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Inhalation Therapy
The therapeutic use of inhaled vapors, some augmented with essential oils, as in the treatment to enhance respiratory wellness.
Injectables
Injectable wrinkle fillers used to decrease the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles primarily on the face.
Insights to recruit, engage and retain estheticians
KRISTINE HUFFMAN for Pulse: You became an esthetician later in life. How did you get there?
LISA HART: When I was in college, I had the opportunity to be a White House intern and was fortunate enough to serve both President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara. Then, when “H.W.” became President, I coordinated their travel and accompanied them all around the world. I’ve been to almost all 50 states—just missing Alaska, which I hope to visit someday! Then, I had a family and when my children started high school, I thought, Okay, now I can get a job—but, I couldn’t find one. I felt as if I were subject to age discrimination in my early 50s. So when I was trying to figure out what to do next, my sister suggested I look into skincare, because it’s something there’s a need for and she felt I’d be really good at it. And funny enough, I found that my age benefits me in this career: Some women prefer some[1]one older to explain to them their aging skin issues be[1]cause they can more easily relate.
Insights to recruit, engage and retain fitness program leaders
KRISTINE HUFFMAN for Pulse: How did you find yourself in the resort world?
DAVID CHESWORTH: My interest in fitness started in my junior year of high school. I asked for a weight set for Christmas and I ended up getting hooked on working out. At that same time, my dad had a rotator cuff injury and after surgery went through physical therapy. I discovered a passion for working out, and I saw a real-world application to help people.
Then, with my degree in exercise science, we had to do two internships. First, I got to experience work in a strength and conditioning gym at Bowling Green. For my second internship I discovered Hilton Head Health and I fell in love with wellness tourism.
I’ve been here now for 10 years. I started out leading a variety of classes: fitness classes, personalized stretching, recovery sessions, personal training. I got a look at how the marketing department did things, guest services. I’m now in a place where I am bringing in specialists who are truly better than me at certain things to create the programs. But I can always go back and do the things I’ve done before as a fill-in.
Insights to recruit, engage and retain massage therapists
Staff recruitment and retention are perennial headaches for spa owners and directors. Spas have the typical hurdle of most service industries—work hours that fall outside of 9 to 5, Monday through Friday—as well as sometimes intense physical demands on practitioners. Anyone observing the industry for more than a few years knows an additional obstacle is tied to spa culture: the itinerant nature of spa specialists, who tend to move frequently not only locally between spas, but even across the country or around the world. Adding to the staffing challenge for employers are the unique requirements of the spa world’s many specialist positions. Each role has its own training and certifications and position responsibilities. And career trajectories vary widely, meaning it could be a big benefit to understand how staffers in different positions may evolve professionally. Recently, former ISPA Board member Kristine Huffman spoke with Karen Rutschmann, who shared wisdom about massage therapists gained from a lifetime in the field.
Insights to recruit, engage and retain spa industry professionals
KRISTINE HUFFMAN for Pulse: You started out in the industry as a nail technician. How did you decide to take that as a pathway?
KERRI MIGNEAULT: When I graduated from high school, I wasn’t 100 percent sure what I wanted to do for college. I had a friend who was in cosmetology school, and I was her model for her state boards. That introduced me to that world. I didn’t want to go to school for hair, finger waves and perms. So, I opted to go to school for nails.
Pulse: How did your career evolve from there?
KM: When I was in school, my instructor was adamant about having goals. He always said if you don’t have goals, you’re never going to move forward. I got the amazing opportunity to work at the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa & Salon. There, I decided that I was going to take every opportunity that came my way. My answer was always Yes! Next, I was offered an opportunity to work in Miami at The Noble House as part of the opening team.
Insights to recruit, engage and retain spa industry professionals
Kristine Huffman for Pulse: The industry seems to be really struggling with therapist recruitment. Do you experience that too?
CG Funk: We have about a thousand massage programs in the United States today, so we have enough schools. What we don’t have is enough students. I think that’s mainly because we have not marketed and promoted it as a 21st-century career. When people think about massage as a job, folks still think about it as kind of a hippie thing. We’ve done an amazing job in the spa industry of promoting the benefits of our serv[1]ices to consumers. We have more consumers than ever before. And after Covid, it’s grown exponentially. But what we haven’t done is change the mindset what a massage career is. I also believe, as an industry, we are falling short on helping massage therapists create sustainable, long-term careers.
We haven’t approached this thing as a marketing and PR issue. The school I worked with had this ace marketing officer and he created an all-inclusive marketing campaign. We had ads running on radio, late[1]night television, print and social. We started the first online admissions department. The marketing was so strong that it pushed thousands of students to our campuses on an annual basis. I haven’t seen a strong campaign since then.
Insights to spa revenue management for industry professionals
Kristine Huffman for Pulse: Many of us aren’t familiar with the duties of a revenue manager. Tell us a little about that job.
ADAM HAYASHI: When I started in the hospitality industry in the ‘90s, I had no idea what revenue management was. It was still in its infancy, and the airlines were really picking it up. In 2001, I got my first job as a revenue manager at a hotel property. Even back at that point, it was rare to have a property-specific revenue manager focused on the yield and the optimization at each hotel. Fast forward: Now, most brands are prioritizing it. With revenue management strategy, we measure demand through data and trend analysis, and take opportunities to yield our pricing to attract the right guests at the right time, at the right price, through the right channel.
In terms of the discipline itself and how it differs from other departments, it is part of the commercial structure, focused on building the top line revenue and aligned with sales, marketing, digital and e-commerce. And that differs from the function of someone who is a finance director or controller who’s more focused on managing expenses and the accounting side of things.
Pulse: Often day spas and boutique hotels don’t have somebody focused exclusively on revenue management and the primary focus becomes expense management. What would you say to an owner of a smaller boutique property or a day spa to help support the idea that this is a necessary role? How would they get it started?
Interstate Massage and Cosmetology Compact Update
Matt Shafer, Deputy Program Director for The Council of State Governments, recently joined ISPA virtually to provide an update on the Interstate Massage and Cosmetology compacts. These compacts support the mobility of licensed massage therapists and cosmetologists by providing an additional licensing pathway, or reciprocity, among participating states.
Interval Training
A series of high-energy exercises succeeded by a period of low-intensity activity. A combination of high-energy exercise followed by a period of low-intensity activity.