Sol Touch Massage and Reiki has recently opened at 3325 Cherokee at Louisiana, and owner Isabela is excited to bring her special brand of community-forward healing to the South St. Louis community. The new business lets her focus on what she loves most: healing others through massage, reiki, and acknowledging both the physical and energy bodies.

Isabela has long been a neighborhood mainstay. For the past two years, she’s organized a market for Black and Brown creators at Cherokee and Texas Street, where she’s also sold her handmade jewelry. 

While she still loves that side of work, Isabela decided to venture into massage and sought training at the Healing Arts Center—supported by her mother, who is also a healer. She graduated from the program in 2021.

“My mom is my biggest supporter, and raised me to be in touch with my spirituality and to be in tune with the universe,” Isabela said. “That drew me in.”

Isabela’s focus is on massage as a healing modality, but as of this year she is also Level 2 Reiki certified. 

She initially intended to find work as a massage therapist at an existing massage therapy company, imagining that it would take a few years before she was ready to branch out on her own. She wasn’t even actively looking when she found it: the perfect property, located on Cherokee Street.

“I went to look at it, and it was perfect,” she said. “I was scared to commit. What if people didn’t like me and I wasn’t as good as I thought I was? But I had a lot of support from my friends and family that said, ‘You’ve got to do it. You have to accept your blessings as they come.”

Sol Touch, and Isabela herself, have received rave reviews since opening. People love her technical skills, her calmness, and her expertise. But they also embrace the biggest thing that sets Sol Touch apart: how much it gives back.

Sol Touch offers a unique Pay It Forward program, which allows customers to donate any amount toward someone else’s massage or Reiki services. The goal, Isabela says, is to establish a fund to cover healing for those in need. In addition to that program, she offers highly discounted services to those who can’t afford to pay full price. 

“I just want to remain accessible to everyone, so if there’s someone that has a little to spare, then it can go to someone else who doesn’t,” she said. “I’ve been able to help out with discounts for those struggling with chronic pain and things like that.”

Beyond her charitable initiatives, Isabela has a clear mission for Sol Touch: to represent a safe space for everyone, but specifically for marginalized groups.

“I’m a safe space for everyone in the LGBTQ+ group, plus-size bodies, people with chronic pain, chronic illness, disabilities, surgeries, those dealing with postpartum,” she said. “All of these things. Especially since I haven’t been to a space that’s woman-owned, woman of color owned; because I myself am Latina and I’m disabled and I’ve dealt with my mental health journey. To be able to have a space that I myself would go to is really important. That’s what I stand for: to be a safe space where there aren’t very many.” 

That same ethos helped her come up with the Sol Touch name, which represents the duality of the Spanish word sol (sun) and the English-sounding version, soul. 

“I have a very close connection to the Sun and that idea of ever-lasting burning energy, and also your soul as a human being,” she said. “When I’m physically doing massage, I am physically touching somebody but also touching their emotional and spiritual body with energy.”

Isabela was also born, raised, and still lives on the south side, which makes her success in the area even sweeter. “I felt it was meant to be,” she said. “I love the diversity of it, especially recently with the amount of Black and Brown business owners opening up and getting traction. A lot of young people, a lot more community events. The area is blossoming.”

That’s why her message to anyone is just to call. She’ll answer questions, and help ease away any nervousness around massage or Reiki. She’ll set up a payment plan, or work with you on trades on an as-needed basis. Just call her for details.

Above all, she wants to give back some of the love and support the neighborhood has given her.

“I’m not surprised,” she said. “But I’m very thankful.”

Learn more about Isabela on Instagram, and find Sol Touch appointments online. Keep an eye on her Instagram page for monthly flash sales, $10 discounts, last-minute availability, and other specials.