Winning Touch Massage a name known in famous circles - Chemainus Valley Courier

[massage]

Jodie Greis-Phillips has maintained star power in the world of massage therapy over a long career.

That’s because Greis-Phillips once provided massage services to the entourages of some famous musicians like Vince Gill, Tracy Lawrence and Sawyer Brown and, in some cases, the main artists themselves plus hot rod racing legends, met some famous actors and more. She loves her country music people after living in Nashville for a while, but also hung out with the likes of Wayna Morris from Boyz II Men and ‘NSYNC during her younger days on the road with some touring groups.

“I’ve always been treated with the utmost of respect,” Greis-Phillips said. “Everybody took care of me and they were so nice.”

These days, Greis-Phillips loves being ingrained in the Chemainus lifestyle. She’s also a well-known cottage crafter in her famous She Shed where she spends her free time creating all sorts of interesting items in the female equivalent of the Man Cave.

Greis-Phillips continues to work in massage therapy so the everyday person can benefit from her expertise. She operates The Winning Touch Massage in a booth at The Public Market in Chemainus three days a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and Thursdays from 2-5 p.m.

Greis-Phillips was born in Chicago and raised in Antioch, Ill. “My family’s still there but I have not been back since COVID,” she pointed out.

After graduation in 1984, Greis-Phillips worked for Baxter Healthcare for six years, doing a variety of tasks such as drug delivery and quality control.

But there was always something else in the back of her mind.

“I always envisioned I wanted to do massage therapy one day and I wanted to travel,” said Greis-Phillips.

In the late 1980s, “I kept the vision and I said I want to do this.”

A near-fatal car accident in 1990 sent her on an unlikely path toward doing that. The woman Greis-Phillips credits with bringing her back from a certain death taught her massage.

She received healing and private massage training from Lorena McDermott for six months and then got her Chicago massage license. Her day jobs were at a health club in Antioch and the Electric Beach Day Spa in Johnsburg, Ill.

In 1993, Greis-Phillips became certified in equine and canine sport massage. That’s given her an instant connection with Angela Seguin of Krazy Kritter Kookies at the Public Market in Chemainus.

“We’ve become very good friends and colleagues,” said Greis-Phillips. “Angela and I are working on some ideas to have a fundraiser where I would do massage.”

Doing massage at horse and canine shows, including rodeos, started for her in 1994.

A year later, Greis-Phillips met country artist Ken Mellons, who soared to fame with his song Jukebox Junkie, during a signing in Lake Geneva, Wis. and Tamara Saviano of Country Music Magazine who’s now an American country music producer and a Grammy award nominee.

Greis-Phillips started meeting country artists on tours in the U.S. Midwest and working on some of the singers/entertainers and their production agents and guests backstage. She even had her own dressing room.

Greis-Phillips’ day job at the time was at a family-run sandwich shop. “It gave me the flexibility for studio and road massage bookings and I made my first trip to Nashville,” she noted.

In 1996, she worked and networked, met artists at the Country Thunder gig and made more Nashville trips while working at a gym.

Her fame at the time knew no bounds and she volunteered for Tracy Lawrence and Vince Gill golf tourney charity fundraisers. Greis-Phillips even played in the Crewgrass Tourney and was presented with a trophy for being the ‘Worst Golf Player’ by Gill himself.

”True story,” she chuckled. “The crew had a blast and I won cool swag prizes.”

In 1998, the deli sold and Greis-Phillips moved to Nashville for six months, doing massage therapy at Rodeo Drive Day Spa in Brentwood, Tenn.

After going back to Spring Grove, Ill., she started picking up country, soul and rhythm and blues gigs in Detroit with the likes of Destiny’s Child, Boyz II Men and the popular boy band ‘NSYNC.

Another passion for Greis-Phillips is hot rods. Her first National Hot Rod Association race was in 1998 and she followed the national racing circuit for 24 races per year working full-time from 1999-2009 and never missed a race while living in San Jose, California at the time.

“I love hot rods,” said Greis-Phillips. “We had a hot rod shop, biggest one of San Jose.”

She hooked up with some famous racers along the way, including Mike Ashley’s team, and Mike Salinas, whose team was appropriately known as the Scrappers since he owned a metal recycling company.

“I had a base at the track for massage only. I wasn’t out there full-time.”

Both Ashley and Salinas are top fuel drivers. Ashley is a funny car driver and Jodie shared in a prestigious Indy race win in 2007.

Greis-Phillips put in 500 hours in 2009 at the Just for Your Health College of Massage to become a California certified massage therapist. She worked from 2009-2012 at the Just for Your Health Massage Clinic.

The Winning Touch name then started to surface at trade shows, horse shows and more.

“My dad gave me the name,” Greis-Phillips noted. “He had the name in a vision in 1992. I started using it.”

Greis-Phillips met her eventual husband Mark in Las Vegas while on tour with the Scrappers. “He was just a fan,” she noted. “He said he knew he was going to marry me.”

Those words by Mark, who’s born and raised in Chemainus, turned out to be prophetic and Jodie found herself on the move again to a new locale where she’s been ever since they got together.

It was the beginning of another chapter in her extraordinary life, heading into unfamiliar territory.

“I’d been to Canada in the late ’80s to Ontario, to the other Canada,” she joked.

Since they were married at St. Michael’s Church on Sept. 14, 2013, Greis-Phillips has maintained a strong connection with the members of the congregation and church activities.

She likes the balance in her life that still includes doing massage at the market.

“The market is the perfect platform to network and meet good people in the community,” Greis-Phillips said.

“The exposure for small businesses, talented people and special events are a real morale-boosting asset in our little town. The support here is extraordinary.”

The pandemic has given us challenges, but she believes just as many opportunities. She had to think outside the box of her home spa studio and practice patience after working on a market space pre-COVID.

“The massage chair business is professional, very clean, safe, caring and affordable – a place to drop in for a 15-minute neck, shoulder, back tune-up,” Greis-Phillips added. “I love my job, wherever it takes me.”

Contrasting what she’s done in massage during her life is rather astounding. “I’ve done full tours where I was on the bus and travelled everywhere,” she reiterated. “I come here and I walk to my job now. I am so blessed. I love it.”


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V.I.P. Meet and Greet at the Mirage, in Las Vegas. This mini reunion was 19 years after the Evolution Tour (1998). The vocal harmony group, Boyz II Men, are a class act, Jodie noted. “Their Motown music is world renowned. These Philly boys know how to entertain and lift the audience out of their seats.” (Photo submitted)

Buggy parked at The Public Market in Chemainus Tuesday Car Meet. (Photo submitted)

Jodie met Mark Phillips at the Scrappers race pit in 2011. He proposed in Tofino in 2012 and they were married at St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church by Rev. Michael Wimmer on September 14, 2013. (Photo submitted)

Jodie with Country Grammy award winner, Vince Gill, Christmas Tour, Chicago and Midwest Cities, in 1996. (Photo submitted)

First Winner Circle with a “Wally”, Gary Scelzi , three-time Top Fuel NHRA World Champion. (Photo by Auto Imagery, Inc., Richard Shute)

Jodie Greis-Phillips of The Winning Touch Massage. (Photo by Don Bodger)

Jodie with famed rock legend and hot rod collector, Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Top in 2009. (Photo submitted)