Lori Kalaaukahi Of Aloha Nui Counseling Provides Therapy With An ‘Aloha Spirit’ 

Licensed Clinical Social Worker Lori Kalaaukahi-Boone specializes in mental health therapy for teens, adults & couples. Her office is in Zephyrhills, but she also offers Telehealth appointments. (Photos by Charmaine George) 

In 2011, Lori Kalaaukahi-Boone was ready to get off the island of Oahu in Hawaii, where she was born, had been raised and lived her whole life. 

She had been working as a medical assistant and a nurse’s aide, and was struggling with mental health issues. She wanted to explore the world, so she did something unconventional for a single mom in her mid-30s. 

Lori enlisted in the Army. 

“At 34, I just barely made the age cutoff,” she says. “Growing up on a small island can become claustrophobic, and I felt like I was going in circles.” 

She asked her parents to care for her two kids, Tihani (then 17) and Ramsay (then 7), and she headed out to boot camp at Fort Jackson, SC. She found herself in basic training with kids just barely older than her older daughter back home, taking orders from people much younger than she was. 

After serving four years in the Army, she was living in Tennessee and was able to use GI Bill benefits to earn both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Social Work from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville. 

At first, she thought she would be a nurse, but she was struggling in the program. Then, a friend who was a social worker told her about his job. 

“It just resonated with me, and I knew this is what I needed to do,” she says. “When I changed my program, everything started flowing naturally, and I knew I was supposed to be a therapist.” 

She graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in 2018 and her Master’s in 2020. Now, she is credentialed as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), which means she is qualified to provide services independently. 

When she first came to Florida, Lori worked with an agency in Clearwater providing community mental health. She helped people who were homeless and struggling with addiction, as well as many other issues. 

But now, this Wesley Chapel resident is tackling her dream of having her own practice, which she opened in Zephyrhills in July 2023. She provides teens, adults and couples with mental health care via virtual and in-office appointments. 

She says she named her practice Aloha Nui Counseling Services to embrace her Hawaiian heritage, and what is important to her in her relationships with her clients. 

“‘Aloha nui’ means ‘Take good care,’ or ‘Lots of love,’” she says. “It’s basically our version of southern hospitality.” 

She says it’s important to her that she incorporates that spirit with all of her clients. 

“In my culture, we’re brought up to help others, love others and care for others,” Lori says. “I wanted to implement that here in my practice.” 

EMDR Therapy 

Lori says that, as a former soldier herself, she is especially passionate about helping those who have experienced any kind of trauma to process their issues and heal. 

One way she does this is a specialized trauma therapy called EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing. 

Lori explains that EMDR is a well-known modality that uses eye movements to help people process trauma in a healthy way. 

“It helps your brain to process the images in your head in a healthy manner so it doesn’t get stuck,” she says. “It’s almost like how eating too much food can cause it to get stuck, and we start choking. images can get stuck in our brains, too.” 

She says EMDR puts a patient into a similar state to REM (rapid eye movement, a state of deep sleep) and she installs positive cognitions to help her patients process their trauma. 

“Once it’s completed,” she says, “you still have these images, but it’s no longer accompanied by heavy emotions.” 

Lori has completed 60 hours of training to be qualified to practice this modality. She also has used it under supervision to complete her training so she is well qualified to help those who need to work through traumatic issues and find healing from those difficult events or times of their lives. 

Lori definitely also has a heart for those who have served in the military, as not only a veteran herself, but also as the daughter of a veteran, and now the spouse of a veteran, too. 

When Lori was stationed and living in Tennessee, her parents loved to visit her there. She says it was her father who inspired her to join the Army. She knew it would “knock his socks off” for her to join, after his own 36-year military career. With the low prices relative to the cost of living in Hawaii, and the southern hospitality that reminded them of home, they relocated to Tennessee. 

Lori’s husband Barry Boone is retired from the Army and brought the family to Florida to work as a military recruiter. Tihani now lives in Hawaii, where she is married with four daughters. She is a nurse who earned her Bachelor’s degree in 2020, the same year her mom got her Master’s. 

Ramsay still lives with Lori’s parents in Tennessee and is in school to become a fashion designer, and her 12-year-old daughter Teveah is home-schooled. Barry has three adult children of his own, as well. 

With all of her experience raising children, as a single mom and as part of a blended family, she feels she has no problem relating to adolescents and understands what they’re going through. 

She encourages teenagers who are struggling or parents who see their children suffering from mental health issues to reach out to her. 

“It’s okay to not be okay,” Lori says. “Mental health is not something to be afraid of. Let’s normalize mental issues in the same way medical issues are normalized.” 

Aloha Nui Counseling offers a free initial consultation. While Lori is happy to see patients in person at her office in Zephyrhills, she also offers Telehealth appointments for anyone who prefers to meet that way. 

She works with clients who have insurance to pay the cost of counseling and those who self-pay. 

Bonita Ashe, a colleague of Lori’s who is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor, says the following about Lori, which was published on Lori’s profile at PsychologyToday.com. 

“Lori has an authentic style and warm demeanor and she will immediately calm an anxious spirit,” Bonita says. “If you need a kind and compassionate therapist, your search ends here. Lori is EMDR trained and a therapist I would trust with any client.” 

To schedule a free consultation, call Lori at (808) 342-1042, email her at LLorik808@ gmail.com, or visit AlohaNuiService.com. Aloha Nui Counseling is located at 5344 9th St., Suite 105, in downtown Zephyrhills, and appointments are offered in person or via Telehealth. 

Tampa Bay Home Team Helps Sellers & Buyers With Discounted Commissions 

Joe & Christina Kipping say they rare proud to run their Tampa Bay Home Team real estate office on Cypress Ridge Blvd. like a family, but here they are with their actual family. (Photos provided by Joe Kipping)

Joe Kipping loves his family and he also loves to be a coach. A former high school and college football player himself, he now coaches football for his sons, Joey, 10, and Jaxson, 9. 

But, Joe spends most of his time coaching clients in his role as a real estate agent and broker, and cultivating a business that feels more like a family than a corporation. 

He and his wife, Christina, who also is a real estate agent, own Tampa Bay Home Team. 

Joe started in the industry in 2003. 

“I was doing mortgages, but I didn’t want to be strapped behind a desk,” he says. From his vantage point, he met real estate agents who weren’t serving their clients well. “I can do this better,” he thought, so he pursued a real estate license. 

He started selling homes in 2007, then established the company that would become Tampa Bay Home Team in 2009. After 10 years under the Keller Williams umbrella, Tampa Bay Home Team is now part of eXp Realty. 

“We made the switch to eXp Realty because it offers greater opportunities for Realtors through revenue sharing and stock ownership,” Joe explains, adding that eXp Realty has an innovative model that allows agents to build wealth for retirement during their careers. 

In 2014, Christina was let go from a corporate job in finance and joined Joe in the business. 

And in 2021, Joe’s career came full circle when he opened a mortgage business, called Motto Mortgage Home Team, a local franchise of a Denver-based company that has more than 225 offices in 40 states. 

The office for both companies is located in Wesley Chapel, on Cypress Ridge Blvd. near AdventHealth Center Ice. It includes five more agents, all of whom have been at the company for several years. 

“We’re family oriented,” says Christina. “We’re a small business, and we really do treat clients as family, and our employees would say the same thing.” 

Joe and Christina are native to the Tampa Bay area and moved to Wesley Chapel almost 15 years ago. In addition to Joey and Jaxon, Joe and Christina also have two daughters. Taylor, who is 14 and six-year-old Natalie. 

“I love to educate people,” Joe says, “whether they’re buying now or 10 years from now. I’m a coach at heart. If they buy 10 years from now, I want to be the guy who has been there the whole time, educating them along the way.” 

“We’re here to help people when the time is right,” Christina adds. 

Discounted Commissions 

Joe and Christina say they have stripped their commission fees “down to bare bones” and offer a menu system where buyers can pay as little as 1.5 percent. However, they say, most people choose the 2% option. 

They say that if someone doesn’t see value in a particular service, they shouldn’t have to pay for it. In other words, their options put the consumer in the driver seat. 

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay Home Team’s clients say their lower commission rate doesn’t mean a lower level of service. 

When you list your home for sale with Tampa Bay Home Team, you can rest assured that outstanding photography will always be part of the deal. 

Eric Sanchez worked with Christina to sell his home in Meadow Pointe. He’s lived in Wesley Chapel for 18 years, but recently bought a home in Two Rivers. 

“I was under duress and had to make a quick sale,” he explains. “I was looking for a Realtor who was willing to take less commission and found Christina. It was truly a godsend.” 

Back in 2006, during the local real estate market crash, Eric had tried to sell in Temple Terrace by hiring a full-commission Realtor. That home never sold and he eventually lost it. He wanted to be sure he didn’t make that mistake again.

“(Christina and Joe) have a whole office working hard to sell my home,” Eric says. “They did everything from referring me to contractors who did an excellent job, to helping me pack. There was absolutely nothing the Home Team couldn’t handle for me.” 

Eric received an offer within two weeks and closed on the sale of his home less than four weeks from when it was listed. 

“A lot of things had to fall into place, and Christina handled everything to a ‘T,’” Eric says. “I got premium service — absolutely the full service of what you would expect from a Realtor’s office, with no corners cut – at a discounted rate. 

He says he and his wife, Carmen, speak of them highly every opportunity we get, and refer them to anyone they can. 

“They even have the post-sale saying,” explains Eric. “You’re family now. They have get-togethers and social events, and they invite us. It’s not a business feeling; it’s a family feeling. I don’t feel like a customer; I feel like a friend.” 

Joe and Christina say a couple of things their clients really appreciate include their partnership with Zillow to showcase the homes they market. 

Also, Tampa Bay Home Team has an in-house media department for photography and videography. When they used to outsource photography, pictures were snapped quickly in less than an hour, but now their staff can spend all day getting the perfect pictures to best showcase a home online. 

“Clients like it because they don’t feel rushed,” Christina explains. “This is a big step for them, putting their biggest asset on the market. They want someone to come in and care about it as much as they do.” 

They also say their background in the financial industry and mortgages also is a benefit to their clients. 

“A lot of agents are not trained on the mortgage side,” Joe says. “You want to make sure the person you’re hiring as a listing agent has the background knowledge to know what questions to ask the lender so there are no issues with the mortgage.” 

He says they’ve heard a lot of horror stories about deals that don’t close. “The worst thing is after you’ve made plans, you’re packed up and ready to move, and the deal dies,” he says. 

Guaranteed Offers, Too 

That’s one reason people are tempted by online companies that offer convenience and a sure thing, such as Open Door and Offerpad. But Joe says his company offers a better option. 

Tampa Bay Home Team will make a guaranteed cash offer on your home. 

“We have investors that will give full market value for homes,” Joe explains. “It’s a unique program that gets people a lot more money.” 

He says online companies typically offer about 80 percent of a home’s value. Recently, Joe says a seller got $30,000 more from Tampa Bay Home Team than they were offered from an online source. 

“If consumers go to Open Door or Offerpad, they are not being represented,” explains Joe. “Our fiduciary responsibility is to the client to represent their best interest. Those companies’ responsibility is to their shareholders.” 

He says the most important thing when buying or selling a home is to work with someone who has a track record of selling a lot of homes, with the experience and education to navigate the transaction. 

For example, Robert Holbert and his wife Carrie have 2-year-old twins and a 10-year-old. They are another client of The Home Team who recently moved to Wesley Chapel from New Tampa. They’re also repeat customers who first bought a house with Home Team in 2020. Then, The Home Team helped Robert’s parents move into the area in 2022. 

“Joe is super knowledgeable about the market and has done a great job of keeping the relationship with us,” Robert says. “It’s not just a deal, but he’s been someone we see around town, who has helped us with follow-up questions about schools and when we needed a recommendation to replace our A/C. He’s been available for us, not just for one transaction.” 

Tampa Bay Home Team is located at 2818 Cypress Ridge Blvd., Ste. 150. For more information about Tampa Bay Home Team, contact Joe and Christina at (813) 321-HOME (4663), email info@TampaBayHome.com or visit TampaBayHome.com. 

The professional real estate team at Tampa Bay Home Team also enjoys spending time together outside of work. 

For Help With Estate Planning & Family Law, Call Cela Webster Of Chapel Legal! 

Attorney Cela Webster (left) and firm administrator Krista Creech of Chapel Legal in the Tampa Palms Professional Center are happy to help you and your family with wills, estate planning, probate and other family law matters. (Photos by Charmaine George)

When Luis Perez was going through an acrimonious separation from his wife, he hired a divorce lawyer who sounded great — a guy who advertised that he helps men in Luis’ situation. Quickly, though, Luis realized that the lawyer was not going to be a good fit for him. 

“He was young and arrogant and didn’t give me the attention I needed,” Luis says. “I had a lot of questions and I was trying to figure out my life, and it took this guy two or three days to return a phone call. He was always in court. He was always too busy.” 

Luis was traveling home from a business conference when he met attorney Cela Webster of Chapel Legal, in the Tampa Palms Professional Center (off Commerce Palms Blvd.) on a plane. She was friendly and introduced herself as a family law attorney. She handed him a business card and told him to be in touch if he ever needed anything. He says it was a moment of fate, with her knowing nothing about his personal issues. 

But, a couple months after that flight, Luis remembered how kind she was on the plane. He had decided to fire his unresponsive attorney, so he reached out to Cela. 

He says that’s when everything changed. 

“She cared enough to listen to me for a half an hour while I told her everything that was going on,” says Luis. “She was very professional and knowledgeable. I was afraid I was going to lose everything, but she made me feel so comfortable and confident. She gave me a vision.” 

He says it took nine months for the divorce to be finalized. During that time, he says Cela became his adviser, his counselor and an amazing friend. “Every question I had, she would answer,” he says. “She really cares.” 

Luis says she didn’t always tell him what he wanted to hear, but, “she predicted almost to the T exactly how it was all going to play out.” 

Cela’s expertise helped him get what was most important to him out of the divorce. He says the law changed and allowed him to have joint custody of his son. He says if he would have filed for divorce before the law changed, he would have lost his rights. That’s information Cela knew, but his previous attorney somehow never mentioned. 

Cela says she treats all of her clients with that kind of “white glove” service. 

“I’m going to call you back, respond to you and know you by your first and last name,” says Cela. “You’re not just a number to me. I don’t take every client because I like to serve my clients with excellence.” 

She opened Chapel Legal nearly two years ago, after two decades of work as an attorney in both Florida and New York. 

First, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of South Florida and her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the Syracuse University College of Law in Syracuse, NY, in 2000. 

She started in family law, working for legal aid and serving as an attorney in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. She also served as Chief of Staff for a judge within that district, learning the ins and outs behind the scenes and writing legal opinions. 

In 2015, she and her husband, Matt, moved their family to Wesley Chapel, near Cela’s hometown of Temple Terrace. Their son Jack graduated from Wiregrass Ranch High in 2023 and now attends the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY. Their daughter Eliana is 17 and their son Nathan is 13. 

Upon her return to the Tampa Bay area, Cela went to work for Bay Area Legal Services. Looking for a change of pace, she then served as general counsel for Hernando County for three years. With her wide variety of experience, she says, “I’ve worked on every kind of case on the planet.” 

These days, she is focused on helping families with custody arrangements for children, or modifying arrangements that have already been made. She helps with divorces, adoptions and other family matters, as well. 

Wills, Estate & Probate Services 

Chapel Legal also helps people create a will, designate a healthcare surrogate, set up a power of attorney or guardianship and other important areas of estate planning. 

She has recently added probate to the services available to her clients. This is a court-supervised process for identifying and gathering the assets of a deceased person, paying off their debts and distributing assets to their beneficiaries. 

If you hire Chapel Legal to handle your family law matters, attorney Cela Webster will be certain to review every document and will know all of the case law that could affect your situation.

“One of the key things people don’t know or appreciate is that their estate planning documents are living documents that move with you through life,” she says. “You have to keep updating them.” 

For example, she says you need to change them when you get married, when you get a new job, when you leave a job, if someone in your family passes away, or anytime there’s an important change in your life situation. 

And, Cela says, it’s also important to do it before you actually need to do it. 

“It’s never too early,” she says. 

As the mom of a West Point cadet, she also offers her support to members of the military and first responders. She will prepare estate planning documents for any student at any miliary academy for free. 

“I’ll take care of you,” she says. “I donate my time and my paralegal donates her time.” 

She says for cadets, who are typically right out of high school, these documents are essential — just like for everyone their age. 

Many parents don’t realize that once their child turns 18, they no longer have the right to help them if something happens to that adult child, unless that child has listed them on a power of attorney document. 

So, for example, if an 18-year-old becomes incapacitated in a car accident, their parents have no right to make medical decisions for them, unless the appropriate documents are in place. 

She can help families determine what documents they need to protect them in many different situations. 

Cela also donates her time to the Hillsborough County Bar Association “Wills for Heroes” program, offering free wills, health care advance directives and durable powers of attorney to local first responders. 

She also is a board member with the Tampa Hispanic Bar Association and is excited to give back to students as part of the committee that raises money for scholarships. 

“My number one goal is to help people,” Cela says. “Whether I’m working in public service or federal court, it’s always about serving people.” 

Cela is licensed to practice in both New York and Florida, but she is fully focused on serving families and individuals in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel areas. 

While many attorneys don’t offer a free consultation, Cela says it’s important to her that people have an opportunity to ask her questions before they determine whether or not to hire her. 

And, as a native Spanish speaker, Cela is happy to work with people who only speak Spanish or who prefer to communicate about the sometimes complicated issues of family law in their native language. 

Her client Luis says that after working with Cela, he’s convinced she’s the best attorney in Tampa and may be the best attorney you’ll find anywhere. 

“I had to experience a terrible attorney to really appreciate her,” he says. “But, her dedication, attention to detail and her love for her craft is undeniable.” 

Chapel Legal is located at 17425 Bridge Hill Ct., Suite 202. If you need help with family law, estate planning or probate, Chapel Legal attorney Cela Webster offers a free phone consultation. For more information, visit ChapelLegal.com or call (813) 524- 6393.

2023-24 School Grades Are In — So, How Did New Tampa’s Schools Fare? 

The chart above shows the letter grades received by all eleven public schools located in New Tampa after both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years. 

As the 2024-25 School Year gets under way, schools are learning how they fared last year, according to state measurements. 

The Florida Department of Education (FDoE) released school grades for the 2023-24 school year on July 24, assigning a “B” grade for Hillsborough County Schools as a whole. Hillsborough has maintained a B rating since 2016. 

All of New Tampa’s schools earned either an A, B, or C grade. 

While eight of the 11 New Tampa public schools maintained the same grade as last year, Liberty Middle School improved from a B to an A. Two schools dropped a letter grade, with both Heritage and Tampa Palms Elementary (TPE) schools moving from an A to a B. 

TPE principal Angela Gluth explained the disappointing letter grade change. 

“While we look forward to the results of state testing, we were disappointed to have missed an A grade by 1 percentage point,” she says. “However, the scores that make up the state grade do not fully represent the growth and progress we have seen our students make throughout the course of the school year.” 

She explains that TPE actually showed gains in proficiency for math students in grades 3-5 and also in 5th grade science, when compared with the previous school year. She says the school also, “celebrates the growth of student learners in primary grades, which are not reflected in the school grade report.” 

Gluth adds, “We are excited to start this new school year and can’t wait to build on the achievements our students have made.” 

Five New Tampa schools maintained their A status, including Benito Middle School, Chiles Elementary, Clark Elementary, Hunter’s Green Elementary and Pride Elementary. 

Benito’s history of As goes all the way back to 2002. 

Principal Brent Williams says it’s definitely a team effort that helps create such consistently excellent performance. 

“I’m extremely proud of the kids,” he says, “and we also have an awesome staff here. They work extremely hard and we always try to provide opportunities for kids to think outside the box and make school fun.” 

Williams says a new opportunity for student growth this year is that Benito is now a Cambridge Lower Secondary School. This is an affiliation that already had been established at Liberty. 

The Cambridge Lower Secondary designation helps prepare students to take Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) courses in high school. Upon completion of an AICE diploma, which is offered at both of New Tampa’s high schools, a student receives a Florida Bright Futures scholarship, which can pay for up to 100% of college tuition. 

Williams says the hard work of teachers and students at Benito, and the support of families, is what helps the school continue to grow and improve every year. 

Hillsborough County Superintendent of Schools Van Ayres echoes this sentiment in a statement about school grades. 

“We couldn’t have done this without the Hillsborough County community,” he says. “We are excited with our momentum and are ready for the new year to start so we can continue our work.” 

More information about school grades not just in Hillsborough County but across Florida is available online at FLDoE.org/accountability/accountability-reporting/school-grades. 

Esthetics813 — The Spa At Saddlebrook — Is One-Of-A-Kind In Wesley Chapel! 

The friendly, professional staff at Esthetics813-The Spa at Saddlebrook Resort includes (l.-r) Gabi Diaz (guest relations), esthetician & brow artist Lorena Muñoz, esthetician Cassidy Sirmans, spa director & esthetician Kyymara Rosey Scott, esthetician Makya Kendrick & senior spa coordinator Valeria Medina. (Photo by Charmaine George)

There are only a handful of true resort spas in the Tampa Bay area, icons such as Safety Harbor Resort & Spa and Innisbrook. Guests staying at these spas are in for much more than a quick massage or facial at a strip mall. Instead, they experience a true resort where they can relax by the pool, eat lunch on the terrazzo and get away for complete rejuvenation. 

Now, Wesley Chapel’s only resort spa is open once again at Saddlebrook Resort, thanks to Kyymara Rosey Scott, owner of Esthetics813. 

After the Saddlebrook spa closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it sat motionless for almost four years. That was until September of last year, when Kyymara reopened the 7,000-sq.-ft.. space, now known as Esthetics813-The Spa at Saddlebrook, located at 5700 Saddlebrook Way, a short drive from S.R. 54 near Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. through the Saddlebrook neighborhood. 

Local residents and resort guests alike can experience a variety of luxurious spa services, including massages, facials, skin treatments, waxing, microdermabrasion, brow sculpting, spray tans and more in one of the spa’s 14 treatment rooms. 

Indulge yourself with a luxurious spa facial! 

“We’ve been able to make the spa super cozy and intimate,” says Kyymara. “Every person who works here knows the clients come first. We stay on top of our game as far as how we make people feel, helping them improve themselves esthetically, and how they feel inside.” 

She says that in addition to spa treatments, she also offers workshops and events to help people truly experience wellness. “It’s not just applying lipstick,” she says. “It’s everything, feeling whole on the inside and the outside.” 

Kyymara explains the spa’s slogan, “Look Great Bare-Faced Naked.” 

“When you’re not wearing makeup, you don’t have to put up walls and barriers and filters,” she says. “Who you are is enough to make you great.” 

Often, she says, guests look in the mirror after a treatment and say, “What did you do? I look so beautiful!” 

But Kyymara insists all she does at the spa is reveal someone’s natural beauty. “This is you,” she says. “That glow is your happiness.” 

The Move To A New Location 

Kyymara opening her original location of Esthetics813 in the Windfair Professional Center in Wesley Chapel in 2013. As her business grew, she needed a larger space and, in 2019, Esthetics813 moved to a storefront on BBD at County Line Rd. 

Just a few months later, she had to close the doors and wait out the pandemic. 

Although she was able to reopen Esthetics813, Saddlebrook struggled to do the same. Kyymara had had her eye on the resort and knew that if anyone could make the most of the spa’s potential, it was her. 

Walking into that long-dormant space was emotional for Kyymara. 

Relax with a glass of champagne at the spa’s outdoor area. 

“It was like going into a museum,” she explained. “Everything was the way it was when they told them to close. There were rooms with bowls set up for facials and manicure materials that had sat there for four years.” 

She was thrilled when she was able to come to an agreement with Saddlebrook to reopen Esthetics813 at the resort, which finally happened in September of last year, after months of updating and refreshing the space. 

Although Kyymara was originally hoping to keep the location on BBD open, she ended up closing it, acknowledging it was too hard for her personally to run both locations. 

She says the Saddlebrook location offers much more for her guests anyway. 

“In terms of space and privacy, it’s totally different,” Kyymara says. “We have different types of saunas and a wet room where we can do true body scrubs and wraps. I can give my guests everything they need in terms of wellness — massages, body scrubs, facials and more — whether they come in for an hour or the whole day. It’s so versatile.” 

The staff includes senior spa coordinator, Valeria Medina, and spa manager, Arely Rosas, plus four massage therapists, four estheticians — including one who specializes in both makeup and permanent brow makeup, a manicurist and a cosmetologist. 

While Kyymara’s husband, Kurt Wickiser, isn’t technically on staff, she says he is hugely supportive of the business, including serving as the de facto maintenance man, fixing anything that breaks or needs attention. 

Kyymara says that most of her clients from the previous location have moved with her to Saddlebrook. Although it’s a little harder to get to, they love it once they try it. 

Among the 14 treatment rooms at Esthetics813-The Spa at Saddlebrook are the infrared sauna (above) and the licensed massage room (Below)

“It’s a gorgeous drive,” she says. “You get through that gate and it’s a beautiful two and a half minutes until you get to the spa and hand over your keys.” 

The spa is valet only, with Esthetics813 paying for the valet service with any spa service of one hour or more. 

Once you enter the spa, your treatment begins with 30 minutes in the sauna to just relax. 

“Slow down, put on a robe, and sink in to the sauna,” she says, “then come in and get your service.” 

While this level of luxury may seem out-of-reach for some, clients say the prices are extremely reasonable. Kyymara offers discounts and contests for free services on social media, and also offers a program to give bonuses to guests who refer friends. 

Melissa D. is a client who started at Esthetics813 in 2015 and moved with Kyymara twice. 

“When I leave, I feel absolutely gorgeous,” Melissa says. “You feel like you’re in the lap of luxury for a reasonable price.” 

She says the drive is farther than the previous location, but it’s quicker than you think. 

“And then, when you get there, it’s just a beautiful place,” Melissa says. “You’re by the golf course, you can go swimming in the pool, you don’t have to worry about parking. You just go down the steps and it feels like a grand experience.” 

She says her facials are always customized just for her, with remarkable results. 

“When you feel good,” Melissa says, “it really does affect all of the areas of your life.” 

Nathan Erickson got his first facial when a girlfriend gave him a gift certificate as a gift. 

“Now I go every month,” he says. “It’s always a great experience. Kyymara is so easy to get along with, and the results are amazing!” 

In fact, he says, sometimes he doesn’t even book a specific facial. He comes in and lets Kyymara suggest the best treatment for his skin. 

“It was already awesome,” he says, “and the new location is even better.” 

Esthetics 813-The Spa at Saddlebrook Resort is open Mon., Wed., Thur. & Fri., 10 a.m. –6 p.m., and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sat. & and Sun. For more information, follow “Esthetics813 – The Spa at Saddlebrook Resort” on Facebook or Instagram, call (813) 474-4486, visit Esthetics813TheSpaAtSaddlebrook.com.