Laura Allen spent her first career working in the restaurant business, owning four of her own over the years and cooking in some great places that were owned by other people. In 1998, she sold Nothin' Fancy and went to work as the administrator of a massage school. That was the start of her second career as a massage therapist, which has grown to include owner of a holistic clinic in Rutherfordton NC, employing a dozen practitioners, authoring four massage therapy textbooks, teaching massage-related classes all over the country and in Europe, and having one of the most popular blogs in the massage profession.