Strengthening your career starts with Education.  ISM is dedicated to elevating the educational standards of the Spa Industry.  Through our partnership with Privai Academy we are dedicated to supporting the growth and professional development of Massage Therapists, Estheticians, Spa Managers and Professionals.  Our Nationally Approved continuing education provides superior programs that adhere to the exacting standards of Forbes Five Star Standards.

You are a Spa Professional.  While presenting recently at the World Massage Festival a fellow Massage Therapist came up to me and said, “I would never work at a spa – it’s all cookie cutter fluff treatments.”  After I released the largest gasp in the history of gasps, I knew I had to explain where she was all wrong.  I had to do this on behalf of the industry, but even more important, I had to set her straight because of the results I see in the guests of therapists like Debra Anderson, Sarah Becker, Amber Sims and Kathy Hanna!  Most people are introduced to the power of healing touch at a spa.  Pedicures = healing touch, Facials = Healing Touch, Massage = Healing Touch, Shampoo = Healing Touch.  It is a place where the entire spa team works together to build a physical environment that communicates beauty and confidence and a positive energetic environment through the power of attitude and touch.  Sure, Spas have protocols and procedures (especially ours – which is why we are the Five Star Spa Management firm) but part of what makes an ISM Spa experience Five Star is the customization and individualization of the professional spa treatment.  This is what we call at ISM the “Soft Box.”  Our protocols are the parameters, the foundation, the guide, but the Five Star Spa Experience is realized through the design of the Spa Professional – you!  Does your guest need extra time on their feet?  A bit of compression to settle them into the table?  A bit of stretching to lengthen and loosen?  It is your job to listen to the guest and create that highly intuitive Spa Experience that is unique to that guest but grounded in the foundation of an ISM protocol.  After the explanation of the ISM Philosophy of Spa, this once anti-spa employee simply looked at me and said, “Are you hiring?”  Thank you for continuing to change the industry through your Spa Professionalism and dedication to the guest experience.

-Ilana Alberico and Christina Stratton