The Journey to Wellness Mastery with Adriana Rogers

Unlock the secrets to whole-body healing with the insightful Adriana Rogers, owner of BomDia Massage and Wellness, as she joins me, Mike Murphy, on the Good Neighbor podcast. We go beyond the surface of massages and delve into the transformative journey of reflexology, stretch coaching, and trauma-based healing. My own battle with the dreaded tech neck sets the stage for Adriana to reveal how small changes in our daily habits can amplify the benefits of her therapeutic touch. We also spotlight Adriana's dedication to a diverse clientele, from athletes to those seeking fertility support, and her personal evolution from misunderstood massage therapist to wellness maestro.

In our conversation, we navigate the exciting expansion of wellness offerings in the Ohio Valley, including the breath of fresh air that is halo salt therapy. As we unravel the intricacies of integrating alternative therapies into the mainstream, Adriana shares her approach to welcoming newcomers with open arms.  We emphasize the importance of self-care commitments and honor the service of veterans and first responders with tailored deals. Moreover, we delve into BomDia's heartfelt initiatives for women's empowerment through healing from trauma. So, connect with us to discover the essence of community wellness and how you, too, can be a stellar neighbor.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Murphy.

Speaker 2: 0:12

Thank you, Charlie. Yes, I am Mike Murphy, the host of the Good Neighbor podcast. Back with another local business owner today, With me in the virtual studio of the Good Neighbor podcast is Audriana Rogers. She's the owner of Bonjia. Bonjia I used to pronounce it Bon dia, Bon dia, Bon dia. Every way except the correct way. Part of what she'll help us out with is the proper pronunciation of Bonjia and what it means. Audriana. Welcome to the Good Neighbor podcast. How are you?

Speaker 3: 0:53

I'm well. Thanks, Mike, for having me.

Speaker 2: 0:57

You and I tried to do this a week ago but did a technical difficulties on my end, it didn't quite work out. Today you are in strong voice and I've got all my technical glitches worked out. We get to spend some time together. Today I want to have you telling your own words what it is that you do and also what does Bonjia mean?

Speaker 3: 1:27

Yes, thanks. As Mike said, my name is Audriana and I am the owner of Bonjia Massage and Wellness, so we are a massage and wellness practice in Fort Mitchell, kentucky. Bonjia is Portuguese for good day. A lot of times people say good morning with it too, but basically, when you come to see us, your day is going to get a lot better. I have half Brazilian in me my mom is Brazilian so I wanted to be able to kind of honor that heritage, which is why our name became what it is.

Speaker 2: 2:06

So one thing I want to ask is you know, when you say massage and wellness, the wellness part especially is a pretty broad word. So explain to the listeners your offerings there, Bonjia.

Speaker 3: 2:23

Sure. So we not only offer traditional massage therapy, as you might think, for stress relief and injury, but we also offer reflexology, which is primarily done on the feet but can target all types of health issues, including things that you might even like see the doctor for, like medication, for we do some relaxation facials, along with some services that are a little bit more new to us, like stretch. We have a stretch coach and trauma based healing and recovery services too. So that's kind of where the wellness comes in. We throw in some essential oils to help enhance the benefits, along with, like a spa, like environment, but without being a spa, because we really are about healing the whole person and not just fluff.

Speaker 2: 3:26

So when you say we, what does that mean? How many people do you have on staff there?

Speaker 3: 3:32

So we have three other massage therapists besides myself and a reflexologist and a life coach.

Speaker 2: 3:41

Hmm, there's a lot that you guys can do. Do you have a typical client, if that makes sense?

Speaker 3: 3:50

Oh, I would say that our business is probably 50-50 between both men and women, so we definitely service both. We primarily service adults, although we do have some clients that are teenagers. Primarily those would be like athletes and they need some recovery type of work. We don't really work with children or infants, but whether you're a pregnant woman all the way through, maybe wanting to do fertility I do specialize in fertility massage so we can help you get pregnant, help you once you're pregnant and once you're done being pregnant, but then also just everything kind of in between that you might deal with. But primarily, I would say it's the stressed out person, which is probably everybody right.

Speaker 2: 4:46

Yeah, that's true, most of us.

Speaker 3: 4:48

Especially in this day and age, people that work at their computer a lot. They tend to kind of hold their stress in their upper shoulders and are just angry. So yeah, we can kind of help with that.

Speaker 2: 5:06

One thing I've noticed about myself and others have noticed about me and I've noticed it about others too now, because once people call me out on it, I'm more aware in seeing it in others and that is we are spending so much time on our phones and I've had that slump looking on at our screens and I carry a lot of stress in my lower neck and I'm trying all the time to kind of fix that, but it's darn near impossible to fix it yourself. So is that something that you see a lot of and that you can help with?

Speaker 3: 5:43

Yeah, In fact it's pretty funny because we'll get done with the service, having just worked on the neck for this exact problem you're describing, and then they'll come out to the reception desk to, you know, book their next appointment, pay whatnot, and then they have their phone down here below them and they've, you know, got their head back down and they're undoing all the work we've done. So, yes, so some behavior modification is definitely part of the treatment plan, of like learning to pick the phone up, some different stretches you can do. We do try and incorporate a holistic approach with that, and not just what we're doing in the treatment room, but actually give you tools to take it home to extend your treatment a little bit more to.

Speaker 2: 6:31

Okay. Well, my wife sometimes teases me that I need a neck brace. I wear neck brace while I'm using my phone, but I'm a work in progress, just like all of us. But you may see me in your office someday, so tell me about your journey. How did you get into this line of work? How did you come to start your massage and wellness center?

Speaker 3: 6:56

Sure. So to kind of bring a long story not so long, I mean as a high school student I felt kind of called to do it. Of course, I didn't really know what that's, what it was back then, but my parents were not very supportive. Let's say, my mother, like I mentioned, being from a different country, had different thoughts about what, quote. Massage therapist was definitely not a professional type of Yep.

Speaker 2: 7:35

Exactly so she did that for me.

Speaker 3: 7:38

Obviously, of course, that is not at all what this profession is, but at the time she didn't understand that. So, being the independent person that I am, I decided I'd take matters into my own hands, which meant going into the military so that I could have the GI Bill and get my college paid for. Basically, of course, I lost a lot of independence doing that, but it taught me a lot of things, one of them hardest but yet one of the most rewarding decisions that I made. And then, after I was done in the Air Force, I did go on to massage therapy school down in Tampa, florida. So that's been 17 years ago. I've loved it.

Speaker 3: 8:31

I think that this is not a career that you can do, unless you do love it, because you're so involved with people all the time in the treatment room.

Speaker 3: 8:43

It's not something you can do and just kind of coast through and hate. But I started like a lot of therapists do, where you just kind of work for somebody else, work for a corporate type of facility, and then you learn all the things you hate and all the things that you don't want to do. And then eventually for me that 10 years ago came into deciding to kind of go out on my own. When I did that I didn't think that I would ever have anybody else with me. It was really just a way to get out from just like not a good working environment. And, however, pretty soon on probably about a year, maybe not even quite just the demand was so high I couldn't keep up with it myself and then that kind of led into hiring my first staff member to help and then it just kind of progressed from there and there's some ebb and flow in this of staff member retention and whatnot, but for the most part it's been a really great journey.

Speaker 2: 10:06

Yeah, so you talked about staff retention, things like that. There's the passion part of the job, but then there's the business part of it too, and you're always having to balance the two. Yeah, you're dealing with other people's stress and helping them to de-stress. How do you de-stress yourself? Do you have, do you take time off to kind of pamper yourself? And what does fun time in your world look like?

Speaker 3: 10:36

Sure. I think that answer is kind of multi answered. I kind of push back against the idea of pampering because I feel like self-care is not pampering. Self-care is actually necessity. I personally have seen what has happened in my own life when I don't do self-care and the burnout and the overwhelm that can come with that, especially being a business owner and have learned how to put into place daily, literally daily practices of self-care. One of my favorite things is taking time to journal and having quiet time, whether that's prayer or meditation, depending on what your own personal belief system is, but doing that daily really, really helps me keep my cup filled, per se. And then, yes, absolutely get body work massage therapy, reflexology on a minimum monthly basis, but usually a couple of times a month some type of body work is done. And then I love to decompress with a good romance novel, just to check out and have some fun. And I love the beach, so going on vacation to just chill in the sun is probably one of my very favorite things.

Speaker 2: 12:11

Okay, you're a toes in the sand woman, huh.

Speaker 3: 12:14

I am definitely.

Speaker 2: 12:15

Yeah. So getting back to the business side of things, I think you had mentioned to me before some new services, one of which I believe had to do with allergy. Is that correct?

Speaker 3: 12:28

Yes, so yeah, here in the Ohio Valley I don't really know anybody that doesn't have some sort of allergy issues, so we found a treatment that's called halo salt therapy. That is highly effective and done passively. So it's a little machine that's not about the size of an iPad that sits in the treatment room while you're getting your massage or reflexology or any service and runs this very fine saline mist that is pharmaceutical grade. That actually helps clear up that allergy issue sinus issues, respiratory. It's a lot more effective and less messy than, like maybe, a salt room type of environment. So that's a brand new service that we are just now offering in March.

Speaker 2: 13:27

What would you say to somebody who is kind of you know? All of these different types of whether it's massage therapy or the salt therapy is all foreign to them. Is there kind of a kind gentle way that you can introduce them to all of that? Can they come in and try something? Or, you know, do you run specials for people that aren't quite sure that it's for them?

Speaker 3: 13:57

Well, I think one of the things is you know, let's talk, because sometimes just having that communication helps to dispel any type of fear that might be there. But ultimately, trying it out is going to be the best thing to do. I try not to offer a lot of things that are free, let's say, but we do have some specials that we run from time to time, in particular those people that are veterans or first responders. We do offer a 10% discount for that, and if you're referred by a current client, you both get a $10 reward. So that's something that we offer too. But, ultimately, like, just come try it out, you've really got nothing to lose and you're definitely going to leave feeling better than when you came in.

Speaker 2: 15:00

Do you sell packages where it includes various different services all under one package price?

Speaker 3: 15:06

Yes, we do offer packages. Usually most people do by Six. You get one free basically. So that's something that a lot, especially if you're, if you're wanting to be committed to a routine in your Self-care, that's a great way to make sure you do it, because then you've spent the money and so then it's kind of like that commitment to yourself to make that monthly appointment to come in and see us.

Speaker 2: 15:35

Okay, well, if you were to, you know You're part of what you do is you educate people, and I'm sure you can. You can use storytelling as part of that too. But just on the education part of it, if you were to go door to door to the community at large and and someone answers the door and you've got 30 seconds to introduce yourself and you know what, in that moment would you want people to know about you? Like I guess you're 30 second elevator speech, what's that look like?

Speaker 3: 16:09

Yeah, um, that's a hard one. I mean, I would say that I'm a licensed massage therapist and my passion is my personal passion is to help women heal from trauma and feel worthy of love and belonging. So that's where my personal practice has gone into is focusing on healing emotional struggles and trauma that women have had Are like we've been talking about. Our practice is a lot more broad, but for me, that's what I would say. Yeah, it was mine.

Speaker 2: 16:49

Well, that's a pretty strong statement actually, and that's kind of why I asked those that I asked a question like that. It kind of forces you to boil it down quickly in your mind and kind of Be concise, and that was incredibly strong. So, yeah, I'm glad I asked that question because that was a great response.

Speaker 3: 17:08

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 17:10

Welcome. So we've obviously peaked people's interests. If they don't know about you, if they don't know where they can find you, how do they learn about your, your list of offerings? How do they, how do they reach you? What's the best way to do that?

Speaker 3: 17:25

Well, of course, they can pick up a good neighbor magazine and see us in there, but Bongia is located in Fort Mitchell. We're inside the PNC Bank building at the Kroger Plaza. So, yes, you go into the bank and to the lower level, it's actually a three-story executive building, so it's not just a bank. We have a website, facebook, instagram pages that you can like and follow. We have a blog. We would talk about self-care and different things on there too. Email us, give us a text, give us a call. We're here to help you in any way possible on your healing journey.

Speaker 2: 18:05

Well, very good if they come see you In that bank building. They're not in the wrong spot.

Speaker 3: 18:15

And you are in the right place.

Speaker 2: 18:17

Well, very good. Well, thanks for spending time with us today and just Allowing us to get to know you a little better. And about Bongia and I. Really I'm curious myself and need to come out and visit with you in person. So I'll call you and we'll set something up, and I'd like to come and experience it for myself.

Speaker 3: 18:40

Yeah, we'd love to have you.

Speaker 2: 18:43

Well, thanks for Letting us spend this time together. Our time is up. You know we've talked almost 20 minutes now. It always goes so fast, but that's because you're passionate about it and it's easy to talk about what you're passionate about. So I'll say goodbye to you, adriana. Thanks for joining us. Thanks, thank you for listening. This is the Good Neighbor podcast, so I'll always say to you be good to your neighbor, until next time, bye, bye.

Speaker 1: 19:18

Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast union to nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. Go to GNP union calm, that's GMP union calm, or cause it eight, five, nine, six, five, one, eight, three, three, zero.