Renee Grady’s venture into StretchLab Metairie was born from personal experience and professional insight. As the dedicated owner, she oversees the day-to-day operations, including hiring, sales, and marketing. With a background she described as “career gumbo” – blending health and wellness, commercial real estate, and a stint as a stay-at-home mom – Grady’s diverse expertise comes together in her role as a small business owner.

StretchLab Metairie’s inclusive, open-concept studio offers customized 1:1 assisted stretching services. There’s no one reason why people find themselves at StretchLab. Clients come to increase their range of motion and flexibility, reduce muscle and joint pain, improve their athletic performance, and reduce tension and stress. Her commitment to hiring skilled professionals, known as flexologists™, ensures a knowledgeable team dedicated to crafting individualized stretching programs based on comprehensive assessments. Not only do they stretch, but flexologists educate their clients while they’re on the bench, helping them understand their movement patterns as well as giving them small, manageable homework assignments between sessions for maximum results. Grady emphasizes, “No two bodies are the same, so no two stretch sessions are the same.”

The studio’s mission to “Live Long” resonates with Grady’s values, stating “quality of movement equals quality of life.” StretchLab aims to improve flexibility and enhance clients’ overall well-being, fostering lasting connections and a sense of community. The studio’s core values of freedom, energy, community, growth, and care align with Grady’s ethos well.

Their goals for 2024 include increasing awareness about the benefits of 1:1 assisted stretching through partnerships with businesses and organizations in the community that have similar values regarding health and wellness initiatives. Daily, Grady speaks with people who want and need better flexibility because of lifestyle, work, or health conditions, but don’t know where to start. She hopes through increased awareness and, thereby demand, more insurance programs and employers will begin to offer wellness programs that include 1:1 assisted stretching.

“I love what I do and being a part of our client’s mobility journey is truly a privilege. The most fulfilling part is the ability to offer a service that changes people’s lives. They move better, feel better, and are able to do the things that matter to them,” Grady says.