About Us

About Ramona

Ramona is a "retired" award winning newspaper journalist. She found journalism in High School, as she loved listening to people's stories and then sharing them. She then went on to getting her degree in journalism from San Jose State University and worked in TV, radio, news wire and, finally, full circled back to newspaper. 

She quit journalism the first time in 2005 because of burn out -- Long work hours; calls while on vacation about stories written weeks before; the demand to crank out more stories despite being one of the top reporters. The stress caused her to have frequent nosebleeds in 2003/04, an eye-opening experience into how her body was manifesting stress.

 And that's when massage therapy found her by way of a "chance" meeting at a store one weekend with a veteran massage therapist They struck up a conversation that quickly turned into a commercial for massage -- "what have you got to lose?," the veteran massage therapist concluded.

 That started Ramona's journey to helping others find inner peace during adversity. 

In 2008/09, the economy tanked, people stopped getting massage, and Ramona's spa job since 2005 stopped direct deposit, started issuing paper checks and told employees NOT to cash them until they were told to do so. Stress reared its ugly head, again, and Ramona was weighing her options.

 Not knowing Ramona's struggles, her former boss at the newspaper reached out, asking if Ramona would come back as a freelancer, as one of her former coworkers was on pregnancy leave, opening up the door for Ramona's return to the newsroom. 

Day 1 was THE hardest 

Upon walking through the newsroom door, anxiety smacked in the face with all the reasons why she fled the field all those years ago. Using positive self-talk, Ramona pressed through, remembering why she was drawn journalism in the first place: Everyday was different, she met new people daily, listened to their stories, sometimes participated in their activities, and then told the world about them and why they and/or their cause was worth knowing about.

Fast forward to today. Ramona is no longer in the newsroom but she has created a way to merge the journalist in her with the stress releasing massage therapist she had become. 

While the natural progression for journalists is to go into Public Relations. Ramona created her own Public Relations company of sorts -- helping promote local small holistic businesses through A Healing Place, this website, social media, and wellness events.

(By the way, the awards she has tucked away at home are not from her journalism peers. Rather, they are from the community members she wrote about. Her work created change in the community back then. And her work now seeks to bring about change in the community, as well.)

In opening A Healing Place, Ramona's goal was to teach people how to write their next chapter in a positive light, despite the adversity in their lives. She used networking, Reiki, breathwork, emergy crystals, and positive self-talk to manifest and grow her business into what it is today. 

And more is on the horizon!

She is available for Coaching and Public Speaking opportunities.

Questions?

For Coaching, including guidance on starting your own version of A Healing Place, click here.

For Public Speaking and other inquiries, contact Ramona HERE.