My Island Touch, Charlotte

As a native of Trinidad, Marcia M. Speer lives and breathes the serenity of the islands. Her grandfather made a living as a healer there, and he eventually passed down his gift for touch. Marcia called on this gift again and again while attending the Southeastern School of Neuromuscular & Massage Therapy and finally opening My Island Touch, where she draws on her family traditions—as well as her experience as a nursing assistant and an EMT—to nurture her clients' minds, bodies, and souls with massage. She employs Swedish, deep-tissue, and hot-stone techniques to help boost circulation and soften overused muscles. She also calls on marjoram to soothe headaches, lavender to ease anxiety, and romantic comedies to loosen tense tear ducts.