09 May 2023
Laura Bill meets entrepreneur and therapist Nadya Giffen ahead of the opening of her latest venture…
It feels a little bit like the beginning of a duckling to swan or basement to ball type situation. And I think that might be exactly what is unfolding as St Albans-based founder Nadya Giffen takes on her new business model and premises.
I walk away from the small concrete building that has obviously served Nadya Giffen Therapies well for more than three years. She is surrounded by boxes, donning Ugg boots and a slightly anxious smile.
While it has seen many happy customers during the last three years, she describes herself as “having outgrown” the current premises and I can see why. Nadya exudes strength and determination but is far more humble than she could be:
“I don’t want this to be about me,” she says.
Highly qualified in massage therapy, a great people-person and a passionate businesswoman with more than two decades of experience in aromatherapy, sports massage and fitness, the 43-year-old is keen to make sure everybody involved gets mentioned in this feature by name. That in itself says a lot about her working ethos.
“I am really really excited – and a bit scared,” she tells me as we sit down together:
“It has always been a little dream of mine to open an aromatherapy gift shop. I have been an aromatherapist for more than 20 years and I am also qualified in blending the oils.”
She goes on to explain that she mixes up bespoke, healing oils prior to carrying out her massage sessions as she was taught.
I can tell she genuinely loves what she does and wants to make a difference to people’s lives.
The launch of Nadya’s new business will facilitate so much more: the introduction of other highly sought-after therapists providing acupuncture, reflexology, lymphatic drainage and sports and aromatherapy massage.
Additionally customers will be able to choose from a range of aromatherapy oils, candles, skincare, organic bath and bodycare and beard oil to treat themselves or buy as gifts.
The bringing in of other professionals in a similar field has a great sense of community and I can hear Nadya has a desire to champion other women. Self-employment can be a lonely road at times and I wonder if there is a desire to lighten that burden also.
Nadya explained that the UK has ‘taken a battering’ financially and that she chose to stock products made here to help other people. It was important that local businesses were involved in getting the
new building up to scratch; Fonteyne Signs made and erected the signage and a supplier in Bedford crafted some reclaimed scaffold shelving.
Brands such as I am Scentered, Frozen Gorilla – a St Albans-based bath bomb producers, and Amphora Aromatics will be welcomed by those who know about – or want to get to know – the power of aromatherapy.
So, let’s get back to the mixing of magic potions (my words, not hers!!) because I am perimenopausal and basically looking for anything that could possibly make me feel less murderous on a daily basis. So I ask Nadya which oil might be good for this.
She is super easy to talk to and non-judgey and suggested geranium saying it is great for its mood-balancing properties. It smells amazing and is worth a go, right?
On discussing the impact of the two-year lockdown she said: “I didn’t know if I would have a job to come back to after the pandemic.
“I felt like I wanted to put something into the community. Even just being able to employ three receptionists, provide space for therapists and get our signage from Fonteyne Signs has felt great.”
Nadya said that without a grant from St Albans district council her business would not have survived lockdown. She also describes her colleague and staff member Rosina Basile as “her backbone” and the gratitude there is mutual. Rosina, 25, who went to Nicholas Breakspear School said: “I have never met anyone so kind and willing to give other people such opportunities.
“Nadya really helped me at a time when I was feeling low and gave me a job as well as the push to launch my own business.”
Nadya is hoping for visits from her regular customers to her new premises at The Quadrant in Marshalswick – previously a travel agent’s – as well as attracting new ones with all the
different services and products now on offer
“There has been a lot of excitement from my current clients. Everything in my shop I have chosen personally and they are all products that I would love to use myself! I can’t wait to welcome my new colleagues and customers.”
To book appointments with acupuncturists Bea Masters and Kasia Krompiec and/or massage therapists Rachel Moffatt, Alison Orde, Nicky Goss and Olivia Howell pop into the shop or visit nadyagiffentherapies.co.uk
