New City Small Business Spotlight: Yemaya Massage and Wellness Center

Every local business has a story worth sharing with the community. And that’s the belief behind this exciting series — to shine the spotlight on all our favorite local businesses, and to learn a little about the ones we may not know that well.

Business: Yemaya Massage & Wellness Center
Owners: Heather Koubek-Jameson, LMT
Website: www.yemayawellness.com
Address: 345 N. Main St, suite 10, New City, NY 10956

How did you come up with the name?

Yemaya is a goddess from Santerían and African religions- she is goddess of the sea and people go to her to “relieve their troubles”

Why start a business in this town?

I live here and am raising two elementary school children. it affords me the flexibility to run my business and take care of my kids.

What business are you in?

NYS licensed massage therapy.

What’s the most difficult challenge you’ve faced as a business owner?

Juggling taking care of my kids and a house, and being the sole and hands on owner of Yemaya in which I am responsible for everything from doing the actual massage and caring for each of my clients individually, answering the phones, maintaining the office flow of my independent contractor LMT’s and renters schedules and concerns.

What’s been your proudest achievement since opening?

Expanding to our current space and taking on independent contractor LMT’s who work for me both in the office and also do regular chair massage jobs at satellite locations. I started in a tiny one room office with only a handful of clients and no children of my own yet in 2003. Now Yemaya is a full blown business offering many different bodywork modalities, with 5 wonderful LMT’s and many loyal and generous clientele for whom we are most grateful.

How does your business give back to the community?

We donate about 10-15 massage gift certificates a year to local fundraisers that range from school tricky trays to breast cancer awareness events to supporting not for profit agencies in Rockland county. We are part of programs that give discounts to veterans and emergency service employees as well.

Would you like to see your small business showcased in this series? Email wendy.mitchell@patch.com.