Featured Massage School Graduate: Allison Hoffman

When did you attend TLCschool? Accredited Program 1997-1998 and took Semesters 1 and 2.

Why were you interested in massage therapy? I had been interested in Massage Therapy since grade school. I grew up giving massages to friends and family. I actually would work my way around the dinning room table giving back rubs out when my parents had company over. I feel like I always knew this was my calling. Plus, people said I was good at it and should really go and learn the skills to put it into practice.

Why did you choose Lauterstein-Conway Massage School? I choose TLC because I had friends from college that moved to Austin, TX. While I was visiting them I fell in love with the city and the school. Plus, TLC accepted me and then it was a done deal!

What do you do now? I work at a salon/spa in Charleston, SC as a Massage Therapist.

What was the impact of massage school on your life? Attending TLC had a huge impact on my life. Like I said earlier I feel as though I always knew this was my calling and TLC made that come true! While going to school at TLC I met some great longtime friends and had some pretty awesome instructors!!

What was your favorite massage school class? My favorite massage school class was Sports Massage. I also enjoyed our self guided meditations with David Lauterstein!

What was hardest about massage school? The hardest thing about massage school was remember all of the insertions of the muscles when test time came around.

Tell us about your fondest memory or “ah-ha” moment. The fondest memory was the first time I completed a whole one hour massage routine.

So many students are worried about moving with their license – what was that like for you? I moved back to St. Louis from Austin first off – my hometown. That was easy for the most part with licensure since Missouri hadn’t gotten theirs right away. Once they did I had been doing massage for three years and had quite enough hrs for the Missouri license they only thing that was kind of different with Missouri was I had to get fingerprints taken.

I also was grandfathered in, so to speak, because I had taken a test in Texas, had been working for three years and had plenty of hours.

When I moved to South Carolina, I had to take an exam again. I hadn’t been in the classroom for 10 years. Oh my, I was surprised I wasn’t grandfathered in – especially since I had taken the Texas exams, had been certified in two other states plus had been a massage therapist since 1998.

I was never National Certified just took boards in Texas. Missouri accepted that but not South Carolina – finally took the MBLEX.

I had 550 hours including Semester 2 plus continued education hours – well over 600 hours total.