WELLNESS
Practice what you preach Entrepreneurs bring wellness opportunities to Asheville area
BY LINDA RAY lindarayaccess@gmail.com Asheville may never have won an official designation as “city where you’re most likely to encounter someone wearing hiking boots in a bar.” Residents and tourists alike, however, know that this is a place where yoga pants, muddy Tevas and a reusable water bottle are practically the local uniform. One demographic that’s embracing this health- and wellness-conscious scene are local businesswomen. They are joining and growing the area’s wellness industry in all its many facets: hiking, strength training, yoga, forest bathing and even reading tarot. “Right now is such a rich time — a new, wonderful time — to own a wellness company,” says Nicole Will, owner of Asheville Wellness Retreats & Tour. “After all the upheaval from the past couple years, people are looking for meaning and connection and healthy living options.” Through her business, Will loves to provide visitors who don’t want to “only do the normal touristy things” with plenty of cool options. Xpress spoke with several women who have started wellness business-
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STRONG IS BEAUTIFUL: Nadja Simon used to make her living as a glass blower in Asheville. After going back to school, she is now a personal trainer based out of a fitness studio in Woodfin. Photo by Linda Ray es in recent years about finding their way to these careers and riding out the bumps during COVID-19. MEANT TO BE Asheville’s wellness entrepreneurs hail from many different back-
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grounds and previous careers. Nadja Simon got the encouragement she needed to change careers while working out at the YMCA of Western North Carolina. “I was making a meager living as a glass blower in Asheville,” recalls Simon, who has a master’s degree in fine arts. “The dean of arts and sciences at A-B Tech was working out beside me and told me, ‘You’re a beast.’ I took it as a compliment and a sign.” Simon enrolled at A-B Tech, earning an associate degree in health and fitness science in 2017 and certification as a personal trainer through the American Council on Exercise. The YMCA then hired her to teach TRX (suspension weight training) and Pilates. “I know now that this is the swimming pool I was meant to be swimming in,” says Simon. She now owns the personal training studio Allon Health and Wellness in Woodfin. Kim Drye took a roundabout path to ownership of West Asheville Yoga. In 2007, she literally fell off a horse and began to explore the mind/body connection while healing. Drye experimented with psychedelics in 2008 while a student at UNC Asheville but “then I wanted to explore different states of consciousness without drugs and fell in love with yoga and meditation,” she explains. After working at West
Asheville Yoga for years and temporarily leaving to start a family, she returned and took over the business in May. After working as a senior vice president for behavioral health companies, Sue Crowell started feeling job-related stress take a toll on her health. She talked to her sister Teresa Olster, a registered nurse with her own set of nonstop stressors, about finding a retreat. Their vision was to relax and rediscover healthy practices. “After always being on the road helping other people start businesses, I thought it was my time,” Crowell says. “I told my sister that I just needed her retirement money, and we could then open our own retreat.” From that conversation, the sisters founded Skyterra Wellness in 2016 in Pisgah Forest. A one-week retreat provides participants with opportunities for joyful movement, massage and spa services, calming breathing techniques, mindful eating and meditation. Guests can unplug while relaxing in a stressfree environment. Will from Asheville Wellness Retreats & Tours was more purposeful in her journey toward self-employment. After graduation in 2003, she worked on a fly-fishing ranch in Colorado “just to get the restlessness out of my system,” she says. She then came to Asheville to work for a wilderness therapy program. Working with at-risk adolescents brought her to some realizations about her own trauma and how the outdoors and a wellness focus made her feel freer and more open. With still too much restlessness inside, Will moved to Ecuador where she organized custom itineraries for travelers. In 2016, she organized a trip in the Galapagos for a yoga instructor from Asheville. “I realized after meeting her that I was looking outside of myself for meaning,” Will says. “I knew in my bones that my restless period was over. So, I bought a house in Asheville and started ‘adulting.’” After organizing walking tours around town and yoga hikes, Will opened Asheville Wellness Retreats & Tours with a friend. She now owns the company as a ‘solopreneur.’