Conversations with Kisha Ray

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kisha Ray.

Kisha, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am a Massage Therapist & Esthetician. I service a lot of celebrities & professional athletes. I also have an apparel & shapewear line “Ray Of Beauty” where we cater to women of all shapes & sizes.

It all started for me back in 2013. I was working a bank job that wasn’t consistent & decided I needed a career change. I started looking for different trades to learn & landed myself in Esthetician school & after that Medical Massage Therapy school. After getting certified I started working part time at luxury spa’s & still had my banking job at the same time. While working at the Spa I was able to learn the business hands on. A lot of my clients would ask if I could travel to their house or place of business. Shortly after I started a mobile massage business. It went very well but it wasn’t the most safest thing to do.

1 year later in 2019 I decided it was time to step out on faith. I quit my banking job of 6 years & opened my own business Relaxation Loft Spa. We specialize in Massage, Facials, waxing and more. I am proud to say that I have been in business for 7 years with an awesome team of employees.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Nothing is easy about entrepreneurship. You’ll have you good days & bad days. After taking that leap of faith & starting my own business Relaxation Loft, I was extremely nervous about what the outcome would be.
I rented out a very small space within my budget at the time where I offered clients my services. The first couple of months were very slow & then suddenly things started to pick up & I started getting new clients.

Right when things started to pick up, that’s when Covid hit & just like that I got shut down temporarily for 3 months. During that time I was devastated. I didn’t know if my business was gonna survive & I remember beating myself up for quitting my banking job. For 3 months I had no income & things were really tight for me. Not to mention I was a single mom with a mortgage & bills to pay. Finally at the end of May 2020 was when spa’s & salons were able to open back up. Once I reopened I was very nervous thinking that nobody would want to come back for my services out of fear of the virus. Surprisingly everyone came back right away in need of stress relief from the pandemic. As my business was going well, unfortunately the owner of the building that I was renting my space from could not survive after the pandemic & ended up closing permanently 6 months later, causing my business to shutdown once again.

For the next 90 days I spent everyday looking for a new location for my business while trying not to lose the clients that I had. It was a very difficult time for me but I guess the saying is true.. when one door closes a better one opens. I found a bigger & better location in a better neighborhood & business got better.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At Relaxation Loft we specialize in self care and mental wellness.

My mission is to make therapy & self care a priority for our culture. I can remember going to a Spa for the first time over ten years ago & saying to myself
“woW” everyone should be able to experience this & rejuvenate the mind, body & soul on a regular basis & not just on special occasions. We give a lot of ourselves away everyday at work, to our friends & our loved ones. We need to recognize that our needs are just as important as everyone else’s.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People can reach out to us on Social Media. Instagram/facebook @relaxationloft @im_kisharay or email us at relaxationloft@gmail.com

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.relaxationloft.com
• Instagram: @relaxationloft
• Facebook: @relaxationloft
• Yelp: Relaxation Loft