Meet Nadège – a one-woman wellness destination. Not only does she spend her working week as our Massage Therapy Expert there at Urban HQ, she’s also a qualified fitness teacher, an expert massage therapist, a yogi and a passionate vegan. She’s our Urban Wonder Woman.
She’s been fascinated by fitness since she was a young child, so we sat down with her to find out how her journey has taken shape from way back when to the present day.
London Life
‘It’s been five years since I moved to London from Paris, and what a half-decade it’s been!’ she says. ‘I chose this city because I knew I’d have more opportunities to develop my personal training and fitness business as I found that Londoners are more willing to try new things when it comes to wellness.’
‘In fact, the lifestyle of Londoners is actually really different to Parisiennes. I feel Londoners are more open to new experiences – whether that’s foods or new ways of exercising. In Paris, spending money on exercise and wellness is seen more as a luxury than a necessity.’
Wellness is the Key
‘My interest in wellness began at very young age. From the age of six I started playing sports, and haven’t stopped being active since! In the past I’ve done gymnastics, modern jazz dance, tennis and horse riding, but it was athletics that really sparked my passion for training and helping others through exercise.’
‘My career within the wellness sphere began at just 16, training kids in athletics. I then went on to study beauty and massage, when I quickly realised that exercise and massage are the most important parts of maintaining a healthy body and mind.’
Around 10 years ago, I badly injured my back resulting in surgery, rehabilitation and learning how to move around again in a safe way. I had some experience with yoga before, but found that it was the best way to help strengthen my core and recover from my injury. This prompted me to redirect my yoga teaching to become an expert in rehabilitation for back problems.
‘I’m now over 10 years into my yoga journey – both teaching and practicing. As you might imagine, my wellness routine focuses heavily on it! Last year I was even lucky enough to travel to India to deepen my knowledge of yoga as a practice. On a weekly basis I’ll teach fitness and yoga classes, Latin dance and aerial yoga across the capital – including here at Urban HQ.’
Life at Urban Massage
‘I joined Urban Massage almost two years ago when they decided to launch the service and platform in Paris. I started as a member of the Customer Service team but after six months was offered a job as Therapist Assistant and I am now Therapy Expert.’
‘Day-to-day you’ll find me running the onboarding sessions where I assess the therapists that want to join the platform. I also train all of the assessors and ambassadors in the other cities we’re in. My job is to ensure that every therapist that comes to join the platform are up to our high quality standards and are able to deliver the best experience possible to users.’
‘A large part of my role is to also to ensure that the therapists are safe at the bookings they attend and can also provide the best experience possible for the client. My team aims to keep a transparent and clear communication with the therapists who are all welcome to pop in whenever they need our help or assistance. We’ve worked hard to build a strong community, so they can meet and share experience together. We’re always working hard to make their roles easier by offering them great perks too.’
‘I’ve had so many amazing experiences at Urban Massage – our staff retreats have been the most memorable times, but also at our Christmas parties!’
However, it’s not just the party side of things that Nadège loves: ‘I’ve organised multiple events for our therapists, my favourite one being the last one we did. We had yoga classes, a Reiki session, vegan and vegetarian food, smoothies and chair massage too. It was great for all the therapists to meet up and connect as well as meeting members of the Urban HQ team.’
So, there you go. An insight into the wonderful world of our Wellness queen!