Birmingham, Alabama, couple curates family businesses focused on health, wellness and space for others
Lamar and Tiffany Storey of Birmingham own Life Touch Massage brand, which offers massage services along with additional health and wellness techniques, such as yoga, meditation, sound bath and more. (contributed)
What started for Lemar Storey as a mobile business in 2010 has metamorphosed into the thriving Life Touch Massage brand offering massage services in two brick and mortar locations along with additional health and wellness techniques like yoga, meditation, sound bath and more.
Additionally, Lemar and his wife, Tiffany, joined forces during the pandemic to create The Olive Branch Mind and Body Suite, a co-working space in East Lake at 7841 1st Ave. North, Birmingham, Alabama 35206, that also houses Tiffany’s Storeyhouse Counseling and Consulting, a second location of Life Touch Massage and other small businesses.
From his early beginnings of providing massage services to clients at a local luxury hotel to now, Storey says he’s had one simple focus. “Our mission is to create spaces for people, especially people of color, to have physical wellness and mental wellness services in their community at a low cost,” he said.
It’s with that thought of using partnerships to help create and grow spaces for others that Lemar and Tiffany tapped into their local community for support. They have both benefited from Birmingham partnerships with organizations like Prosper to help them grow their business, create new jobs and hire from within the Birmingham community.
“Through my enrollment in Prosper’s Supplier Scale Program that the Birmingham Business Alliance led, I had the opportunity to sit with local business leaders, financial institutions and executives to discover what it really takes to scale my business to the next level,” Lemar said. “After completion of Supplier Scale, I went on to foster strategic partnerships for Life Touch Massage at The Olive Branch Mind and Body Suites to create the wellness collective desperately needed in the East Lake community and beyond. That investment in myself through participating in the Supplier Scale cohort literally helped open new doors for me and was part of me opening the doors to our new business.”
The Storeys have big plans for expanding access to health and wellness in Birmingham, believing that relief is only a touch away. They are looking for more financial and in-kind partnerships to help add additional business-based members to The Olive Branch Mind and Body Suite and to help provide continuing education classes for entrepreneurs who are members. The vision is for The Olive Branch Mind and Body Suite to not just be a place for entrepreneurs to do business, but also a place where entrepreneurs can receive the help and support they need to continue to do business and do it well.
“We are seeking more corporate contracts and ongoing granting and resource partnerships to allow us to provide a greater level of economic stability for our staff and expand our services for our clients and fellow entrepreneurs,” Lemar said.
Perhaps most important for the Storey family is the legacy of business. They want the efforts of Life Touch Massage, Storeyhouse Counseling and Consulting and The Olive Branch Mind and Body Suite to be a reminder for their children of how their parents navigated the ups and downs of entrepreneurship while balancing life and all that comes with it.
“We are proud that our children have seen the work we do and, in their own special ways, are pursuing entrepreneurship and business on their own,” Lemar said. “Seeing what we do has made our oldest son launch an apparel business. Our youngest son is heavily interested in the stock market. They know the value of entrepreneurship and community. That makes us happy and makes this journey worth it.”
For more information, visit The Olive Branch Mind and Body Suite or contact tiffany@olivebranchon1st.com.
