EP #30 Sculpting Lives: How Body Thief is Transforming Bodies and Minds

What happens when personal crisis meets entrepreneurial spirit? For Sha’ahn Williams, the answer was Body Thief Body Sculpting – a haven for non-invasive transformation that's changing lives across Northern Virginia.

Founded in a spare bedroom during the height of COVID while navigating an unexpected divorce, Body Thief emerged from Williams' recognition that marginalized communities – including stay-at-home mothers, older women, and LGBTQ+ individuals – lacked safe, judgment-free options for body transformation. Drawing on her expertise as a master aesthetics instructor, she developed proprietary techniques including the "Hayes Freeman method" and her signature "Three Strikes" treatment, which combines three different modalities to permanently alter how the body processes fat.

But Williams' approach extends far beyond aesthetics. "We're healing shame. We're rebuilding confidence," she explains, describing how she's incorporated mental health modalities like rapid transformational therapy and NLP into her practice. Many clients come to Body Thief at pivotal moments in their lives – often women who have spent decades putting everyone else first and are finally choosing themselves. Williams gives each client a Rose of Jericho plant, symbolizing their transformation journey: something that appears lifeless until placed in water, when it unfurls into vibrant greenness within a day.

For those hesitant about body sculpting, Williams offers reassurance: treatments may be uncomfortable but aren't painful, and by training the body to use stored fat for energy, the results can be permanent with proper maintenance. Ready to transform your body and rebuild your confidence? Visit Body Thief on Garrisonville Road in Stafford or connect online at thebodythief.com to begin your journey to loving both your softness and your power.

Sha’ahn Williams

The Body Thief Body Sculpting

thebodythief.com

347-762-8651

[e-mail]

147 Garrisonville Rd, Suite 4, Stafford, Virginia 22554

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
, the place where localbusinesses and neighbors come
together.
Here's your host, Dori Stewart.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to another episode of the Fredericksburg
Neighbors Podcast, where weshare the stories of our
favorite local brands.
Today, I'm excited to introduceyou to Williams, owner of the
Body Thief Body Sculpting.
Welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Thank you, I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Well, I'm excited to learn all about your business.
So let's start there.
Can you share with thelisteners a little bit about
what you do?

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Sure sure.
So Body Thief, Body Sculpting Ilike to call us Northern
Virginia's premier non-invasivebody contouring and holistic
self-care studio.
We specialize in safe, advancedtreatments and with
non-invasive techniques.

(01:01):
So, for instance, I created myown technique for body
contouring.
I call it the Hayes Freemanmethod.
I also do fascia therapy andservices like my signature three
strikes.
Everything about Body Thief isburglary themed because I feel
like snatching fat of likesnatching fat.

(01:30):
It was pretty catchy to make itlike I'm a thief, but yeah, so
we do non-invasive fillers,everything that's not surgical
we perform, and we also performpost-op care for people who have
had surgery and we prepare youfor surgery if that is the way
you want to go.
But mostly we do non-invasivebody altering aesthetic
treatments.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Amazing.
So I love your branding.
That's so creative.
I love that and I love that youhave signature treatments that
you created.
So that leads me to my nextquestion.
I need to know your background.
Tell me about your journey.
How did you get into this?

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Well, quite honestly, I started Body Thief during a
turning point in my life.
I was going through a painful,very unexpected divorce,
watching my incomes dwindle.
But I also knew that there wasa massive gap in the beauty

(02:29):
industry for safe, non-invasiveoptions, especially for
marginalized communities.
I say like stay-at-home moms,older people, women of color,
mothers, like I said, our LGBTQcommunity, trans community.

(02:50):
I felt like there was a gapthere and a need for safe,
non-invasive options and Iwanted to give my community a
place to heal, to reshape andcelebrate.
While I was healing andreshaping my own life and my own
self, but I want them tocelebrate themselves, without

(03:10):
needles, risky surgeries and, ofcourse, without judgment.
So I bet on myself, myexpertise.
At the time I was a workingmaster aesthetics instructor and
I built Body Thief right fromscratch in the middle of COVID.
So that's how I got started.
Literally, my ex-husband saidwhy don't you do something with

(03:34):
this space?
And Body Thief was born in myhouse, in my spare bedroom.
That's how I got started, wow.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
So that is such an inspiring story and it's very
interesting that you kind ofhealed yourself by healing
others.
So there's a lot to be saidabout about that and about about
you and your character.
So congratulations on onegetting through that.
I've also been through aterrible divorce and I wouldn't
wish that on anyone.
So congratulations on turningsomething negative in your life

(04:08):
into then helping others.
So I think that's I thinkthat's really remarkable.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
I think one of the things too about that is maybe
because of the way I startedBody Thief.
I do attract people who areready, they're at that precipice
of transformation and a lot ofwomen who I see they have the
same type of story.
Where is they're like?
You know what I'm choosing menow.

(04:34):
That's why I'm here.
I've raised my children or, um,you know, I'm getting divorced,
like I want to do something forme for a change.
I hear that so much and it'ssad in a way too, because some
of my clients are much older andand I'm like, wow, you waited
until you were 60 before youstarted to take something for

(04:55):
yourself.
But I'm glad that I couldfacilitate that healing and be
that space, that safe space forthem.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Yeah, as women, we tend to putourselves last, and so I love, I
love what you're doing.
What would you say is what'syou know kind of your most
popular treatment?

Speaker 3 (05:17):
I would say our most popular treatment is my
signature service, three strikes.
And I call it three strikesbecause I use three modalities
in the service.
It's a 90 minute service butI'm going to use it through at
least three tools to get thatfat off or plump you up or firm

(05:37):
your skin, whichever reasonyou're coming to see us.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
I got you.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
I love that.
I love that.
Okay, so clearly you've workedreally hard building this
business from scratch, so I needto know when you're not working
really hard building thisbusiness from scratch.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
So I need to know when you're not working, what
are you doing for fun?
For fun, when I'm not snatchingwaist or filling lips, I
actually like to think.
I know that's just a strangething to say is my favorite
pastime, but I like meditating,I like thinking, I like reading
and my favorite thing if anyoneis a follower of me on my social
media page I travel.
I am a travel nut.

(06:14):
I went to seven countries lastyear so I'm big on spiritual
self-care.
Deep thinking, quiet timerecharges me so I can pour back
into my clients 100%.
But traveling that is my jam.
I love traveling.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
That's amazing.
It's nice to get away from thebusiness and recharge, and
you're better for your clientswhen you get back.
I love it.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
And I like to travel to learn like new techniques
like Thailand for like consolemassage, texas for the fascia
therapy.
So sometimes my travel isdouble, like I'll do two things
at once I may learn somethingand vacation too.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, that's the best vacation.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
I love it.
So I have a question If yourisk, if, if you could give your
your former self some advicewhen you first started your
business, or if you could givesome advice to, uh, a new
entrepreneur who's thinkingabout starting a business, what
advice would you give them?

Speaker 3 (07:19):
Um, I'll do both.
I'll answer both.
Um advice to myself, my formerself.
Before starting this business,I would say, girl, don't be so
impulsive.
Like yes, it's okay to likejump when you get an idea, but
do a little more research.
I can be super impulsive andI've wasted tons of money by

(07:42):
just not investigating the offeras much as I should have and
the advice I would share with anew entrepreneur.
Something that I wish I haddone not known because I did
know, but something that I wishI had done is, um, get a
business coach.
I think that I recently got abusiness coach and I majored in

(08:07):
dance and theater arts.
Like I am, I wasn't a businessperson.
This business was born out of anecessity for myself and what I
felt was a need in thecommunity.
But if I had to do it over, Idefinitely would take more time
learning actual business.
But at the same time, I stillwould advise people to start

(08:28):
before you're ready and just beprepared to pivot, because
nothing will ever feel perfect.
So I don't want the listenersor the watchers to get what I'm
saying wrong, because I don'twant to say just wait until
things are perfect, becausethings will never probably be
perfect, but trust your gut, getstarted and learn like, just

(08:48):
learn as you're growing, andhire those professionals if you
can, or take free classes, butdo business, take a business
class and get a business coachif possible, because it will
help you.
And be sure to document,document, yeah, document
everything and protect, protectto protect yourself.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, that's what I would say Really good advice.
So many people have this greathobby or they're in a trade and
they're really good at it, andthey go out on their own to
start a business and they'rereally good at what they do, but
they're missing the businessside and they get themselves in

(09:29):
trouble.
That's really good advice.
I love it.
So what is something that youwish the listeners knew about
your business?

Speaker 3 (09:44):
I'd like the listeners to know that Body
Thief is not just aesthetics.
This is a safe space fortransformation from inside out.
Like I know we're changingbodies but we're also healing
shame.
We're rebuilding confidence.
I'm teaching, helping teachpeople to love their bodies,
love their softness and theirpower.

(10:06):
At the same time, like there'sa vibe here.
I even I wish I had one with me, but I care about my clients so
much.
Like I've taken rapidtransformational therapy, I've
taken NLP, like just so I cankind of get to the mindset,
because sometimes excessiveweight gain has a mental health
connection.

(10:26):
It's not necessarily, oh, I'meating poorly or I'm not
exercising, and I really want toconnect with my clients and
really help them changepermanently.
So I had this plant it's calleda Rose of Jericho and I would
give it to clients.
Sometimes I feel like you're insuch a transformational space.

(10:48):
Here's this plant thatrepresents transformation and
reinvigoration and change.
It looks dead.
All you do is put it in water.
That thing turns green, itunfurls, it is beautiful within
a day.
And I like to give gifts to myclients a lot.
So I think that is one thing Iwould like the listeners to know

(11:11):
that it's more than the bodythat we're changing here.
We're transforming your insidestoo, and the other thing I want
them to know is it doesn'treally hurt.
People really think that thismight be painful.
I promise it's not surgery.

(11:32):
It may be uncomfortable, but itwon't be painful.
So I want people to know thatyou're okay, it won't hurt and
it's not surgery.
It may be uncomfortable, but itwon't be painful.
So I want people to know thatyou're okay, it won't hurt and
it's permanent.
So that was three things I wantthem to know.
But it is permanent.
This isn't a temporary fix.
We literally alter your braininto using your stored fat for
energy.
That's a keto state.
You can keep that keto state up.

(11:54):
So what do we do?
Is it permanent as surgery?
And you'll take that with agrain of salt, because we all
know people who've had surgeryand may have regained the weight
or whatever your body needs fatbut what?
we do is permanent.
It can be permanent.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Interesting, interesting.
Thank you for sharing that.
It's good.
It's good.
We all needed to know that.
So thank you for that.
If the listeners want to learnmore from you, if they want to
connect with you, where can theyfind you?

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Well, you can come visit us right in Stafford.
We are on Garrisonville Road,which is Route 610, right next
to Wendy's.
You can go to our website,thebodythief.
com.
You can check our socials onFacebook, we're the Body Thief
Body Sculpting, and on Instagram, we're the underscore body

(12:49):
underscore thief.
So we're everywhere and you canalso check out this podcast to
hear about us.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for sharingthe Body Thief with us.
I appreciate you being my guesttoday.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
I appreciate being on .
Thank you so much for giving methis platform to share, of
course.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg
Neighbors Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go tofxbgneighborspodcast.
com.
That's fxbgneighborspodcast.
com, or call 540-534-4618.