Meet Keli Garza of Steamy Chick in San Pedro

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keli Garza.

Keli, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I first learned about vaginal steaming when I attended a talk by Mayan womb healer Marcia Lopez of True Healing Women’s Center in Redondo Beach. At first, I wasn’t interested–like, I thought it was crazy–but the following year when my period was missing, I decided to see if vaginal steaming could help. I found a Korean spa that offered the service and tried it. My period returned the next day. The Korean spa owner advised me to use steaming monthly to keep my periods regular and avoid future gynecological issues.

As I integrated vaginal steaming into my self-care routine, I wanted to know more about the origins of the practice. I learned that vaginal steaming is found not only in Mayan and Korean culture, but also in Turkey, South Africa, Ghana, Haiti, Suriname, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, Palau, Sweden, Latvia, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Trinidad and Tobago, India, Eritrea, Mexico, Tanzania, the Lakota and Navajo nations, in the Philippines–it’s everywhere in the world. In most places, it’s only practiced among indigenous populations but in some places, it’s commonplace and everyone does it.

I was fascinated to learn the universality of vaginal steaming. As far as I can tell it’s something that women have always done. It’s women’s health by women. It appears to have fallen out of knowledge in the West a couple hundred years ago when midwifery was outlawed and male doctors took over women’s health. I think this might be a situation where we threw out the baby with the bath water. Although medical science offers countless benefits, doctors might be missing an effective medical therapy for women by failing to study vaginal steaming closer.

One day I found myself talking to a friend with terrible periods. When I suggested that she try vaginal steaming she asked if she could pay me to make her a vaginal steam chair. When her period turned around, several of her friends came looking for me to buy their own vaginal steam saunas. As word of mouth kept spreading I decided to make a company out of it. At that time, I was the only one in the United States making vaginal steam saunas.

The first year I worked out of my house and made 10 steam saunas per month bringing in just over $24,000. This is my second year and I’m on schedule to bring in $240,000 by the end of the year (1000% growth!!!). I started the year with one person that helped me twice a week. Now I employ 4 full-time employees that work out of my shop in San Pedro, I have a professional distribution company that ships my products and I also employ an at-home mom as my customer service agent. I also work at home with my two little girls and, when I go into the shop, I bring them with me. I can’t even wrap my head around how fast the company has grown.

Has it been a smooth road?
It’s difficult. Honestly, I was embarrassed at first to let people know what I was doing. I didn’t want my name associated with vaginal steaming. I remember one of my customers asking if she could write a blog review of her vaginal steam sauna. I didn’t mind at first but when I read the article and she was talking all about me I was mortified–I almost didn’t let her publish it. I’m so private and I didn’t want to talk about periods publicly. I really had to overcome my own shame first. I’ve grown a lot–now they call me the steam queen or the period whisperer and I talk about it all day long.

Another challenge I’ve had that catches me off guard is how hard it can be as a young mother with a business. It was unnecessarily difficult to rent a retail spot. I wanted to rent a warehouse out of the Worldport Business Center but the realtor put my application behind other applicants saying that my bank statements were questionable–he thought the numbers looked too high. When I realized that he was discriminating against me I hit the streets and put my deposit down on another location the same day.

Recently, I paid for an ad in a university publication about a vaginal steam therapy e-course but, when the University President (a male) reviewed the draft publication, he said that the Steamy Chick ad was inappropriate and he pulled it from running.

What really stood out to me in the latter situations was that I was basically being told that my money wasn’t good to them. Those were rough moments but, at the end of the day, I’m not going to allow either of those men, or any other ones for that matter, to stop me from moving forward.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Steamy Chick – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Steamy Chick sells vaginal steam supplies and offers educational e-courses. We are the first and largest manufacturer of vaginal steam saunas in the United States. Currently our small team handcrafts over 90 saunas and 200 bags of herbs per month in our San Pedro shop. We then transport our products to our distributor for shipment all over the United States and Canada.

Steamy Chick is known for our unique vaginal steaming herbs developed in tandem with Oriental Medicine Doctor Kris Gonzelez. We created different herbal blends tailored to the different kinds of periods that women have and then tailored the herbs to provide the exact herbs necessary for the situation. Such specialization has resulted in amazing outcomes–cases of bacterial vaginosis cleared up, endometriosis resolved, PCOS that disappeared, pregnancies from infertile women, cysts dissolved on their own, fibroids that have fallen out…

Another quality that makes Steamy Chick unique is my focus on research. Since I have a background in research (M.A. International Development, American University, cum laude) I keep track of the positive case studies that customers experience. I have a database of over 600 vaginal steam case studies and it’s the only one of its kind in the world. The result is that I’m able to notice patterns and learn the best herbs and time to steam for different situations–a field of study I call peristeam hydrotherapy (or vaginal steam therapy). I am currently training midwives, acupuncturists and nurses all over the world and it’s having a big impact on women’s health.

I also have an initiative focused on safety which trains spa owners and other professionals in the beauty industry that offer vaginal steam services to screen for contraindications and learn the right herbs for each client. For the most part, vaginal steaming is very gentle and safe but, if a woman gets the wrong herbs or steams for too long, it could cause her period to come early or late for example. Learning vaginal steam safety and herb selection prevents that from happening.

I’m proud that we make products that help women take care of themselves in a way that women have been using since the beginning of time. It’s women’s health by women. It’s a gentle, relaxing spa treatment that can make all the difference for a woman–do you know how many doctors cancelled surgeries or prescriptions because they were no longer necessary after one of our customer’s started steaming? I go to sleep at the end of the day feeling like I’m making a difference.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the creative atmosphere in Los Angeles. It’s like we get the best of the best from all around the world. Even my workers are musicians! My production manager, Aaron Recendez recently won a music producer competition and our driver is a talented musician known as Don David. I feel like the talent in this city is endless. And, lucky for me, musicians need day jobs. There are always good tunes on while we work.

What I like least? Parking at the beach.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.steamychick.com

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.