Welcome to her comeback, transforming your life
after 50. I'm your host, Michelle Thompson. If
you've ever whispered to yourself, There has
to be more than this. You are in the right place.
This show is for women over 50 who have hit their
breaking point and are finally ready to stop
going at it alone. You've tried the self -help
books, the vision boards, the positive thinking,
but you're still stuck. And here's what I know.
You're not broken. You just need the right support.
And that's exactly what you're going to find
here. Each week, I'll sit down with incredible
women who have transformed their lives. you'll
hear their real stories, the messy middle, the
breakthrough moments, the practical steps that
they took to create the lives that they love.
Because your lowest limit, it can be your launching
pad. So if you're done settling and ready for
your comeback, stay with me. Let's discover how
other women have made it happen and how you can
too. Are you ready? This is her comeback. Good
day, everyone. Welcome to her comeback. I am
so happy to have Stephanie with us today Stephanie,
welcome to the show. Hi. Thank you so much for
having me. I'm excited Yes, me too. Me too. Tell
the tell our audience a little bit about yourself
Well, my name is Stephanie Alanasi. I'm the owner
and creator of Maja Head Spa. Maja is actually
my four kids initials, so I'm a mom of four.
Mark, Abraham, Joseph, and Adriana, they are
all young adults. So we're entering the empty
nest phase of life, which has been exciting.
Married to my husband, Abe, it'll be 29 years
this month. I was a Navy brat growing up, so
I've been all over the place. But at the age
of 11, we settled in Port Charlotte, Florida.
And so basically, since then, this has been my
home since 1986. I'm a massage therapist and
an esthetician as well. That's what I've done
for the last 12 years. Oh, that's wonderful.
Native Floridian. Awesome. It's weird to say
that because I lived in so many places that were
so opposite of Florida. But yeah, and all my
kids are native Floridians too, which is cool.
Awesome. I am just delighted to have you on the
show. I met you at a networking event and heard
your story. And I was just like, Oh, I want to
have her on the podcast. Thank you for joining
us today. Absolutely. I'll just jump right into
some of the questions that I have for you. So
you've built a thriving multi -location spa while
navigating many seasons of life. So how have
you learned to honor where you are even in times
when things maybe didn't look like success from
the outside? Can you describe a little bit about
that journey? You know, the event you and I met
at, I was talking about the power of perspective.
And perspective throughout my life has been so
important. I just turned 50 in February. And
so when I started Maja, it was actually the end
of my youngest senior year of high school. And
from shortly before COVID until... his graduation.
There had been a lot of things put in front of
us that kind of threw us off course a little
bit. Obviously COVID was crazy for everybody,
but my mother -in -law was also sick with cancer
and she was amazing and so brilliantly strong
and I was one of a few people that was making
the trip to Moffitt all of the time with her
and she had this remarkable group of friends
and Don't know there was something about that
experience with her. She was my hero and Watching
what she did and how gracefully she handled it
It changed something inside of me and when she
passed away and the youngest was like I said
getting ready to graduate we'd also been traveling
quite a bit with my daughter who's the third
of the four she was getting recruited for soccer
in college and I don't know all these things
just were going on and I was in a moment in life
where I felt like I've watched all these strong
people. I've seen these people do these amazing
things I think it's time for me to figure something
out and again You've watched these remarkable
stories of people going up and down and up and
down and they all had such resilience and strength
and I realized that I don't know from about the
age of 21 something within me was holding me
back I think my life became everybody else's
married at 21 was supporting my husband's business
he's always been an entrepreneur and then started
having our children and When you're the one that's
cheering everybody on and you're the one helping
everybody and helping them go through hard challenges
in life you can't help but learn from those things,
right and so All of these different stories,
all of these people were so near and dear to
me and they were going through major things.
So I think after experiencing those things on
the sidelines, it just made me realize like,
I can do anything and don't let 50, 49, whatever
it is, be a reason to stop. and don't be afraid
to try things. When you're watching a young girl
like my daughter trying to get out in the world
through her recruiting process for college soccer
and then you're simultaneously helping her grandmother
navigate a very scary part of life and then you're
kind of in between the two just like oh my gosh
I haven't really done anything of significance
and here these two are doing all these remarkable
things What am I going to leave behind? What's
my legacy going to be? How have I made an impact
on the world? Those things just kept floating
around. So you ask like navigating the ups and
downs of all of this. I think what I had experienced
going into this gave me so much perspective that
the worst thing you can do is not take a risk.
The worst thing you can do is let fear get in
the way and stop you. Was there something specific?
That you learned about yourself during these
times was there anything that like oh I found
this out about me Yeah, I've learned that I let
fear hold me back from a lot and I learned that
I let my fear of letting others down Hold me
back. I always felt like making everybody happy
was always the most important thing and I think
a lot of women do that. I think a lot of us that
reach this age in life I don't know that we were
necessarily programmed for it But there is a
certain piece of us as moms in particular You
love so deeply and you love so much and you want
the people in your life to be so well taken care
of You end up self -sacrificing at times and
for the most wonderful reasons It's never you're
not really aware. That's what's happening, right?
It's just what you do. And so I don't know if
it was always the healthiest thing to be doing.
And I do believe part of me realized that if
I don't figure out something that I can throw
my energy into that is going to help others and
maybe stop smothering my family as much. I don't
really think that's what I was doing, but there
might be their perspective a little bit at times.
But I went into massage and aesthetics because
I loved making people feel good. It didn't feel
like work to me. Obviously, every job has its
up and downs, but I genuinely loved. I will never
forget I had a travel nurse that came in once
and she walked in like this and I was new to
massage and I was like, oh my gosh, what happened
to you? OK, she's like, oh, well, I had a contract
and I've had to sleep on a hotel bed for the
last four months and. I just can't get it to
go away. And then worked on her for a little
bit. It wasn't anything outrageous. And then
just to see everything level out. And she turned
around and looked at me with tears in her eyes.
And those little types of moments where you can
give people. So I knew for me that helping people
had to be a part of what I was doing with my
life. Never cut out for the medical field. That
would just, that would have been hard for me.
I don't know why because all the gross things
you deal with as a parent. It certainly wasn't
the gory part of it that would have bothered
me. I don't know what it was exactly, but this
I knew I would really love doing so. You talk
about letting fear hold you back and I can absolutely
identify with that. There's so many times in
my life where fear held me back. For you, as
you had the courage to do the things that you've
done and the courage to walk through the fear,
where did the courage come from? What do you
think? Um, I think like I said watching others
Take on just watching their bravery and seeing
that there was no reason not to be and There
was just something within me like a switch went
off I was also working with a friend who'd opened
a boutique and she is a pediatrician and I was
working with her for about three years and during
that time I was so amazed. Like she was a mom
of three when she went through medical school
and I was like, oh my gosh, how does somebody
do something like, you know? And then she was
my children's pediatrician. And as a pediatrician,
oh man, was she just, she still is amazing. But
she decided to segue into this other industry
and create something that had been a passion
of hers. And she's five years older than me,
I think. And watching her do that was inspirational.
Although for me, being in that atmosphere wasn't
what made me tick. I love clothes, but being
at the front of it, I just, I knew it was time.
I was, I've always been very creative in a lot
of different ways and it's hard to be creative
just massaging people. I developed scalp psoriasis
and it was pretty severe and it was making me
absolutely crazy, which led to me discovering
a head spa for relief. I was looking for alternatives
to medications. And so when I went, To the head
spawn had my first experience with it. I left
thinking that was really cool but I think there
might be a couple other things I could do with
it that would make it a little different and
Realizing that there was a space and a place
that maybe I'd been waiting for my whole life
where I could maybe put my little stamp on it
and as that time of Trying to get the courage
up to do it was happening there just were all
these little tiny things that kept occurring
and it was finally ignoring the fear and listening
to my gut and there was just a series of little
things and every time I did something I have
this mug that says let faith over fear That quote
every single day I would drink out of it In fact,
it was one of two things that was my inspiration
for the color of the first suite that I did But
I really started listening to the universe paying
attention to the signs that were out there I
think for a long time I had turned all that off
and just made everybody else the priority So
I shifted now the priority is Maja and the people
that come in and wanting them to feel that when
they walk into the space, they're being nurtured,
they're being loved. And I think that was part
of it too. As I said before, COVID did so many
weird things. And a lot of what happened with
it was the inability to hug our loved ones far
away. And so much of what we were doing became
Zooms. And we were we sadly were on a funeral
for a Zoom because they were out of the country
when they lost a loved one. Things like that
disconnect. And I also have had clients in the
past when I was a massage therapist who had suffered
from strokes and things like that and touch.
It wasn't so much what you were doing and where
you were. It was just that human touch. It's
so necessary. And we're in an aging community
there's a lot of widows there's there are of
both sexes there's just something about going
somewhere and feeling like somebody cares and
i knew that we could create something where you
need to have a balance of caring but not too
much it somewhere where people feel comfortable
trying a new thing because Headspot isn't very
well known. I just kept figuring it out as I
was going along and there was just again all
these little signs as it was building even once
the doors finally opened it happened much quicker
than I expected. The growth was not something
I predicted by any means and I just kept like
okay well I made enough this week I can go buy
another sink and I can write a check for a deposit
on another room and yeah. It was just letting
the universe be heard. That's awesome. Listen,
like you said, just paying attention to the signs
and then being open to follow them and those
things that cross your path. I love that. I also
love when you were talking about trust in your
gut. Has there ever been a time where others
maybe thought otherwise and or even logic said,
Oh, sure. I'm like that. There's a lot of people
just back when I first went to massage school,
why would you want to touch people all day? It
definitely takes a certain type of person to
be in the health and wellness industry, whatever
vein that is. And in particular, doing something
new that's not as well known. There were all
kinds of questions out there. And I was thankful
for that because when people were questioning...
whether or not something should be done, I feel
like it forced me to think a little bit harder
and really come to grips or not come to grips,
but see how much it meant to me. It really solidified
the fact that I believed in the need. I really
believed that there was a space in wellness,
that this could be something that would really
be popular and well received and honestly just
needed. I think a lot of people just needed it.
That's great. One of the things that I heard
you speak about in your talk was being able to
keep things light and having fun. As we all know,
people that have a business or even just with
any job in general, things can get intense. Oh,
absolutely. So what's your trick to keeping joy,
humor, playfulness? How do you keep that? There's
definitely times that's hard. I will be completely
honest, especially when you're navigating something
new. There is so much unfamiliarity. There's
nothing to really look at to compare it to to
get ideas or but I will say that you have your
core people in your life when you're having a
bad day as long as they can love you enough that
you can cry on their shoulder. I know I've said
things at times that were ludicrous. Oh my god.
Am I doing what am I doing? Maybe I shouldn't
be doing this and What's been great is when it's
people you trust that are close to you, they
let you do that. You can get it off your chest
and then maybe you revisit it later in the day.
And they're like, didn't you just say? And I
was like, yeah, I didn't. It was sometimes there's
just moments where it's really hard. And so I
thankfully am surrounded by people that have
great senses of humor. I've always been a practical
joker. Our whole house is full of pranksters
and practical jokers. I also have this magnificent
group of girls that make up the Maja team, and
we try to have as much fun as we can. It's a
unique environment because you go into these
suites, you're on your own. doing the content.
Like recently we did some fun content for Halloween
and we were in sheets and just being playful
and having a good time. I try to get them out
of the space at times when I can have them here
at the house and have an evening where we might
do some training, but it's also lighthearted.
My husband will cook for them and just make it
a good time. So it's not always just work, work,
work and being serious. I love to be able to
try to work some humor into our marketing a little
bit if I can. So that's something that we're
actually currently working on for the marketing
that will be rolling out for Thanksgiving and
Christmas. I think just being as lighthearted
as you can be, laughing at yourself, oh my god,
like some of the stupid things I have done the
past year, it's insane. Like just being in a
hurry, dropping things, breaking things, running
into things. If there was a camera on me in this
past year, like the bloopers reel would be unlike
anything you've ever seen. Yeah, I love that
you mentioned that about being able to laugh
at yourself because yeah That's something that
I am learning and I try to do but I think it's
women Many time we were at that fork in the road
Okay, are we gonna laugh at ourselves and go
light with it or are we gonna go into this shaming?
Oh my god. I can't believe you did that, you
know, yeah There's been a combo of both where
I'm laughing and crying at the same time and
just, oh my gosh, what do I do now? But then
at the end of the day, you have to take, again,
perspective and say, okay, you know, I'm not
curing cancer. I'm doing something that hopefully
people will love once they experience it. The
beauty of doing this business is it's really
hard to mess it up. You're not gonna make everybody
happy all the time. We were in the restaurant
business for 20 years So you really deal a lot
with that in that line of work and just being
realistic and understanding that's just par for
course when it comes to business and I Think
sometimes it's hard because Maja is my heart
and soul. It's named after my family for crying
out loud, you know, and if somebody has some
harsh things to say it can be like a punch to
the gut, but I have to do I Okay, when my kids
were growing up and playing sports, I managed
a lot of their teams and we always had a rule
that there was a 24 hour rule. You couldn't approach
the coach to complain. I try to do that with
myself. I will beat myself up really hard and
I will think something through and I try not
to react. in the moment. i try to give myself
24 hours to digest it and really see how i feel
from the start of whatever incident occurred
to the end of those 24 hours. and it's pretty
remarkable how your feelings can change. but
also having that group of people in your corner
to bounce things off of. you have one like my
husband who is not going to have that emotional
attachment like most men don't most men definitely
look at things from a different way and then
I have a couple girlfriends like one in particular
who has just the greatest sense of humor and
she'll make me laugh at myself and help me look
at it a different way and then another one who
is like a combo of the two and kind of like right
in the middle you know what I mean and so again
having that group of people and sometimes it's
a stranger there are times that i've worked on
a client and when they're done i'm like hey listen
i'll bounce an idea off of them just because
whatever type of energy i felt from them while
we were in the space there's something i'm thinking
about trying do you think that would be well
received and amazing sometimes what strangers
have to say and getting their feedback how valuable
that can be as well yeah That's great. I love
that feedback from different people bringing
in just exactly what you said, that power of
perspective, because people just being open minded
too. I think a lot of times what happens in business,
I did learn this in the beginning. I had such
like tunnel vision. I knew this, right? Well,
now I've gotten all the way out to here. I've
realized that trying to stay. I've not really
ever been that much of a perfectionist, but I
started to become a little bit of one with this
and it doesn't work. You really need to just
accept. the unexpected. You just never know.
We've had rooms flood. Like there have just been
crazy things that happen in this line of work
and that's just what it is. One day it will be
a great book. Yes, absolutely. And I think it's
when things go sideways, it's just that, that
you learn from it, right? And how much we learn
in the moments. Like, okay, this was not on my
plan and this is really not what I wanted, but
can take these things away from it that I yeah
and about also also recognizing too that you're
not perfect and being okay with Accepting that
and making apologies if necessary too. I've certainly
made mistakes along the way and there are times
I've said things in a way I wish I hadn't and
whether, not typically with staff, but more the
other people that are around. You just have to
be able to say, I'm so sorry. I was exhausted.
I was up all night, whatever. There's just all
these goofy little things that come along with
it and just being real. I think that's a big
one. Definitely. So I wanted to take a moment
because we jumped in and talked about your business,
The Head Spot, but just for our listeners who
may not know at all what a head spot is. So because
I know it was new to me when I first heard it.
Could you maybe just explain that a little bit
about what? Sure. You know, it's funny. Last
night I was talking to my husband about it because
I had a client call and it was a son he sounded
like he was in his 20s and he was definitely
a southern dude and a tough guy you could just
hear it in his voice and he was asking what it
was he thought he was calling a place that just
did massage and so i was trying to explain it
and it was funny because it was really a situation
where you're just giving it he probably has never
even had a massage in his life you know what
i mean so i got off the phone with him and i
asked my husband i said i really need to work
on my elevator speech on the best way to describe
this and it's so hard to describe because everybody
feels it in a different way, but I'll give you
the best that I've come up with so far. So this
is something that they've been doing in Asia
for centuries. Obviously not with these sinks
that we have now, but in their own way, scalp
health and hair health has been very important
in those cultures. So a lot of us experience
buildup on our head. We go for facials. In fact,
facials used to be a medical service that you
would have done back in the day. It wasn't looked
at as self care. It was looked at as something
we needed to do, keeping our skin clean and exfoliated
and moisturized and all those things. But anyways,
so head spots, what happens? You come into the
room, you lay down on a massage table. Your head
is laying on a headrest inside a sink. The sink
has a rainbow shaped sprinkler. That's we call
it the waterfall or the halo, but it's like an
inverted our yard sprinklers that go like this
and sprinkle out this one sprinkles down. So
once you're laying on the table, we start off
by doing some massage. We use sweet almond oil.
And if you're allergic, we use jojoba oil. If
you have a nut allergy, but we do a great massage
of the decollete up the neck and the face into
the head gets you really nice and relaxed. Then
we use warm oil to oil the scalp and start breaking
up anything that is there on the. scalp. We do
a double cleanse. A facial is included with it,
but it's not a traditional facial in the way
that you would think of it. It's more to be able
to massage the face. If you think of the upper
part of the body, we're all like this all the
time from driving and on our, you know. So it's
an hour to an hour and a half of everything being
focused on here. And then there's also an arm
and hand massage, neck and shoulder massage,
but The oil gets infused into the water, so when
we move the halo back and forth, that hot water
infused with the oil really helps it penetrate
into the scalp, which just has long -lasting
benefits that are so great for us. We finish
it with more head massage. We have all these
little tools. So there's just a lot of really
great stuff going on. What's interesting is everybody
experiences it in the same way I said that before.
One of my favorite clients of all time, she was
one of my guinea pigs. And for whatever reason,
every time it would hit her right here, she would
start laughing and couldn't stop. I haven't had
anybody else like that, but all three times she's
come in, it does it to her every single time.
I've had people cry just because when your head
is tight, And you're hitting parts of the face
and the jaw and when you're getting that much
concentrated time getting that tension relieved
Man, it really does change a lot people generally
leave feeling lighter. I've heard people say
it feels like their head is breathing. It's just
interesting. It's a very, it's like I said, it's
hard to explain the sensations until you're there,
but there's just so many wonderful things that
go on with it. And a lot of people too aren't
always comfortable going for a full body massage.
So what's lovely about this is you're laying
on the table, you're getting a lot of deep relaxation,
but without having to get undressed and flipping
back and forth on a table and all those kinds
of things. So. It's just very special. I love
it and I cannot wait to do mine I'm booking it
and I'm just like you were describing it. Oh
my god. I can't wait to do this And there's so
many things like every time you do it it's different
you'll never have the same head spot twice. Oh
Wow That's so exciting. Yeah. So what is the
best way for someone to get in touch with you
for your services or if they just want to just
to get in touch with you? Yeah. So our website's
majaheadspot .com. Super easy. You go on there
and you can read the descriptions about all of
the different services that we offer. And then
at the top, it has a link. We have three locations
right now. We're in Port Charlotte, Sarasota
and Fort Myers. So at the top, you press any
one of those and it takes you right to the booking
app. And then my phone number 941. It's straight
to me and you can text or call and I can book
your appointments for you as well. Oh, wonderful.
Stephanie, it has just been a joy getting to
talk to you. I love your authenticity and I love
the work that you're doing. So thank you for
joining me today. Well, I appreciate it. Thank
you. I wish you all the best and continued success.
Fingers crossed, we're coming into season. So
we'll see how this is our first like full -blown
actual season with the three locations. So we'll
see how it goes. It's exciting. Best of luck.
Yes. Thank you. It is very exciting. Thank you.
Thank you so much for spending time with me today.
I am truly grateful that you chose to listen
in and I hope that this conversation sparked
something meaningful for you. Please take a moment
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