Katherine Blake-Chenier, 46, grew
up in Michigan and received a scholarship to study at the University of Hawaii,
from which she graduated in 1990 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. Upon
graduation, she moved to South California for her first entry-level job as an
editorial assistant at the Orange County Register before entering the
television news industry. She has worked as a television sports reporter and
anchor in Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver and Dallas.
She met her
Canadian husband, Louis, in 2001 at a hockey game in Colorado and had a long-distance
relationship for four years. After the two married 2005, Katherine realized
that she had explored all possible opportunities in the television news
industry and decided to join her husband’s drilling exploration business in
Canada. She spent the next few years dividing her time between Michigan and her
husband’s home in Canada.
Katherine’s experience
in helping her husband grow their company from the ground up gave her the
necessary skills to open a business that was more in line with her own passion
– sports. Inspired by the fact that she herself was getting regular massages,
she started looking into various massage franchises and was introduced to Hand
& Stone by a representative from one of the Hand & Stone’s
competitors.
Unimpressed by most
of the franchises that she had seen, she was enthused by the passion of Hand
& Stone Founder John Marco when she attended a Discovery Day. Katherine
liked the customer service that Hand & Stone offered and the fact that the
company’s philosophy was to have customers leave happier than when they
arrived. Her husband, who has a strong business background, saw that the
company had a good corporate structure and business model and encouraged her to
pursue the opportunity.
“As a TV reporter,
I worked in a stressful environment,” she said. “I had deadlines to meet and there were times
when I would have to get a story from someone who was going through the worst
day of their life. I was bringing stress to people’s lives most nights, but now,
I’m able to take stress away from people’s lives.”
Katherine was
granted two franchise licenses and chose to open her first location in Michigan
to be close to her family members and aging parents. The location also allows
her husband to drive over to Canada, where he still runs his drilling business.
However, another major reason she has chosen to open her spa in Michigan is
because she was saddened by the many foreclosures that she has witnessed and wants
to contribute to the community by creating more jobs in the area. As such, she
plans to open her second location in the Detroit Metro area.
