Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Cacciatore
Hi Heather, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My husband, Nelson, and his team have been practicing in specialized massage for years. As his client-base grew, we needed a space that allowed for transformational healing. There were some trial and error, starting our brick and mortar business, but our path eventually led us to open up EPIC Services. We initially started as a specialized bodywork and massage clinic that also hosted occasional educational lectures about bodywork. For a time, Nelson managed the business, but as our company expanded, I (Heather) took over the management side so that he could focus primarily on massage. We began to see a need in our clients, not only for massage but also for more body awareness, so we added regular yoga classes to our services. Our lives as business owners while also raising and homeschooling four kids kept us busy all the time, but we have always been proud of what we have accomplished. Most recently, we have added Halotherapy, also known as dry salt therapy, to our services. Our son, Reef, has eczema, and it was always an ordeal of baths, lotions, and treatments after every breakout. After doing some research, we learned about a treatment called halotherapy and decided to try it out. We took Reef to a nearby halotherapy clinic a few times a week and found that it cleared his skin up fairly quickly. It wasn’t the usual weeks to months of trying to maintain his skin—it only took one week! Our business has always been about helping people to be their healthiest selves, so I started praying and preparing to add salt therapy to our services. It took a couple of years for all of the planning, funding, engineers, contractors, and designers to create our unique Salt Room and Booths, but we finally opened the EPIC Salt part of our business at the beginning of this year. Now we can help our clients with their breathing and skin as well!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was absolutely not a smooth road! Lord alone knows how we have made it! We started our business unexpectedly as the need arose. Nelson was always working and had been staffing therapists at Whole Foods for chair massages for over a decade. I was raising our four kids and doing everything else while he worked. When we had decided to start our business, we got our initial funding in, but due to tariff changes, our second funding company lost their contract. Thankfully, we believe that God provided us just enough clients to keep us going. As EPIC grew and I had to take over the business management, I had to be away from my kids more often, which has not been an easy decision. We have had all sorts of struggles throughout the years of our business. We have had office staff mess up large contracts. Key managers unexpectedly move, massage therapists leave and poach clients, weather cancels important events, and, more recently, this pandemic rock the boat on all sides. Pushing through the pandemic shutdowns has probably been the most daunting. Nothing could have fully prepared us. We provide services that involve touch and breath, so it hasn’t been easy recovering, but we are still going and growing! A couple of times, it seemed we were going to have to close our doors, but God has kept providing enough by the midnight hour every time. He’s in the miracle business and we feel blessed!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Epic Services provides three sought-after services to the Tampa Bay community. Through our Massage Therapy, Halotherapy, and Yoga services, we strive to educate our clients to recognize and overcome unhealthy patterns in their lives so that they can begin living a healthy, pain-free life. Structural Energetic Therapy (SET) is the secret sauce behind EPIC’s success. It’s a specialized form of massage therapy that only a small number of people practice in the world. It is a maximum rehabilitation therapy that aims to restore structural balance, strength, and function to the body long term. Our SET therapists use specialized techniques to first identify and address specific areas of pain in the body and then work to bring the rest of the body in balance to support the changes made. Techniques include kinesiology and muscle testing, postural analysis, Cranial/Structural techniques, directed myofascial unwinding, emotional energy release, acupressure, scar tissue and adhesion release, deep tissue therapy and other therapeutic bodywork techniques. Of course, our team’s expertise doesn’t end there! We provide many different forms of bodywork, including sports massage, myofascial release, reflexology, Kinesio Taping, and other bodywork and massage modalities. Nelson was a VP for six years with the local chapter of the state massage association. He and our other skilled therapists work diligently to help clients move freely once again. On the other hand, our Salt Therapy is a service in which pure grade pharmaceutical salt is ground into precise micro-particles and dispersed into the air of a Salt Room or Salt Booth. When the dry salt particles enter the airways, they act as a natural absorbent for allergens, toxins, and other foreign substances. These salt particles can also help break down mucus, kill bacteria, and reduce inflammation. The airways are thus cleared and widened so that they can function more optimally. Those who add regular Salt Therapy into their wellness routine may find relief from a variety of symptoms related to respiratory conditions such as, but not limited to, asthma, allergies, bronchitis, COPD, Cystic Fibrosis, common cold, and ear infections. The anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of our salt also provide many benefits for the skin. Regular Salt Therapy may ease symptoms related to skin conditions such as, but not limited to psoriasis, eczema, swelling and inflammation, acne, rashes, and dry skin.
Besides, our Salt Room offers many sensory and anti-anxiety benefits. The ambient lighting, soothing music, texture of the loose salt floor, and the salt’s flavor in the air make the Salt Room an ideal environment for relaxation. Salt therapy has also been known to boost mood, relieve stress, and improve sleep. We have to put our yoga services on hold due to the pandemic, but we hope to start them back up soon—especially now that we can host unique classes in our salt room. With the new year, we are also looking at expanding and incorporating life coaching, breathwork, and more in order to encourage the health of the full body. As an Epic Services brand, we are known for our heart and truly caring for our clients. Our goal is to help Tampa both move and breath freely, but it all starts with building relationships with those we want to give to. We are proud of how far we have come and how far we will go. We are nothing without the team underneath us; this is what ultimately creates our “brand.” At Epic, we are one big, epic family.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
You cannot hold onto control and still grow. It is very important to work as a team with those around you and delegate what you can. You may not always like the way that your teammates do things and perhaps you think you can do it better. But you have to ask yourself if it gets the job done and if it is done well within their gifts and abilities. Let go of control, shape each other, and move forward as a team. Then and only then will your hard work begin paying off.
Contact Info:
- Address: EPIC Services 4002 W. State St Suite #200 Tampa, FL 33609
- Email: movefreely@epicservices.co
- Website: epicservices.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/epicservicesco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EPICServicesCo
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/epicservicesco
Image Credits
Victoria Johns-Paradise
