“Girl – look at these big old man hands!” Michelle Tucker laughs, holding them up until they fill my Zoom screen.

Since childhood, Michelle’s hands have tickled piano keys without reading sheet music. They’ve rocked her babies – a son, now grown, and two school-aged children – and other people’s kids, too.

More recently, they’ve found a new purpose: as a massage therapist. Because for Michelle, massage therapy isn’t just about relaxation. It’s about listening, understanding pain, and using her hands to help someone truly feel better.

You describe massage therapy as the first work you’ve done that feels like a “true career.” How so?

Before this, I had odds-and-ends jobs. I worked at our local elementary school as an aide in the autism classroom, and even though I loved that job, I didn’t have a teaching degree, and I didn’t get paid much money.

Then I got pregnant and decided to stay at home with my son and, later, my daughter. During that time, I also watched a couple of other kids in my home. Daycares are incredibly expensive, and many of the ones in our rural area have waitlists. But people still want peace of mind knowing their child is being cared for and loved, and that was a service I could provide.

When my kids started school, I decided to pursue my long-time dream of being a nurse. I enrolled in Northeastern Technical College’s Nursing program and started taking classes. But I couldn’t hear through a stethoscope with my hearing aids, and that would impact my ability to continue in the program.

But I am a firm believer that when one door shuts, God’s going to open another one. Nursing wasn’t the path for me, but massage therapy was. It gave me a different way to be with people and help them feel better. I finally felt like I’d found my passion, my true calling.

When a lot of people think about massages, they think about spas and relaxation. But your education goes far beyond that.

Yes. We are trained on a medical or therapeutic level. While I enjoy giving relaxation massages – especially to working mamas who are so tired they don’t know which way is up – therapeutic massages are my favorite, simply because I make someone who is in pain feel better.

What do most people not realize about massage therapy – especially on the medical side?

You know the health history form you have to fill out before getting a massage? It tells me so much more than you realize.

For instance, if you’re on a blood thinner, I can’t use certain techniques on you because you may bruise. If you have seizures, a side effect of your medication can be hair loss, so I wouldn’t give you a scalp massage. If you are diabetic, I need to know, because massage increases the body’s absorption of insulin and blood sugar could drop after the massage.

We want to keep our clients safe while helping them feel better – and that’s exactly why our education is so in-depth. We learn how the body works, from the cellular level up, and how muscles move and respond, so we can make smart, helpful decisions for every person who comes to our table.

Just like nurses have to sit for the NCLEX exam, massage therapists have to sit for the MBLEx – or Massage & Bodywork Licensing Exam. What was that like?

It is an incredibly hard test! Not only do you have to know the material, but you also have to be a smart and timely test-taker. Questions range from the medical knowledge I mentioned earlier to business practices, taxes and regulations, sanitation, marketing, hiring, documentation. You have to have broad knowledge of so many things.

But the education I received at NETC prepared me for all of that – especially the clinical portion. The program itself is fast-paced and intense, but it’s only two semesters. When you think about it like that, you go to school for just 30 weeks, and you can have an amazing career.

What is 30 weeks out of a lifetime? It’s so worth it!

Looking back, do you have any regrets?

I wouldn’t change anything in my life. But if I had gone to college sooner, I could’ve already been in a career for years, whereas I’m just now getting into a career at 41.

Still, it’s never too late. If you want it bad enough, you’ll figure out a way to make it happen. I’ve stayed up late at night after I put my kids to bed. I’ve gotten up early before they got up. I’ve studied on weekends.

If you can get up at 7:00 every day during the week to go work for somebody else building their dreams, then you can get up at 5:00 to build yours.

You don’t have to wait until you feel ready. You just have to do it – even if you do it scared.