Enter the Now: The Dreamiest Bohemian Spa Destination in All of LA

Affordable luxury. It's not something Angelenos know that much about. That us, until now. Or rather, The Now. The luxury-walk-ins-welcome-spa that opened last year in West Hollywood, is all about that balance. After detecting a gap between high-end spas that cost a premium and Eastern foot spas that skimp on luxe, Erica Malbon and Gara Post looked for a way to unify those elements. 

Drawing inspo from the Coqui Coqui hotel in Tulum, Mexico, The Now offers the luxury spa experience at a (very) affordable price. Massages start at just $35 (just about the cost of two pressed juices), and guests can choose from a variety of add-ons. The first location attracted ladies like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, and the cofounders announced (today!) that a second location will be opening soon in Santa Monica. 

They're out to relax LA, one neighborhood at a time. 

We caught up with Erica and Gara to see how they spend their day, what advice they have for aspiring female entrepreneurs, and why touch is so important. 

Gara: 

5:30 am: Wake up and drink a large glass of room temperature water with lemon. Then meditate for 20 minutes. This is my daily ritual.

8 am: Get my kids ready for school. 

9 am: Go to Pilates or hot yoga at Core Power yoga - the works outs are so hard, but so effective.

10 am: Arrive at The Now and meet up with Erica to work on getting the boutique ready for the day.

Erica: 

12 pm: By noon we’re starving so we’ll run across the street to Erewhon for juices and salads. They have the best food!

1 pm: Meet with the team to review new ideas for products we want to sell at the boutique.

2 pm: In the afternoon we’ll have massage therapists come by for interviews with us and Amber, our massage therapist ambassador

Gara:

4:30 pm: Head home to get dinner ready for the kids and family. Creating balance between work and family is really important to Erica and me. 

8 pm: Back to work, usually with a glass of wine.

What made you decide to get into the health spa business? 

We both come from a design background, so we didn’t necessarily think that we would end up launching a massage boutique. That said, we are both really passionate about self-care and self-love. We really liked the idea of an affordable massage in a luxury environment, which is where our design background comes in. We want to give people the opportunity to connect with themselves and recharge on a regular basis. Since we’re both hard workers and entrepreneurs, it was a natural jump for us even if we didn’t have background that aligned in an obvious way. 

What are your respective backgrounds?

Gara: I have a jewelry line called Gara Danielle that I’ve been designing for 18 years (which is why I’m always wearing at least 15 rings and 10 bracelets!). I still work on it every day and am currently brainstorming a potential special collection for The Now. Stay tuned!

Erica: I worked in marketing and design with my husband on fashion and style brands. I had actually just designed my own line of luxury travel accessories, but I put that on hold to work on The Now. You never know how it will resurface though!

How do you scale a business and keep your massages starting at such a great price point?

We work with amazing massage therapists who love having a regular but flexible job they can come to. So it ends up being a win win for everyone!

A lot of establishments in LA run on the premise of exclusivity. But you’re offering an experience with very inclusive prices and still attracting an A-List clientele. What’s the secret? 

We have a couple beliefs that we always go back to. One of which is that we believe in the power of touch. It’s healing in a way that nothing else is and it really should be part of everyone’s regular routine. With that being part of our foundation, how could we ever create a place that is exclusive? Everyone deserves to feel great. That’s why our hashtag is #MassagesForAll. We think people, A-list or not, are attracted to The Now because our view comes from an honest place. Also, we’ve designed the space in a way that feels like a luxurious vacation. And who doesn’t want to go on a great vacation?

"We believe in the power of touch." 

Tweet this. 

What is your best advice for aspiring female entrepreneurs?  

Gara: Work hard.

Erica: Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Yes, it’s scary, but that means you’re doing something exciting and new. 

Gara: And be kind. To yourself and others. 

To book online or via The Now App visit www.thenowmassage.com

The Now, 7611 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036, 323-746-5525,

photo credit: Tessa Neustdt

The Future Is Female: These Women Are Owning Male Dominated Professions

A startup tech exec, a tattoo artist, and a video game developer walk into male-dominated professions. Think it's a joke? It's not. Men may still be the predominate gender in many occupations, but women with the guts, brains, and vision to launch ideas and companies are proving that breaking down stereotypes is only a blip of what they're able to do. 

Kellee Khalil is the CEO and Founder of Lover.ly, the first bridal search engine that set out to solve the inefficiencies of the wedding industry for a new generation of brides. Founded in 2012 the site is like a cross between Google and Pinterest, with opportunities for advertisers and integrated content. Though the focus may be beauty and bridal focussed, the backend is straight data, numbers, and hardcore tech-- but what else would you expect from a CEO that's been coding since high school? 

How have you seen the industry change over the last five years?

The most unprecedented change is marriage equality. In the last year, we witnessed a monumental step forward for our country, and we couldn’t be more thrilled about it.  From the very beginning at Loverly, we’ve strived to be as inclusive as possible with our content, and the industry is finally catching up. Barbie and Ken-looking couples aren’t the only representation of love and marriage these days, and it’s about time we start embracing that. 

How does it feel to be a woman in a male-dominated industry?

The tech space is predominantly run by men (with less than 5 percent of all venture-backed business run by women). The most successful companies in the wedding industry have been businesses run by men. And the community of people writing checks is mostly men. So, it’s challenging to drum up interest and capital from investors who don’t identify with the pain points of our industry’s primary consumer.

On the flip side, I believe being a woman building this product for other women is actually a competitive advantage. I have empathy for our users and understand their psychology as they are going through the ups and downs of planning their weddings. My mission is to alleviate the frustration and inefficiencies by simplifying the wedding planning process. :)

What do you think are the most common myths about women in tech?

Women in tech is a hot topic that media is covering. Because so few women are in the space, you often see only a few get a lot of media attention. This creates a perception that the world is glamorous and easily maneuverable. The reality is, being successful in the tech industry (as a woman) isn’t always smooth sailing. There are lots of challenges along the way. 

How do you work to disprove those?

By continuing to make progress, grow our business, and innovate year over year to great reception from our audience, we prove that we are viable player in our space. Additionally, a big win was bringing on a President and  COO, Peggy Fry,  a digital media exec with 20+ years experience She too comes from a world traditionally run by men digital media and (advertising), and has held inspiring positions at some of the biggest names in digital media (AddThis, Netflix, AOL). The two of us have a crazy enthusiasm about our product and consumers which is reflected in the business.

Do you think it’s different being a women in tech in NY, as opposed to Silicon Valley?

There are some major differences between East and West Coast women-run technology businesses.. Women in tech in the Silicon Valley do statistically raise more capital. I believe this is due to the pure number of active angel and VC’s in the valley. Access is key. There’s also a preconception that businesses in the SV are more hardcore technology-focused, whereas in New York they tend to be more influenced by the surrounding industries (beauty, fashion, content, etc).

Lina Chen is the CEO of Nix Hydra, a VC-backed company that makes colorful and friendly mobile games popular among women. Chen and partner Naomi Ladizinsky established Nix Hydra in 2012, with the debut game Egg Baby. The game quickly became a massive phenomenon in the U.S. among teen girls and currently touts 14 million downloads with zero marketing spend and an impressive 4.5/5 average score from more than 430k reviews on the App Store. Both founders are Yale graduates and are showing no signs of letting the sexism of the gaming industry slow them down. 

What is it like to work in a male-dominated industry?

We have been embracing it because it's a huge opportunity for us! If the industry wasn't so male- dominated, we probably would have had more trouble making a hit game on our first try (because there would be so much more competition in this space) and in fact, our company probably wouldn't even exist. Actually, right now we are mostly ignored by the gaming industry, presumably because what we are doing doesn't interest most people in it, and that is great because it gives us more time to figure things out and grow to an unstoppable size (haha). 

More so, what is it like to work in a male-dominated industry where there is a ton of backlash against female gamers/developers. How do you deal with the pressure of both?

Like I said above, we have been mostly ignored because our games are nothing like the games that lots of more masculine developers are interested in playing or making. So we aren't competing with them and I think if someone is neither a threat to you nor doing anything that's of interest to you, your most natural response is to ignore them or be like 'that's nice, girls' and move on.

What made you decide to take on such a challenge in an industry known for its sexism? 

Profit. Haha. No but actually when we started this company we were clueless. We had no idea what the industry was like or how to make a game and we didn't know anyone who was even a game maker. The first few game makers (male) we met were super kind, supportive and welcoming and no one warned us about anything negative.  We started this whole thing because we couldn't find games we really wanted to play on our mobile phones and figured a lot of other young women probably felt the same.

Where do you hope to see the gaming industry go in the future?

To be a more magical, colorful and friendly place! We love diversity (obviously), but actually not so much for moral reasons as much as practical reasons - it just improves the ecosystem, speeds up progress and leads to more awesome products. So we'd love to see a more diverse industry in every way and we'd like to have had a huge impact on bringing about that change.

 How do you see the gaming world changing? 

The optimistic entrepreneur in me says it will change in the direction I've described in your previous question!

Mira Keras is a fashion school grad (FIT) and artist currently finishing a tattoo apprenticeship at a shop in Brooklyn called Tattoo Wonderland. According to Mira, the shop goes above and beyond in its commitment to serve everyone, and be inclusive-- which is more than in line with a boss blog post she wrote calling out fat-shaming and Instagram's ban of #curvy. Just last week she tattooed one of our favorite bloggers Christina Caradona of Trop Rogue, who spoke at the latest Create & Cultivate Dallas (check it out on Tattoo Wonderland's Instagram). 

How do you feel as a woman in an industry that's heavily dominated by men?

I love being a woman tattooist. Female interest in tattoo culture is rapidly expanding, and I think that it is important to have tattoo artists that are women who understand and collaborate to reach their vision.

Have you had any days that really surprised you as a woman in the tattoo industry?

When I realized that I wanted to tattoo, it was so hard to find a tattooist to mentor, or even tattoo me. Some artists had this no girls allowed attitude, and some did not want to tattoo someone who didn't already have tattoos. Luckily, I found an awesome feminist mentor who has taken me under his wing.

How have you seen your industry change since you became a part of it?

My lifetime is seeing tattooing become way less taboo. It is finding its way to becoming a respected art. I love seeing more women become interested in tattoos, and tattooing. Femme-Only and pro feminist shops are popping up all the time, which is really exciting. There are so many amazing and inventive women changing the former rigid and exclusive rules, and inventing many new genres of tattoos.

What are your predictions for your industry's future?

The future will bring more women tattooing, and more developing in what is to come as far as technology and tattooing. I am always day dreaming of the day there are metallic and glitter inks, women's interest in tattooing is sure to bring in demand for these inventions.