5 MINUTES WITH Brandy Webster

Brandy Webster is the founder of Tranquility Matters Massage in Columbia and she believes every one should take the time out for self-care. We chat with her about the importance of taking care of yourself, how to overcome certain stigmas in the African-American community and what she plans to do next.

Enjoy.

Q: For the people that don’t know you, tell us who you are.

A: My name is Brandy Webster and and my business is Tranquility Matters Massage. I’ve been massaging for eight years, in business for five.

Q: What made you decide to get into massage work?

A: I came to Columbia for family and weather. When I got here, I put massaging on the back burner.

To be a new mom, I needed a full-time job. I did customer service work but always wanted to do something that was my passion.

A friend of mine suggested I finish massage school and the program here was shorted.

I kind of stumbled into my passion once I started. I enjoy helping people to help them feel better.

Q: How important is self-care specifically being an African-American massage therapist in the community?

A: With just massaging in general, in the black community we see it as a luxury. We use it when it’s given as a gift card. We don’t tie it in as a health benefit. I love to educate my friends and family that take prescription drugs or even find themselves self-medicating that there are so many benefits to massages. It helps people with diabetes and high blood pressure, which is also prevalent in the black community. I try to help give the basics to help and show that there’s more things to do than take a pill the rest of our lives.

Q: What’s next?

A: I want to expand my services. Right now I’m also teaching full-time and want to scale back and offer more days and services.

I also want to add holistic products to clients like CBD oils and other natural supplements.

Preach Jacobs, special to GoColumbia

This story was originally published September 12, 2019 at 6:00 AM.