Ruth Kia Rahmani, receptionist, and XiaoHua Satterfield, owner, in the lobby of Natural Ginger Spa.

Natural Ginger Spa
RBC Building
119 S. Marine Corps Dr.
Tamuning, Guam

By Morgan Legel 

XiaoHua “Tina” Satterfield set her sights on the island of Guam, making the decision to move to the island in March 2019. Six short months later, she opened Natural Ginger Spa, using techniques she learned while studying therapeutic massage and holistic massage in Singapore, where she got certified from the Sicta Beauty School.

Satterfield left China in 2009, moving to Saipan, and after ten years in the Northern Mariana Islands, she moved to Guam, eager to open her small business. Natural Ginger Spa is centrally located in Tamuning, in the same shopping center as Rotten Apple Restaurant, next to Triple J Honda and McDonald’s restaurant.

Her small massage studio focuses on the healing and restorative power of fresh ginger and ginger oil to the mind, body and soul.

Natural Ginger’s offered services include fresh ginger healing treatments and foot care; ginger oil body and scalp treatments; holistic massage, massage during pregnancy, lymphatic drainage, trigger point massage — which aims to relieve pain, warm stone therapy, massages for couples; and an organic salt scrub.

With three regular staff and a number of on-call employees, Natural Ginger Spa is customer-oriented, and prides itself on its unique ginger usage.

What is your client base like?

XiaoHua Satterfield: All residents, local and military and all nationalities, with a wide range of ages; eight being the youngest and 91 being the eldest so far.

What is your most popular service?

Satterfield: We have several treatments to choose from, but the most popular are combination packages. For example — a 30-minute foot detox with fresh ginger and herbal water, plus a 60-minute ginger oil full body massage.

Also growing in popularity is our A-8 Treatment, where we use fresh Ginger for deep body detox. The benefits include muscle relaxation, ridding the body of toxins, bloating [relief], stimulate blood circulation, relieve cervical pain and stiff shoulder. For postnatal, ginger can help relieve pain and sore muscles.

What are the benefits of using ginger in your services?

Satterfield: Fresh ginger and ginger oil are stimulating and warming; they can enhance concentration and can sooth and reduce muscle soreness, feelings of stress, sadness, anxiety, lethargy, agitation, dizziness and fatigue. Ginger essential oil soothes redness, eliminates bacteria, inhibits the signs of skin damage and aging and restores color and radiance to a dull complexion.

As a small business owner, what are some challenges in running a business on Guam?

Satterfield: COVID 19 was the most difficult. We closed on March 14 last year, and re-opened four months later in July, only to then shut down for a second time in August. We finally reopened — and have stayed open since — at end of September.

How do you stay competitive in, what seems to be, a very well-represented industry?

Satterfield: The fresh ginger and herbal detox and ginger oil we use is not used anywhere else.

What will the future bring for you and Natural Ginger Spa?

Satterfield: I am considering expanding — adding two or three more treatment rooms, because the popularity of ginger oil and its benefits has our business growing and there may be more opportunities for new business when tourism returns.

I am also interested in training those that may be interested in massage therapy, and I am currently looking into how I can issue certification on-island.