Island Wellness & Nutrition, a holistic health store on Padre Island, is celebrating it's three year anniversary of being in business this month. However, the owner said it has not been an easy road for her to open the business of her dreams.
"So you stay in balance, which is the whole idea! If we can stay in balance, then we’re good!” Stacy Samuelson, the owner of Island Wellness & Nutrition, said.
Balance is what Island Wellness & Nutrition owner Stacy Samuelson prides her business on.
“I am a functional nutritionist and I love helping people find health and balance in their lives," Samuelson said.
Samuelson went back to college at Texas State while she was in her 30s to study nutrition. She wanted to learn the biology behind her own health struggles and gain knowledge so that she could help others, too. Samuelson's Island Wellness & Nutrition customers know they can always count on her for holistic health advice.
"I have been doing it almost twenty years professionally. But, I'm celebrating my 3rd anniversary here on the island," We have herbs, vitamins, homeopathy, natural medicine, natural skincare, healthy snacks, healthy drinks, some sports nutrition," Samuelson said.
But what most of her customers don’t know is that Stacy is deaf.
“Well, again so, I lost this ear at 27. And then I lost this ear at 42, overnight. My health challenges are that I produce tumors around my brain and in my spine. And those tumors ultimately took away my hearing," Samuelson said.
Samuelson wears a cochlear implant behind one of her ears. There is a magnet inside of her head that was surgically inserted. The magnet on the inside connects to the magnet on the outside, which helps her to hear better.
"At age 43, I got cochlear on my right side. So, I have some sound," Samuelson said.
She communicates with her customers a little differently than most business owners.
“I still rely on lip reading completely for words and voices," Samuelson said. “I'm actually deaf. I read lips.”
Samuelson said that everytime a customer comes into her shop, she walks out from behind the counter to get closer to the customer so that she can read their lips better.
“I had no clue. No clue, whatsoever. I was amazed that, you know, she didn’t let that hinder her," Tracey Ware, an Island Wellness & Nutrition customer said.
Padre Island Neighborhood news reporter Erin Holly asked Samuelson, "When you were diagnosed when you were younger, did you ever think you would be here?" Samuelson said "No, never, never, never."
Above all of the noise of day-to-day life, Samuelson stays grateful.
“I feel very, very lucky. I feel thankful. I’m very happy to be able to do what I love every day," Samuelson said.
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