Massage Therapy Graduates Making a Life

Since most of our students already have work experience when they come to school here, they are looking for ways to do more than support themselves, they want to keep the life in making a living. They are also looking for meaningful ways to contribute to the well being of others. How do they express their passion once they leave school and return to their communities?

Here is a sampling of what graduates are doing today in the community.

Search: DawnElaneReed@Google/nyc

One In 2003, when Dawn Elane Reed ('02) started offering massage therapy at Google's New York office, many of her friends had never heard of Google. How times have changed. As Google has grown, so has its massage therapy staff. Read more

Actor: Cody Landis, LMT

While an undergraduate student at George Washington University, Cody Landis acted, directed or produced about 25 plays, in addition to his studies and part-time job. When he arrived in New York City and found that the business of Broadway didn’t suit him, he turned his formidable creative forces to the study and practice of massage therapy and Shiatsu. Ironically, he finds himself now returning to his talent for communicating to an audience as a guest on national radio, talking about the benefits of bodywork. Read more

Chef: Croix Picoriello, LMT

After working as a chef and then a Maitre’d at a Long Island country club, Croix Picoriello decided to see if massage therapy suited his taste. While a student, and later an Admissions Advisor at the school, Croix told everyone about his childhood dream of traveling the world on an ocean liner. His desktop linked to a webcam broadcasting from a ship at sea. Now Croix is realizing his dream as he travels the world while working in a cruise ship spa. Read more

Dancer: Patricia Reidy, LMT

There are more dancers at Swedish Institute then can be counted on ten toes. Many students, graduates and teachers have impressive portfolios of the shows in which they have performed. After studying at Swedish Institute, some return to Broadway as backstage therapists. Patricia Reidy, formerly a member of the long-running phenomenon “Chorus Line,” got a scholarship for Swedish Institute from Dancers in Transition and landed a “blissful” new role. Read more.

Zookeeper: The Ultimate in Luxury

Bamboo may be the only consistent feature in Michael Williams’ life, as he went from working with animals and plants at the Bronx Zoo to being surrounded by over 14,000 square feet of luxury at New York’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Is life around him wild or mild now? Read more.

Turning Personal Experience into Vision
Triathlete Charles Pegg,('97), knows the value of sports massage first hand and has an ambitious goal of bringing it to elite althetes world wide. Read more

Energetic Evaluation
Shiatsu practitioner Tom Banasiak, who works with the bioenergy of the body, asks the question, "How can you grasp that which is non-physical?" Read more

A Role on Broadway
Working with Cats and other Broadway shows, Fanny Mandelberger ('83) helped pioneer a role for massage as part of backstage therapeutic care. Today, massage therapy is often part of the contract for key cast members.  Read more

Teaching Massage Near Angkor Wat
Every opportunity begins with a connection to a person and affection for a certain kind of work. For Ellen Roth ('06) a personal link to Doctors Without Borders brought her to a children's hospital in Cambodia.  Read more

Learning for a Lifetime
Joe Lubow (’87), now the owner of Sarasota School of Massage Therapy in Florida, feels an important part of bodywork involves awareness, relationship and community.  Read more

An Imaginative Approach for Dancers and Athletes
Russ Beasley, L.M.T., (’89) is an in-demand therapist with elite athletes and Broadway performers. What makes his work unique?.  Read more

Trading in Wall Street for a License in Massage
The stress of a job in the stock market, followed by the events of 9/11, led Laura Conroy to our school, and now a new career at a luxury spa in Manhattan. 
Read more

Taking Massage to an EXTREME! Kristen Sykora's peaceful practice was disrupted not once, but twice, when she answered the call to provide massage on the set of ABC-TV's popular Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  Read more

Traveling Light 
Her skilled and sensitive hands, diverse education and peaceful personality have provided Lizabeth Gottsegen (’95) the opportunity to work around the world as a massage therapist.  Read more

When Work is a "Holiday"
Pascale Josephson ('00) went on the set of Last Holiday, starring Queen Latifah and LL Cool J to provide massage therapy for director Wayne Wang. Her six weeks on location was a unique opportunity for which she felt well prepared.  Read more

Corporate Massage Pioneer

In 1987, when Donna DeFalco, LMT ('81) had a vision of bringing massage therapy to corporate clients, her first meeting with Wall Street executives was a disaster. Instead of being crushed, she was galvanized and today leads her own corporation providing massage and education programs in the U.S. and Europe.
Read more.

Aloha to Hawaiian Life

A recent transplant from the island of Manhattan to the island of Maui, Geoff Dawe, LMT ('95) has practiced and taught sports massage for athletes, exercisers and performers. When not working or performing himself, he might be found exploring some of the most beautiful waters in the world. Read more.

Innovative Massage in a Pediatric Oncology Unit

One of the graduates bringing massage into extraordinary situations is Evelyn Li, LMT ('94) who works with the Integrative Therapy Program at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital’s Pediatric Oncology unit. As part of a team of dedicated nurses and physicians, Evelyn finds the work as uplifting as it is challenging.  Read more.

Part of a Movement
William (Bill) Hughes (‘05) is not working in the field of social anthropology, his major at Harvard, but he now finds himself taking part in a powerful movement that is changing the social fabric of America.  Read more

For more information

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