Meet Adorina Nguyen | Licensed Massage Therapist & Realtor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Adorina Nguyen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Adorina, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
At the beginning of my career, I was focused on building my client base. I bent over backwards to provide phenomenal customer service so that I could set myself apart from other massage therapists, and justify the quality of my work and prices. After a while, all the extra work took a huge toll on my body because I was giving so much. When I felt I had a strong client base after a few years, I stopped working myself to exhaustion because I did not want it to effect the quality of my work. Before, I used to stay later for an appointment to accommodate their schedule, but I no longer do that now. I’m very firm on when I will take my last appointment for the day and if there is a day where I have no appointments scheduled, I will take that as a personal day to work on my new real estate career. My fiance and I have opposite work schedules so during the week, we only have a few hours to spend together before we have to go to bed, and Sundays are our only day together. Spending time with him and our dogs is more important to me now, than making extra money on a last minute appointment. It’s helped me distinguish work and personal time as well as knowing that my personal life is just as important as my work life. I can’t pour from an empty cup and I believe if your whole life is nothing but work, than what more can you offer to your work since you’re not getting inspiration from outside of it?

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My business consists of myself and my mom. My mom is a registered nurse, Lamaze instructor, Lactation Consultant, as well as a Reiki Master. At our office, she provides reiki and private pre/post natal classes. Because of COVID, she hasn’t been able to do her classes but pre-COVID, she incorporated a lot of holistic methods like acupressure, energy work, Tapping and essential oils to her classes. Not all pregnancies are the same, so not all Lamaze classes should be the same! I am the massage therapist in our practice and offer different massage modalities such as Swedish, deep tissue and trigger point, prenatal, cupping, hot stones, and Raindrop Technique. Due to COVID, I haven’t been offering my cupping and hot stone massages which is unfortunate since cupping is very popular with some of our clients! Both my mom and I really take the time to listen to our clients’ concerns to what is preventing them from accomplishing their health goals, whether that be physical or emotional. We make sure to provide enough time in between clients not just to thoroughly clean our space, but to also never be in a rush. When our clients come to us, we want them to feel a sense of release and relaxation as soon as they walk through our front door before they even get on the table. Spacing out our clients also gives us time to really talk with them before their service to know what has changed physically and emotionally. Our relationship is more than just professional, we really get to know our clients and that allows us to help them even more than just reading what’s on their health intake form. Listening is absolutely key to our success along with intuition. We love the holistic health approach because so often, our society turns to medication for a quick fix rather than finding the root cause of the problem. We focus on fixing the source of the issue, and oftentimes that is emotionally related. People don’t realize that our muscles and body hold our memories and emotions within them.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love local restaurants, cafes and bars! Some of my favorite places to eat and drink are White Elm Cafe Bakery, Cobble & Spoke, Buzz n Bites Coffee Shop, Tacos Dona Lena, Cascabel, and Flying Biscuit Cafe. Clearly, I love my cafes and bakeries! Houston Axe Throwing is always fun and I love going to Houston Ballet since I grew up doing ballet for over 20 years. Local businesses are my personal favorite because I feel like they put more love and effort into their services that they offer. Plus, with how diverse Houston is, it’s really a shame to not try different foods and experiences.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to give a shoutout to my mom, who is also my business partner! She was the one who encouraged me to start my own massage therapy practice and it was with her support and belief in me, that I was able to do so. To my best friends, Jackie Flores-Bochner and Zeinab Kachmar-Zahid; both gave me great feedback on how to structure my business from pricing and marketing, to how to tweak my services to stand out, when I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Their honesty and support really set things in motion when I first started out. To my clients; I am so grateful to have such amazing people who trust me to heal them. I have clients who have been with me since the beginning of my massage career, over six years ago, and I have clients whom I just met yesterday. Each one of them are so important to me because they are not just willing to follow me wherever I go, but because they have entrusted me with an aspect of their health. That, to me, is such an honor.. Lastly, to my fiance, Ryan. I am so grateful and lucky to have him in my life! When we moved locations for my business, he put in so much work to make our current space what it is now. He was, and still is, my biggest believer in what I am capable of doing, even when I’m doubting myself. He supported me through our business move as well as when I was getting my real estate license. His constant love and support is what keeps me going on the days where I feel like giving up.

Website: www.ephcc.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adorina_nguyen/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/essentialpeaceholisticcarecenter

Image Credits
Kmoss Photography by Kenneth Moss