From life coaching to owning a marina, entrepreneurship is a way of life for Kristen Stephens Sharma, an Iowa City native. Kristen is the owner of Inspired!, Inc., d/b/a East-West School of Integrative Healing Arts and A Massage Oasis, LLC. Kristen began her relationship with the University of Iowa Small Business Development Center (SBDC) a dozen years ago when she first enrolled in a FastTrac class, and continues to receive counseling each time she begins a new business venture.

Inspired!, Inc., was created in 2003 when Kristen decided she wanted to help people feel more inspired about their lives and dreams. Through Inspired!, Inc. Kristen offers life coaching, retreats and seminars. In 2006, Kristen expanded her business with the purchase of a healing arts school. She felt this would open more opportunities for her to offer community classes on body, mind and spirit, as well as teach massage therapy and healing arts for people wanting to begin new careers. After purchasing the school, she changed the name to the East-West School of Integrative Healing Arts and moved it to its current location in North Liberty.

The success of Kristen’s businesses gained her the recognition of “Business Person of the Year” by the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce in 2008. Kristen has since received an SBA loan and has grown her business and services significantly. The school was at full capacity with 24 students in the Fall 2010 session and currently employs 15 instructors. The East-West school offers programs in aromatherapy, healing touch and massage therapy. Students take courses for 6-18 months and become licensed massage therapists and holistic healers upon graduation. Kristen teaches several of the business courses at the school, sharing many things she has learned from the Small Business Development Center over the years.

To date, the East-West School has graduated more than 100 students with the highest “pass” rate for their state boards of any school in the area. Most graduates start their own businesses after earning their massage therapy license, and many come to the Small Business Development Center for business counseling.

In 2009, Kristen started A Massage Oasis, LLC to help create jobs for her graduated students. The company was chosen by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to start its first ever massage program. The program was an immediate success and a second location was created. A Massage Oasis has been so well received that it was put in charge of thousands of dollars of donated money to help offer massages to children and their parents through the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital and Children’s Dance Marathon. A Massage Oasis recently landed a new contract for massage therapy to be located in the new University of Iowa Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.

Kristen’s thriving companies, Inspired!, Inc., d/b/a East-West School of Integrative Healing Arts and A Massage Oasis, LLC, together employ over 35 people. She and her team of instructors have educated over 100 students and have given therapeutic massage to over 25,000 individuals just in the last four years. Kristen invites the Small Business Development Center into her school each term to help new entrepreneurs with business plans, ideas, marketing and more. Kristen has also been a guest speaker for numerous Small Business Development Center classes. Her willingness to share her entrepreneurial knowledge has enabled others to learn from her experiences. She encourages attendees to always exceed people’s expectations.

Throughout every phase of her new business ventures, the University of Iowa Small Business Development Center has given Kristen advice and helped her make productive business decisions. Kristen had to overcome many obstacles over the years with her different businesses and each one made her smarter, stronger and more knowledgeable. Her current businesses are benefiting many people in the region, especially people wanting to start their own massage therapy business. “Every one of my businesses has benefited from the services at the SBDC,” says Kristen. “I have 12 years of business experience and the SBDC has helped me formulate a recipe for success.”

Kristen was chosen as the Iowa SBDC’s 2010 Deb Dalziel Woman Entrepreneur Achievement Award winner and was presented with an award at a ceremony held at the State Capitol Building on February 23, 2011. For more information on Kristen and her unique, successful companies, visit www.east-westschool.com.