MBLExGuide Scholarship Winners
Thank you to all the applicants, and to the massage school faculty and staff who helped us promote the MBLExGuide scholarship to their students.
Michelle Jaye
Spring 2025. North Virginia School of Therapeutic Massage. Falls Church, VA
In 2018, I graduated with a BS in Biology. After several years of working in a physical therapy clinic, I realized exercise is not my interest, and my skills were better suited for massage therapy. Massage therapy is a great way for me to incorporate my knowledge of human anatomy with my passion for helping people on their healing journey. Once I graduate, I plan to use my skills to promote healing for patients during or after their course of physical therapy treatment. I have always believed that healing with a multidisciplinary approach gives the client the best outcome. I look forward to working closely with physical therapists, doctors, nutritionists, and other healthcare providers to provide a holistic healing environment. This scholarship will help me to pay my school tuition stress free while I plan my wedding in November 2025. I look forward to all of these new beginnings and opportunities. I also look forward to continuing my education after graduation with further courses in prenatal massage and lymphatic drainage.
Previous Scholarship Winners
Amy Hogan
Fall 2024. Pacific College of Health and Science. San Diego, CA
The closer I get to earning my certification in Massage Therapy and Asian Bodywork, the more it feels like I am stepping into my true calling. Growing up in Japan, in a family deeply rooted in holistic healing, I was greatly influenced by my grandfather and uncle, who were Eastern medicine herbal pharmacists, and my aunt, a massage therapist and aromatherapy business owner. These early experiences planted the seeds of my understanding of healing, but it wasn’t until I spent two and a half years living in Japan in my early twenties that I truly reconnected with this part of my heritage. During that time, I felt unfulfilled and disconnected in my career, uncertain of how to create meaningful impact in the world. Seeking solace, I often visited my aunt, whose calming presence and compassion reignited my desire to pursue a path in the healing arts. I’ve always been sensitive to touch and energy, often feeling subtle things others might overlook, but for years I viewed this sensitivity as a burden rather than a gift. Through my aunt’s encouragement to ground and channel this energy, I discovered that massage therapy is the perfect avenue for me to embrace and harness this ability. It has allowed me to connect with others in profound and meaningful ways, helping them find balance, relief, and healing, just as it brings healing and fulfillment to me as a practitioner. Receiving this scholarship will ease the financial burden of tuition and help me to learn how to support others in their journey toward healing and self-empowerment through the power of healing touch. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity, as it brings me one step closer to building a career that is not only meaningful but truly aligned with my heart and soul.
Annalie Bamberg
Spring 2024. East West College of the Healing Arts. Hillsboro, Oregon
The closer I come to earning the title of LMT, the more I look forward to building a career around supporting others in their healing by addressing what is stored somatically. I’ve seen massage work as an amazing modality for healing. As a young child, I watched my mama go through massage school and build her practice, and starting in my teens I experienced somatic healing for myself. I’m excited to get to support others in their healing journeys as well. The biomechanical aspect of massage adds a layer that, as a dancer, I find intriguing and beautiful. My massage career will incorporate my background as a dancer with my massage school education to create a versatile approach to client care. There is so much to learn, and I look forward to gaining experience and furthering my knowledge. I hope to contribute to research in the future, so this case study application was a good start for me! I plan to start out doing therapeutic massage in a clinical or wellness setting while working toward becoming a Doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, which will increase the tools I have available in providing client care. I’m grateful to receive these scholarship funds, which will help me to pay for tuition in my final term this fall.
Emma Mosley
Fall 2023. Georgia Career Institute. Conyers, Georgia
I am excited about massage therapy because it involves many things that I love. I love learning about the human body and how I, as a future massage therapist, can manipulate it to assist in my clients’ healing process. Whether it’s emotional or physical, massage therapy has proven to have many benefits and I believe that the massage therapy world is only going to continue to make these strides. Regarding my future career in massage therapy, I am most excited about continuing my education and building my skill set as a therapist. I want to have experience in many different positions and modalities to become the best massage therapist I can be. Whether I work in a spa, medical clinic, or somewhere else is unimportant. They are all beautiful in my eyes and I would be honored to take any of these positions. I plan on using the funds from this scholarship to pay for the rest of my tuition and continuing education!
Stacey Creighton
Spring 2023. Oregon School of Massage. Portland, Oregon
I have a background in anthropology and accounting, as well as various real estate projects. My skills are represented at Oregon School of Massage as a general concern for social wellness and economic stability. I’m interested in pursuing massage therapy in the hospitality field, but most likely, my massage career will integrate information that I’ve gained from my preceding professions as well. It may include research and publishing. I’m currently evaluating how the profession impacts the community, market conditions that affect the therapist’s capacity to practice independently, saturation, salary and competing professions. This scholarship funds will help pay down my educational loan.
Bethany Peterson
Fall 2022. Community College of Rhode Island. Newport, Rhode Island
As a former teacher, Americorps intern, and equitable hiring coordinator, I am passionate and committed to public service, justice work, and helping others. I am looking forward to bringing these experiences and skills to the massage therapy field. My interests include hospital-based massage, research, teaching, and equity – particularly through access to massage therapy as a career path and massage treatment. I will be using this scholarship for my final semester this summer at the Community College of Rhode Island before graduating in August 2023. I look forward to a massage therapy career filled with continuous learning and growth.
Lela Anderson
Spring 2022. Southern Union State Community College. Opelika, Alabama
I have long been interested in a holistic approach to health. I teach and practice yoga and believe that positive lifestyle changes can affect our lives in amazing ways. I plan to become a physical therapist assistant, and I know that incorporating massage therapy in my patient interactions will benefit them immensely. Additionally, my goal is to have a business where I offer massage therapy in conjunction with private yoga instruction. I plan to use this scholarship to expand my knowledge of different modalities of massage such as Thai, reflexology, and lymphatic drainage. I love that massage is a way to connect with people while improving the quality of their lives!
Angela Bergfeld
Fall 2021. Parker University. Dallas, Texas
I’m excited to start my career in massage therapy because I have a passion for helping others and spreading positivity. This new career path is amazing because it will allow me to promote self-care, make a difference in other’s lives and show how natural healing is so beneficial. As of right now I plan to start in a spa environment and maybe transition to a chiropractic office later because that’s where I got the spark to pursue massage therapy. They pair well together in my opinion because that’s what I experienced as a patient of both. This scholarship is a great opportunity and step toward those goals as I will be able to cover the future cost of continuing education in adding techniques such as deep tissue, myofascial and craniosacral therapies to diversify my portfolio.
Rosemarie Nocita
Spring 2021. Oregon School of Massage. Portland, Oregon
I love that massage encourages joyful, nourishing, and therapeutic movement, both for the massage therapist and for the client. I am excited to interact with clients through such a genuine and intentional discipline in order to help them to determine and achieve their own visions of wellness. I will start work as a massage therapist at a chiropractic clinic, and eventually hope to start my own clinic with my fiancé, who is currently in chiropractic school. I plan to use this scholarship to attend continuing education courses such as oncology and lymphatic drainage massage, and am looking forward to exploring more modalities in the future.
Valerie Henderson
2020. Central Oregon Community College. Bend, Oregon
I have always viewed massage therapy as a form of self care that can foster both emotional and physical healing. Self care is more important now than ever, and I am so excited to be able to positively impact the lives of others. I plan on using this scholarship to further my education (hopefully becoming certified in the Graston Technique) and start a sports medicine-focused career. We all need connection and joy in our lives, and I cannot think of a better medium to encourage this than massage therapy.
Paolo Busante
Fall 2019. Cayce/Reilly School of Massage. Virginia Beach, Virginia
I’m excited to become a massage therapist. It’s a meaningful profession that can enable me to make a positive difference in other people’s lives. I plan to use this scholarship to take continuing education courses on different topics, such as oncology and reflexology massage, that will broaden my knowledge and perspective of massage therapy. There’s so much to learn about massage therapy, and I’d like to understand as much as I can about it. I want to constantly develop my skills and to provide the best possible massage that I can give in order to help my clients feel better.
Camilette Rhea
Spring 2019. Bodyworks Massage Institute. Evansville, Indiana
My passion for living a healthy and happy lifestyle has fueled me to strive to help others achieve the same goal. My motto is, “When you feel your best, you can do your best.” I plan on using this scholarship to help me further my education beyond massage therapy with training in muscle re-education and cranial sacral therapy. I’m passionate about discovering and resolving musculoskeletal challenges, and my aspiration is to equip others to be the best and healthiest they can be.
