The Highland Backrub - Owner Jennifer Lewis

Annette Rondano, CMT opened The Great Metropolitan Backrub in 1995 with the hopes of providing the community and its Bodywork Practitioners a place to come together and develop mutually beneficial relationships. Because Bodywork is fundamentally relationship-based, Annette created a business that would honor the relationships that bodywork requires in order to effectively help the people who need it.

A bit about Jennifer:

I grew up a few miles from the Backrub on Juliet and Wheeler. I spent a lot of time in Highland as a teenager. I attended high school at Highland and Cretin. After graduation I went to cosmetology school at the Aveda Institute in Minneapolis, community college in Mesa, Arizona and Santa Monica, CA, and university in Davis, CA. Finally, I moved back to Minnesota, after having learned the importance of family and friends, and developing an appreciation for the four seasons.

While in Arizona, I started realizing my body hurt. At that time, I believed my body would adjust if I just kept doing what I was doing. It didn't work. It wasn’t until a few years later in Davis, CA before I sought help for my pain. I relied on muscle relaxers with little long-term success. After moving back to MN and having kids I rediscovered yoga and used it to help reduce my pain. I began attending yoga religiously and completed teacher training. Then I got into martial arts, which led me to a couple knee surgeries. After rehabbing my knees as best I could I enrolled in massage school. 

Massage school was something I considered many years ago, prior to attending cosmetology school. I had always enjoyed giving massages to others. As my pain increased over the years, I found self-massage useful to alleviate pain. Attending massage school was interesting and fun and allowed me to receive a lot of bodywork. Working in massage was something I was meant to do.

I dreamt of owning a business in Highland since I moved back to Minnesota. When the opportunity arose to own a massage business, I jumped on it. Now that this dream has been realized I plan on doing all I can to make the Backrub a great place to both work and receive exceptional bodywork.

I currently live in Highland. I am a mother of two preteen boys. In my free time enjoy martial arts, yoga, walking our three dogs, and spending time in northern Minnesota with my family. On weekdays I work a full-time desk job (so I am familiar with neck and upper back pain).