When Jacalyn McCoy booked a massage 14 years ago, she expected to find relief from the aches and pains of pregnancy. Instead, she found a calling that changed her life.
'I wanted to do that for other people, and I wanted to take care of me,' explained McCoy, owner and sole masseuse at The Parlour, 2306 N. 66th St.
It wasn't the career she expected, not after 13 years in hospitality and a job managing two restaurants for a local athletic club.
But the pace was taking its toll.
'It was a lot,' McCoy said. 'I worked every weekend, every holiday. I planned parties and had 30 people under me. I wanted more freedom and flexibility. And I needed something that let me spend more time with my daughter; I didn't want to babysit anymore. I wanted to be with my daughter. And I wanted to do something that was good for my soul.'
So, when her daughter was 8 months old — she's 14 now — McCoy began studying massage therapy.
For a while, she worked at a spa.
'And I was exhausted. You had someone else scheduling for you, and you had eight clients a day. I couldn't do more than five massages a day. It can be very physically and emotionally exhausting,' said McCoy, who works with patients dealing with everything from breast cancer and fibromyalgia to loneliness.
'It's not just chronic lower back pain. Some people don't get touched,' McCoy said.
When she decided to open The Parlour, McCoy relied on family, friends and a lot of elbow grease to create the sanctuary she first envisioned when she decided to become a masseuse. She gutted the place herself, taking two months to do the floors, remove paneling and put up drywall.
Six years later, it has become an oasis not only for her clients, but also for McCoy.
'It's interesting how the universe starts taking care of you when you take care of yourself,' McCoy said.
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JUST THE FACTS
BUSINESS: The Parlour, 2306 N. 66th St.
WEB: TheParlourOnline.com
PHONE: (414) 479-1790
OWNER: Jacalyn McCoy
INCORPORATED: 2007
TYPE OF BUSINESS: massage
PEARLS OF WISDOM: 'I wanted to do something that was good for my soul.'