Women Entrepreneurs: Karen Weaver and Marsha Thompson

Creating a refuge and a safe space is no small thing. It doesn’t happen by accident, but through consideration, effort and an outward focus that is all too rare. The women we profile this month are doing that and showing others that everyone is valuable and valued.

Karen Weaver

Karen Weaver set out to create a feeling, not just a business.

“My dad's from Denmark and I love everything about the natural beauty of not only Denmark itself, but the people of Denmark,” she says. “Really, it's all about healthy lifestyle.”

In her OASE (pronounced “oh-ay-suh”) Day Spa, Weaver wants women to relax and embrace the feeling of “hygge.”

“That's a very popular Danish word, but it's just that sense of cozy, sense of well-being, and that's really what we try to provide here,” she says.

The creation of OASE, which features non-toxic nail, skin and massage services, coincided with the pandemic and maybe a heightened need for comfort for everyone.

“I owned Upstate Aesthetics, which was my own single room studio with one person that was working with me,” Weaver says.

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Planning to expand her business, Weaver bought a building in January of 2020 and started renovations in the fateful month of March 2020.

“When everything shut down, I took about a week to reassess everything, but decided that people were really going to want and need a place of refuge and a place to staycation, if you will, when COVID kind of settled down a little bit,” she says. “And they did. I'm glad that I didn't let fear stand in the way. I just kind of pushed ahead and went with my gut, thinking we would be OK. And it's been good. I mean, it's not been easy by any stretch of the imagination. People always ask me, ‘well, is it back to normal?’ I don't even know what normal is.”

Weaver says the thing that sets her spot apart is what comes after the spa service. Clients can spend time in a relaxation area and read, nap or just be at peace.

“The nurturing aspect of our service providers and our space all lends itself to creating just a timeout, a respite,” she says. “We're all working women here, several of us are moms, and we know the demands it is to be a woman in this world. We are here to kind of help them escape from that for a little bit, and by doing so and taking some time for themselves and getting some rest and rejuvenation, obviously showing up better for the people in their lives.”

Once each quarter, the spa is opened to women who need that safe space, including caregivers from a group home, survivors of human trafficking and more.

“Fork and Plough donates lunch and Clare's Creamery donates ice cream, and we just take care of them,” Weaver says. “It's our way of hopefully providing a little bit of care and love in our community.”

Learn more at oasedayspa.com.

Marsha Thompson

Marsha Thompson works to ensure that everybody – every body – who enters Shine OM Yoga feels welcome.

While living in Atlanta, a friend invited her to a yoga class. It was the start of something unexpected.

“I went and I fell in love with it,” she says. “I became just so obsessively passionate about doing yoga, I can remember being at my full time job – looking at the clock, what time is it – so I can get off and go to yoga. I was trying to do it every single day, just about. And then there came a time where I wanted to leave Atlanta and come back home, which is here in Greenville.”

Thompson did teacher training in Atlanta and started teaching yoga when she returned to the Upstate. That continued for seven years, and she opened Shine OM in August of 2022. One of her primary reasons for opening her studio was to create a space where people feel included. That means every skin color, body type, background and level of experience with yoga.

“The goal of yoga is not to be able to touch your toes or to do a handstand or to be the most flexible,” Thompson says. “The goal is you come in here and are you able to sit with your breath and be mindful. And maybe you get out of your head and put your ego to the side and say, ‘I don't have to push so hard,’ or maybe that day you do push a little harder, and what you thought was impossible, then it's possible. There are so many different things going on in the classroom, way beyond moving through the physical postures.”

Thompson is the mom of a teenager and she says birthing a new business is a bit like becoming a parent.

“It's the same amount of excitement and exhaustion as having a newborn baby,” she says. “You love it so much. I've had to really focus on balance so as to not get burned out. The good thing, I think, for me was choosing a good team. I have a really good team of teachers that are very helpful and very supportive, so that I'm able to operate and also still teach fulltime and not get too burned out, so the thing you love, you end up hating. I never want to get to that point. I think the balance is key and having a good team to support me.”

The studio is becoming a place of refuge and growth for those who enter. Thompson is deliberate in cultivating that connection. She even helps in practical ways, like teaching a donation class for someone in need.

“My vision for Shine OM Yoga is for it to be a pillar in the community that people feel safe coming to – not just for yoga, but for community in general, just to be around people,” she says. “I want people to feel safe, knowing that they have somebody and they're not alone.”

Learn more at shineomyogagvl.com.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: TALK Greenville Women Entrepreneurs: Karen Weaver and Marsha Thompson