Today we welcome a new WSB sponsor, We Sweat – an infrared-sauna salon and dealer. New sponsors get to tell you about their business; here’s what We Sweat would like you to know:
We Sweat is West Seattle’s first Infrared Sauna Salon. We Sweat opened its doors January 12, 2020, with an overwhelming response from the community. The business was only open for two months before the COVID-19 shutdown, but in that time hosted more than 500 sauna sessions.
Athena Frederick, the owner, is a United States Army Veteran, trained in Biomedical Engineering; her career before becoming a mom was in the medical-device field. She moved to West Seattle in 2009 and immediately started a business formerly known as Stroller Strides, sold in 2012 as it was being rebranded to Fit4Mom. Athena had 9 locations throughout Seattle and won the national Franchisee of the Year sward. This business was supportive of motherhood in the early years and built a community of families that are still friends and now raising teenagers together. From this business, a running club was formed, and after 11 years they are still meeting weekly on Alki and running the annual Ragnar Relay event. She is mom to two teenage boys and for over 7 years has been active in various PTAs and served on the PTA Board at Genesee Hill Elementary for 4 years as the volunteer coordinator and Move-A-Thon co-chair. Health and wellness, community service, and fully funding public schools are just some of her greatest passions.
In 2019. when Athena decided to return to the workforce, her entrepreneurial spirit took over and the idea for an infrared sauna salon was born. Balancing work/ family life has always been a top priority. Due to injuries sustained in the military, Athena has worked hard to maintain active and healthy and has found some holistic ways to manage pain and anxiety. Infrared heat is something she discovered on vacation and she frequently visited a spa in Lynnwood to help ease some of her chronic pain. It was her dream to open a spa similar to the Olympus Spa, but coed. Additionally, she wanted to get into the nonprofit world and create a group based on volunteerism, Women Serving West Seattle. During the COVID-19 shutdown, she used the salon as a staging area to collect food and supplies for families in need.
The original goal of creating a space where you could come in for self-care and a sauna and then hang out in the “chill” area had to be rethought because of the COVID-19 crisis. We closed our indoor chill area and made the salon less of a place to “hang out.” Today folks come in for their hour in an individual sauna suite and then leave or hang out in our outdoor chill area reading a book. We are located at 2705 California Ave SW, the former location of the family-owned West Coast Cruises. We are their first renters after they operated a West Seattle business for over 20 years. The building has 6 individual rooms with doors and was the perfect location for a salon, with social distancing already in place, no build-out required. Each sauna suite is provided with fresh towels and the room is sanitized between uses with an Ultraviolet Wand, nontoxic disinfectants, and an ultraviolet air-purifying system. These infrared saunas are the most hygienic out there because they do not retain moisture, and our cedar saunas are naturally antimicrobial.
We chose the nationally known Jacuzzi (R) branded saunas because they are designed by doctors and have the lowest EMF of any sauna out there. Infrared Saunas are being recognized by doctors everywhere as helpful with chronic inflammation, anxiety/depression, skin conditions, Lyme disease, cancer recovery, and detox for flight attendants and firefighters.
In response to the COVID-19 shutdown, our sauna salon purchased more saunas so we have 7 to choose
from; we also have a showcase of saunas as we have recently become an infrared sauna dealer for Jacuzzi. People can schedule a time to visit our salon to see the different models and also try out a session before purchasing a sauna for their in-home use. These are low-cost and many don’t have additional electrical requirements. We are also selling Jacuzzi’s doctor-designed Ultraviolet Wand.
We welcome anyone to join us in the salon. Our mission statement is to be an inclusive place to create a health-conscious community. For those interested in purchasing a sauna for in-home use, one of our biggest sales of the year is happening now for Labor Day. We have new-client specials on the website and we have single sauna suites or saunas that can be shared. We have strict COVID-19 policies in place. You can find additional information on our website.
We thank We Sweat for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.
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