapist during my time there. Plus, my employers were cool and it was the most money I was consistently making.
After about three months working there, I was one of the top 5 requested therapists working there. Things were going great and I was happy until November 2021. There was a huge change in management and my skin was breaking out. It turned out to be an allergic reaction to the lotion they provided. The change in management made the environment a lot more strict and it became less about the therapists and clients and more about the money. When working for a company, you would think they would make sure you are taken care of especially if you are a top-tier employee. My employers brushed off my condition like it was a lie. At first, they denied responsibility. It was one specific night when I was working and both of my hands and arms were red, inflamed and bleeding. I had to leave work and was unable to massage for a few weeks. This was all happening during the holidays last year. As you probably guessed, my holidays last year was the worst. I was miserable yet again. My family and my boyfriend was trying to cheer me up but I felt ruined. When all this was happening, I was pissed. I used this anger and frustration and create my business, Your Chi. The idea to create Your Chi came from not only the anger I had my then workplace but from the lack of care, most corporate spas have for their people and their clientele. Your Chi is “Your Energy” translated. Your energy isn’t just your body, it is your mind, body and spirit. Massage is also all these components but they fail to highlight this. I knew I could make a change in this industry and show people massage is just one part of your wellness.
For January (when I was able to massage again) to July of this year, I did research and just brainstormed ways of how my business could be different to what anyone has seen and experienced. I read plenty of self-help, psychology and business books as well as listened to plenty of podcasts to assist me in making my vision clear. Then I thought,” What if people had downtime in between their massage so they can relax and decompress before and afterwards?”. “What if people can listen to their choice of instrumentals or meditation music during their appointment?” “What if people can pick and test out which aromatherapy they want to smell when they come in?” Most importantly, “What if I changed the game I gave people the wellness experience they deserved?” I answered all these questions to myself, made a plan and decided to go for it. After all the hiccups down the road as far as making the business official, Your Chi went from an idea to a real establishment.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not but it built my character to what it is today. Going to massage therapy school online for about three months sounds like an oxymoron to most people. Don’t get me wrong, I learned a lot in school. However, trying to focus on school when there was a virus spreading around the world, riots happening down the street and not to mention I was still grieving…was very hard. There was plenty of information I had to learn on my own through my own research and experience to become the massage therapist I am today. Even when I worked at my first spa job, it was difficult. I experienced a lot of rejection because I was trying so hard to be the best massage therapist. In reality, the massage world is so subjective that there is no such thing as the best massage therapist. It took a lot of discipline to learn the art of not trying, but I got it down packed during the time I was out of work due to my skin.
Become a businesswoman in a business mindset in less than a year was another beast. When things were going good at my first job, I became really complacent and forgot that the whole purpose of me being there was to learn and leave. When everything started going left at work, that’s when I remembered my agenda. Very stubborn of me, yes. When I started to get serious about started my business, I had to change my mindset completely. I really had to take an honest look at myself and ask, “Am I the type of person who can create and run a company from the ground up?”. “Am I willing to sacrifice everything for something that has a high chance of failing?” Building a business brought out my insecurities and brought my bad habits to the light. I knew I need to do some inner work to move on to this current chapter of my life. With discipline, resilience and so many mental breakdowns, I was able to make myself into the businesswoman I am today in less than a full year.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Your Chi LLC?
Your Chi is a wellness practice. Of course, the main service is massage therapy. But as stated, wellness is your mind, body and spirit. As soon as you walk in the treatment room at Your Chi, you instantly feel calm. The ambiance of my establishment was created using Feng Shui. This sets my business apart from others because it feels more welcoming when you arrive verses a corporate spa which makes people feel like they are at work when they walk in. My specialty service, “Rest, Recovery and Meditation” highlights this. This service allows clients to lay there in the on the table before their massage for 10 minutes and after for 10 minutes. This allows your parasympathetic nervous system to activate, which triggers relaxation before the massage begins. Resting after the massage give your body time to take in the effects of the massage and allows you to not feel rushed. The rushed feeling activates to sympathetic nervous system, which will undo the treatment you have just received.
I offer a membership called “Mind and Body” in which every time you come in, you have the 20 minutes total of downtime. For those who just want a massage, I have my “Body” Membership which only covers the massage. The things that are also different is that you can choose your aromatherapy and music before your massage just like you choose your nail polish color at a nail salon. On Wednesdays, I offer a special called “Wind Down Wednesday”. This is when clients can just relax, unwind and even mediate in the treatment room with their choice of aromatherapy and music for 30 minutes for $30 or 60 minutes for $45. On Fridays, I offer my “Refresh your Face Fridays” special. This includes a face reflexology massage using cold stones, a warm cover for your eyes and a short hot stone neck and shoulder massage for $30 as well.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Me always foreseeing the finish line kept me going this whole time. I was never fully trapped in the darkness. Even if the light was small or dim, I always saw that light at the end of the tunnel. I knew that no matter how many times I fail, I’d would and will always win.
Pricing:
- 60 minutes: $79.99
- 90 minutes: $119.99
- 120 minutes: $139.99
- Add-ons: $25
Contact Info:
- Website: yourchillc.com
- Instagram: yourchi_llc or kari222k
