YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Now More Than Ever! Rally Around Small Business 2020 is underway. As the campaign continues, The Business Journal introduces you to some of the businesses nominated by community members as this year’s Unsung Heroes.
Click here to nominate a small business or check out a list of the current nominees. Nominations close June 1.
The Center for Sound Therapy in Boardman is making some noise despite closing temporarily.
Maria Lallo-Wagner and Calvin Wagner operate the center on Market Street, which opened four years ago. They combine sounds from various international cultures to help customers deal with stress.
“At the Center for Sound Therapy, we create meditative experiences for people who need to recharge their batteries, find a little bit of piece of mind to go back out into that day-to-day journey,” Wagner says.
The couple focuses on their clients’ physical makeup and how energy flows through their bodies. “We would be in the category of energy medicine,” Lallo-Wagner says. “So what we’re doing here is looking at someone on an energy level.”
Since the coronavirus forced the center to close, the couple has begun uploading their sessions and advice to YouTube and Facebook.
Lallo-Wagner sees the videos as a way to give back to the community. “That’s the only thing we can do at the moment – use those platforms to just send out the vibrations, continue to offer those services for our clients, for people who need it,” she says.
Lallo-Wagner believes the energy of a successful small business spreads to surrounding businesses.
“If you look at every plaza on Market Street or Route 224, it started with an individual from our community,” she observes. “If you help us, then our money goes into the businesses around us and that money goes into their businesses and their families.
“That’s why I think it’s important to support these small businesses. You’re helping the individuals who actually live here.”
Pictured: Maria Lallo-Wagner and Calvin Wagner own and operate the center.