Meet Your Merchant: Massage therapist provides much-needed de-stressing

Margie Molina spent the first 25 years of her career behind a desk crunching numbers as an accountant until she opted for massage therapy school 10 years ago.

"I did accounting all my life and then went, OK, there's got to be more to life than this," Molina said.

Since opening Chi Therapeutic Massage and Aesthetics in 2000, and subletting space for five other therapists, Molina said she hasn't looked back on her previous career.

Her new career started after moving to Carson City from San Diego 15 years ago for an accounting job. She said she felt drawn to the healing arts and, "I was really tired of accounting."

"I think because I wanted to do something that was more beneficial to people," she said. "I just decided this was the way to go and it's been wonderful."

Today she still is running her own massage therapy business, accompanied by the other therapists who have set up shop with her, offering a variety of massage styles from hot stone to Oriental bar therapy (that's where the therapist hangs onto bars attached to the ceiling to balance and uses his or her feet to massage a customer's back).

The clinic also offers facials, body wraps and "body sugaring," which Molina said is an ancient method of hair removal.

Despite the relaxed atmosphere, there is stress given the economy, and the past year has proved difficult for the clientele-based business.

"The (clients) we lost were the ones that lost their jobs," Molina said, adding customers still are coming to her to help relieve their stress.

Molina said her accounting background has given her a leg up in running a small business, from balancing her own books to doing her own taxes. Molina said she also decided to pick up some once-a-week accounting work in Reno to help make ends meet.

"When it got really bad, I went back to doing accounting in June," she said.

It's still something she said she can rely on for help.

"It's a totally different side of the brain, it's very cut and dry, but I've always enjoyed it," she said. "It's just I'd rather do something that would help people."