Some local moms recently headed to Columbia to get dirty.
Sept 19, 2008

Friends Melissa Gaddy, Christy Schachte, Jodie Cochran and Stewart Harris formed a team — Moms Rock and Run — and headed to the 15th annual Marine Corps Ultimate Challenge Mud Run on Sept. 20.

"It was a lot more physically challenging than I expected," says Gaddy. "But we did it, and loved it, and will do it again!"

Read about their experience Thursday in Get Out.
http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/oct/01/down_dirty_columbia56422/

Christy Croffead Schachte:

Spa owner finds healing in catering to others

By Brenda Rindge
The Post and Courier
Saturday, May 10, 2008

Christy Croffead Schachte treasures the artwork of her late mother, Pati Crosby Croffead. The art is on display in Schachte’s home and her business, MoM Spa.
Looking back, Christy Croffead Schachte now thinks it all makes sense.
The time she spent in optometry school, the Northwest expedition, counseling teens in Alaska, teaching English in Japan, working at the S.C. Aquarium. Even her mother's untimely death, as tragically devastating as that was to a daughter who is an only child.
"Now that I look back on each part of my life, it all helped me to become the entrepreneur that I am," she says. "That moment of losing somebody focuses you, and you're seeing your own mortality and realizing you have one chance, one life, and you are either going to make it or not, so you'd better live your dream."
Schachte — wife, mom and owner of MoM Spa, a day spa that caters to women — is doing that.
"I am one blessed woman," she says.
Early years
Her childhood was idyllic, growing up in a large Greek Orthodox family in Charleston, the only child of optometrist Thomas Croffead and his artist wife, Pati Crosby Croffead.
"My father was the doctor, the rock," she says. "And my mother was an artist — creative, highly intelligent and flamboyant."
Many days were spent at her family's beach house at Folly or on Crosby Seafood's shrimp boats.
"My first jobs were cleaning lenses for my dad and shoveling ice and pulling up nets on shrimp boats," she says.
After college, she was on track to follow her father and his father, ophthalmologist George Croffead, into eye care.
"I always thought my whole goal was to join the family practice," she says. Then she went on a six-week wilderness adventure in Alaska. "I was in optometry school in my second year, when I said, 'What are you doing? This is not where you need to be.' "
She withdrew from school and returned to Alaska to be a counselor for teens, leading kayak and hiking expeditions. Then she traveled the United States, and in California earned a degree to teach English as a foreign language. That led to a three-year stint in Japan, which also allowed travel to Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.
"That was a time of my life I call the 'age of innocence,' " she says. "There was no fear. You put something in front of me and I just did it. I just traveled and learned about myself and what I wanted to be."
She returned to Charleston in July 1998 and was still readjusting to American life a month later when her mother, who struggled with depression, died.
"She did everything for everyone else," Schachte says. "I don't think she fully gave herself permission to be the person she wanted to be, but she gave me that gift."
Meeting David
Schachte began re-evaluating her goals, and two significant things happened.
The first was a Super Bowl party in 1999.
Christy Croffead, who worked at the soon-to-open S.C. Aquarium, and residential real estate agent David Schachte had never met, even though their families had known each other for years.
"The last thing I ever thought of was getting married and having children and settling in Charleston," she says. "As much as I loved Charleston, I just thought of going to the next country."
But she agreed to the setup anyway.
"I thought, I'm going to go and meet him and be on my way and figure out what the next step is," she says. "But he opened the door and we both took two steps back, and we've been together ever since."
David, she says, "is my rock. As my mom had my dad, I have David. I think my mom had a lot to do with me meeting David at the right time and the right place."
They were married March 2, 2002, in a "big, fat Greek wedding," she says. "It was a whole week of festivities. We had 450 people and everybody already knew each other."
Massage therapy
The second significant thing was the way she dealt with the loss of her mother.
"My goal was to get through the grief," she says. "I did counseling and the whole thing, but the one thing that helped me begin to feel and to open up was getting weekly massages. The man who worked on me could literally open me up and close me back, and I found that amazing. I found that safe. Slowly but surely, my heart began to mend, and then I realized, I want to do this. I want to help somebody else."
She became a licensed massage therapist, working at area day spas until the birth of son Gunnar on March 14, 2004, which was followed by the arrival of Liam on Oct. 10, 2005.
When she began to wonder again about her goals, her doctor suggested reading. She picked up books about owning a business.
"I started forming the idea that maybe this can work," she says of opening a spa.
Her husband was willing to give up his full-time career to raise their boys.
"He sacrificed once we figured out what I needed to do," she says. "Having David's and all of our family's support to go after it is what gave me permission to do this."
But she wasn't sure until the day Tony Mark, a relative who retired to Charleston and now owns a portable folding kayak company called Folbot Inc., pulled her aside.
"He said, 'Christy, if you don't do this now, one day you're going to pick up the paper and somebody else is going to have done it already,' " she says.
Mark became her mentor, helping her crunch the numbers, find a location and make MoM Spa a reality.
"Day in and day out, he was there 14, 16, 18 hours a day, helping me rebuild this place," she says of the space on Houston Northcutt Boulevard in Mount Pleasant that once held a tanning salon.
MoM Spa opened in April 2007. Schachte, who still does up to six massages a day, now has 10 employees.
As she caters to women of "all ages and stages" with all-natural products, facials and massages, Schachte says she often can feel their pain.
"I think of massage as an art," she says. "I think of it as therapy in its own way. I have been through a lot that maybe they've been through, so it's easy for them to open up."
She works with clients dealing with infertility, postpartum depression and any number of other things, helping them to heal.
And as they heal, so does she. The spa is in honor and memory of her mother, whose artwork hangs throughout.
"My mom was my best friend by far," she says. "I put my heart and soul into building a place where I could feel her spirit. If I can do a quarter of the work she did in her lifetime, that's enough for me."

Christy Croffead Schachte
Age, place of birth: 38, in Roper Hospital.
Family: Husband, David Schachte; sons, Gunnar, 4, and Liam, 2; German shepherds, Kia and Cosmo.
Occupation: Owner of MoM Spa.
Education: Ashley Hall, College of Charleston, Charleston School of Massage.
Combining work and family: "You can balance work and family, but it takes a tribe. I work very long days, but I have flexibility. This has worked out better than any other full-time job." In addition to her husband, Schachte gets a lot of support from her in-laws, retired Rear Adm. William and Carmen Schachte; her father, Thomas Croffead; and stepmother, Pattie Croffead.
Time for herself: When she was in college, she competed in marathons and triathlons. She still enjoys running, often leaving from MoM Spa and running over the Cooper River Bridge. She also does yoga, and is a member of EcoFitness. "I love setting goals, seeing progress and achieving success."
Childhood memories: "Fishing; crabbing; bodysurfing; riding bikes with cousins; playing backgammon; listening to our good friend, John Brannen, sing; petting porpoises; seeing the sunrise from a shrimp boat."
Current travel life: "Even though we don't get to explore new territories as often as we would like, David and I do try and keep life exciting. Last weekend (for his birthday), I surprised him with a tandem skydiving day. He's always wanted to do it and it was by far one of the most thrilling events in his life, and needless to say, scariest of mine."
Advice to would-be entrepreneurs: "Start now. Surround yourself with only positive, supportive people. Seek advice from successful ones in your field. Ask for a mentor. "
Goal for Mom spa: "To give back."
Brenda Rindge can be reached at 937-5713 or brindge@postandcourier.com.

Copyright © 1997 - 2007 the Evening Post Publishing Co.

Organic skin-care firm, founder to move to area

If you're me, you get a big, goopy mess.

But if you're Sara Damelio, you get a healing skin-care concoction fit for battle.

After researching skin-care products for National Geographic, the now organic beauty specialist and licensed esthetician decided to create her own line using all-natural ingredients. While she was working at a salon in Washington, D.C., Damelio sold her handmade and hand-packaged products to private clients before eventually starting her own company, Skincando Inc.

Her Combat-Ready line, which includes balm, lip balm and bar soap, is gaining ground along the East Coast. But it's the balm that's making waves overseas, crossing the pond to bring relief to U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Damelio pulled the trigger about 1,000 times over the course of two years before finally hitting her target, creating the perfect mixture for the balm, a concentrated skin salve that heals and relieves everything from severe dryness and sunburn to scars and sand flea bites.

Marc Popchak, of the Army's 876th Engineering Battalion stationed in Iraq, received a jar of the whipped miracle cream from his wife, an employee at Gettysburg Hospital in Pennsylvania. "I passed it around to everyone in the unit," he told Damelio. "If you put that balm on overnight, the next day the sand flea bites were just gone."

It may be strong enough for a soldier, but Combat-Ready Balm is also soft enough for diaper rash and serious enough for the Charles Cole Memorial Hospital in Coudersport, Pa., which sells the balm in its pharmacy.

A 2-ounce jar of Combat-Ready Balm retails for $25.

Most of Damelio's sales come from her Web site, www.skincando.com, but the all-natural and organic skin-care line is in Charleston's crosshairs.

Damelio plans to relocate her business to the Holy City by the end of the year, where she'll continue to stir up the miracle mix in her home.

"I'm really excited to be coming to the Charleston area," Damelio said. "I think the products are perfect for people here because they're great for sunburn, bug bites and dry skin."

Give them your flaky, your sunburned, your huddled masses of mosquito-bitten hunters longing for itch-relief. MoM Spa at 920 Houston Northcutt Blvd. in Mount Pleasant and Low Country OB/GYN at 10 Farmfield Ave. in Charleston are braced to battle the enemies of healthy skin.

Reach Abi Nicholas at 937-5524 or anicholas@postandcourier.com.

Healing touch
Holly Auer
The Post and Courier
MONDAY, APRIL 02, 2007 7:35 AM
permalink
Moms-to-be, and those hoping to be sometime soon, could get a relaxing boost from MoM, a new Mount Pleasant spa that plans to specialize in 'fertility massage.' Studies have found that massage therapy works to decrease the body's physical signals of stress, including heart rate and brain waves, which some experts say may play a role in the ability to conceive.

Owner Christy Schachte says this type of massage aims to 'open, cleanse and balance the body in preparation for conceiving.' The spa also offers post-natal treatments, as well as the usual assortment of girly spa treatments, including body wraps, facials, anti-aging treatments and all-natural nail services. The spa is at 920 Houston Northcutt Blvd. in Village Pointe Shopping Center. Visit www.TheMoMSpa.com

DO YOU KNOW: Christy Croffead Schachte
Jessica Johnson
Thursday, November 1, 2007

BIRTH DATE AND PLACE: 1969, Charleston.

RESIDENCE: West Ashley.

OCCUPATION: Owner, The MoM Spa, next to the Starbucks on Houston Northcutt Boulevard in Mount Pleasant.

FAMILY: Husband, David Gunnar; two boys, Gunnar, 3 1/2, and Liam, 2; German shepherds, Kia and Cosmo.

EDUCATION: College of Charleston, B.S. in psychology and pre-medicine; Charleston School of Massage, licensed massage therapist; English International, Teaching English as a Foreign Language degree.

MY JOB DESCRIPTION: Wife, mother, entrepreneur, massage therapist.

THE MOST FULFILLING ASPECT OF MY JOB: Providing support and nurturing services to women of all ages and stages.

THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECT OF MY JOB: Juggling time for my family, employees, clients, vendors, marketing and public relations opportunities.

WORDS THAT BEST DESCRIBE ME: Compassionate, intuitive, goal-oriented, athletic and creative.

TALENTS/HOBBIES: Writing, public speaking, jogging with the boys, yoga, travel.

THINGS I DO IN MY SPARE TIME: Get outdoors with the boys, go to the beach or out in the boat with our family.

A CELEBRITY I HAVE MET: Arnold Schwarzenegger; he literally ran into me coming out of Planet Hollywood.

FAVORITE BOOK: "The Prince of Tides." My great-grandfather was a fisherman and my family owns Crosby's Seafood.

ACCOMPLISHMENT OF WHICH I AM MOST PROUD: Personally, the births of our boys; professionally, building a business in honor and memory of my mom.

DREAM VACATIONS: With the boys, the Galapagos Islands; with my husband, any Aman Resort Spa in Bali; with the family, The Greek Isles.

THINGS I DO TO KEEP IN PHYSICAL SHAPE: Arm work and squats while massaging, yoga with the boys in the playroom, run the bridge from the spa, cleaning and organizing all the time.

FAVORITE CHILDHOOD MEMORY: Body surfing, crabbing, playing board games and eating homemade meals at our family beach house at Folly.

SOMETHING I DO THAT IS SILLY BUT FUN: Our morning routine, David and I dance, the dogs bark, Gunnar plays the electric guitar, Liam does "Happy Feet."

HOW I MET MY SPOUSE: Our families knew each other for years, but we had never met. His aunt invited me to a family Super Bowl party and when he opened the door, I knew my traveling days were over.

FAVORITE SOUNDS: Hearing "Mama" over the baby monitor, baby giggles, the pitter-patter of small feet, the relaxed breath of a client, silence.

IF I COULD CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT MY LIFE TODAY, I WOULD: Have my mom back. And I would have started massage therapy in my 20s.

OLDEST THING IN MY FRIDGE: A boo-boo bunny from when the kids were infants.

The recently opened MoM Spa in Mt. Pleasant (located at 920 Houston Northcutt Blvd.) is sure to become a staple in any woman's pregnancy routine. Founded by Christy Schachte in memory of her mother, artist Pati Crosby Croffead, the MoM Spa is the only location in Charleston that offers the innovative fertility massage. Formatted for each trimester, body type, and medical history, the massage is designed to target all areas of discomfort and is performed by nationally-certified massage therapists who are also certified in prenatal and related bodywork. Mommies-to-be can also enjoy a reduced level of stress, helping encourage the success of natural as well as IVF conception, through the fertility massage, which aims to "open, cleanse, and balance the body in preparation for conceiving." For more info on the MoM Spa, call 849-4955 or visit www.themomspa.com. —Laura Zapp

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