The Sanctuary Tahoe Journey
Her cancer journey is what led her over the bridge to a life of mental and physical wellness, ultimately leading Rosie Webber into starting The Sanctuary, a wellness centered business.
When you walk into The Sanctuary Tahoe you are instantly lulled by the soothing atmosphere and calming ambiance. The wellness center provides a tranquil environment for many people in the community. This business has created a comfortable and welcoming space for health conscientious individuals to continue their journeys of personal wellbeing. Being located in Kings Beach, just minutes away from the beautiful lake, it attracts locals and tourists looking to dive further into the serenity Tahoe curates. From yoga classes and massages to naturopathic treatment and counseling, The Sanctuary can meet all the wellness needs.
Rosie Webber, the owner, found The Sanctuary that helped launch her wellness journey after being diagnosed with breast cancer. When seeking out a place for yoga and massages to help her health journey, this wellness center changed her life forever. Now, she meditates every morning before she gets out of bed, “wellness for me is something I do daily. I am a cancer survivor, so that has changed the whole directory of my life and the way that I deal with my daily living. But now it’s a lifestyle,” she said. She says her entire life she has paid attention to her health, even as a young girl she was exercising and doing sports. She thought all of her life she was being healthy, until her sister was diagnosed with cancer, which was three and a half years prior to her own cancer diagnoses.
Her cancer battle made her look at western medicine practices as just checking the boxes and not looking at the patient as a whole. She saw how it wasn’t about patient care anymore compared to when she worked as a registered nurse for 46 years, “I never entered the medical field for that reason, I entered the medical field as a nurse to help people, not to make money,” she said. For the majority of her life she has worked in the conventional medicine field. Though she believes conventional medicine is a necessity in the world, she also believes there is a need for holistic medicine practices, “there is a place in this world for holistic medicine and naturopathy. I would like to see the two entities come together to provide whole wellness for every person on the planet,” she said.
Rosie came to Tahoe 33 years ago with the hopes of giving her son a better life filled with nature activities instead of the city lifestyle in The Big Apple. She found it difficult as a single mom to raise her son in New York City, then someone told her about Lake Tahoe, hearing the line “everything you do is in your backyard”, she knew she had to learn more. When living in the city, she used to drive her son to upstate New York on the weekends to go hiking, mountain biking, and skiing. Once she saw Tahoe had all those things and more, she decided to move.
The Sanctuary was originally owned by a woman named Kris, a massage therapist and acupuncturist, and her daughter Julie, a yoga instructor. After Julie had twins, she and her husband moved to Scotland. This left Kris running the wellness center all by herself. Then the pandemic hit and that was the last straw for Kris, pushing her to sell The Sanctuary. Trying to sell this business during COVID proved to be very difficult.
The wellness community in Tahoe was devastated when it closed, it was especially heartbreaking for Rosie because The Sanctuary played a big role in her healing process. Rosie had always been a yoga and massage client of the previous owners and even worked there as a health and nutrition counselor, seeing clients at the time. Being in the midst of her wellness journey, Rosie knew this business could not disappear, it was a necessity to the local community.
The building was eventually sold and the person who purchased the building was desperately searching for someone to hold a business at the location. Kris advised the new owner to contact Rosie and see if she would be interested in continuing the wellness center business. Rosie took a leap of faith and signed a lease in October of 2020. She was able to negotiate the lease to have her not officially open for about 6 months, reopening The Sanctuary in March of 2021.
Rosie started to reinvent more wellness into The Sanctuary than there was before by adding three psychologists, a mindset counselor, and a naturopathic medicine doctor.
The psychologists at The Sanctuary have a heightened focus on nurturing the mind, body, and soul. Mindset counseling helps people to change their lifestyle and mindset to create personal growth in important areas of their lives. The naturopathic medicine doctor looks at the body as a whole and focuses on why the client has the problem, not just how to fix it. This doctor helps patients figure out other ways to treat issues, like no medication and changing diets.
She also brought in sound healing, which uses the vibrations of sound to promote mental, physical, and emotional well-being, and yo-massage, a combination of yoga and massage. Another added element of hers was holding workshops focused specifically on women’s wellness with embodied yoga and meditation.
Being in the wellness and beauty industry, it is important to stay up to date with the latest trends. Rosie does this by researching and educating herself constantly. An example of her consistent learning is how she always practiced yoga, but never instructed yoga, and now she is certified to teach yoga for cancer. She took it upon herself to even learn about all the different services provided at her business, like massage therapy and esthetician work.
Rosie says her best marketing strategy has been social media. She believes that social media is the best marketing tool for anybody in business because everyone is on their phones. She also sends out client emails and company emails with all the workshop information, when there is sound healing, embodied yoga, massage yoga, and CBD 101 classes. There are Tahoe community resources like The Crystal Bay Business Association that have been very helpful in promoting The Sanctuary.
With the goal of keeping customers coming back, The Sanctuary offers bundles and packages for purchase. There are drop-in single class options for customers to try it out and monthly membership packages. The passes are either for one week, two weeks, or a month of classes. The bundles consist of a five pack, 10 pack, or a 20 pack of unlimited services and classes. Rosie said most people do come back because The Sanctuary is the most beautiful yoga space in the North Lake Tahoe area and people love the space itself.
Rosie tries to collaborate as much as she can. Her business collaborates with Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino by holding yoga on the beach seven days a week in the summertime. She also partners with Move Mountains who strive to bring wellness and leadership into the Tahoe community.
All the employees are independent contractors where they keep all of their own money and only pay rent. The yoga instructors are paid to teach and they have the most client activity, generating the most profit. Rosie feels she is very fortunate that The Sanctuary has attracted so many people who are well versed in the wellness field and hasn’t had to seek for certified employees, they gravitate towards this center. Rosie believes it is the people and employees who make the business what it is, “the people we have under this roof that come here and work, they love what they do and they are what makes the sanctuary,” she said.
When going through the hiring process, Rosie does not just look for warm bodies, she is very conscientious about vetting potential hires. She recruits her yoga manager, Brooke Haley, to help her during interviews because she is well versed in what they need and are looking for. They do not have to do a lot of training because the people they hire are already well trained and have what it takes to meet the clients needs.
Rosie didn’t come into this business with the intention of making a bunch of money, “I did not come to The Sanctuary thinking I was going to make a million dollars, this is not a business where you are going to make a million dollars. What I am looking to deliver is wellness to this community,” she clarifies. Over the past few years The Sanctuary has increased in their client base, which increased revenue. But, with that more services and classes have had to be offered. The building was completely empty when she leased it, forcing her to refurbish and buy all new equipment, finally paying off her debt two years into owning the business. Rosie says they are more financially secure as the years go by and she anticipates that will continue.
This type of business thrives in a place like Tahoe because of the nature-filled environment and countless outdoor activities, attracting people who pay attention to their health and personal wellness. On the other hand, Tahoe is run on a tourist economy, “Our locals are what keep our business alive, Our tourists, they come and go, but the people who stay here are what keep you alive,” Rosie said. She had a good tourist season this year, but not a great tourist season, because there wasn’t a lot of snowfall this winter. Weather does impact The Sanctuary, making business more profitable in the summertime.
The wellness center is much busier with a noticeable influx in revenue during the summer and winter tourist months. Yoga, Pilates, esthetician work, massage, and barre classes are impacted by the time of year, increasing more in the winter months because the tourists come looking for these things. For the naturopathic medicine doctors, nutrition and health counseling, and psychologists, the times of year are not that significant to them because tourists do not come in looking for those services.
The biggest challenge she is facing is that Tahoe is not an easy place to live because of the high prices in rent. She says the local business owners are struggling not because of a lack of jobs, there are plenty available, but because no one can afford to live there. Utility bills are a hefty challenge when the business is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with hot yoga heating the studio to 90 degrees. The building is a very expensive building to rent and the rent price increases every year. Though staying open in business in Tahoe is a challenge, they are challenges Rosie is willing to take in order to keep providing a space of wellness to the community.
With obstacles comes lessons when being a business owner. Luckily for Rosie, she has always been a problem solver. She ran a practice for 26 surgeons and 115 employees that she was responsible for. This experience gave her an advantage of knowing how to run a business and how to deal with employees, “I have learned a lot about people. Which has in turn helped me to be more patient,” Rosie said. She had to come up with new problem solving skills when dealing with a community of people.
The Sanctuary has future growth plans to add more services and classes for clients. Two of them are mat Pilates and Pilates with the reformer equipment. Rosie is very excited about bringing this popular wellness trend into her professional space.
Rosie urges future entrepreneurs looking to start a business in wellness to come forward, “I think there is a place for wellness because we do not have enough of it, not just in this community, but just in general,” she said. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have made physical and mental wellness a bigger priority in their lives. The focus on wellness for consumers continues to increase and a company aimed at client’s overall well-being and self-car can thrive in any community, Rosie said.
