Where your ritual begins...
Restoring human connection through trauma-informed touch, culturally conscious wellness, and accessible continuing education.
A world where touch is no longer a luxury, but a recognized human need — practiced with consent, integrity, and cultural awareness.
Why Touch Deprivation matters?
Touch is one of the earliest and most essential human needs. Long before language, our nervous systems learn safety, regulation, and connection through physical contact. Yet in today’s world — shaped by chronic stress, social isolation, trauma, and cultural disconnection — many adults are profoundly touch deprived.
Research shows that safe, consensual touch helps regulate the nervous system, reduce cortisol, improve immune function, and support emotional well-being. When touch is absent, the body often remains in a state of heightened alert, contributing to anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, and chronic pain.
For individuals within the African diaspora and other marginalized communities, touch deprivation is often compounded by generational trauma, medical mistrust, hyper-independence, and limited access to culturally safe care. Touch has too often been associated with harm rather than healing.
The Obsidian Spa exists to interrupt this cycle. Through trauma-informed massage and esthetics, we offer intentional, consent-centered touch that helps the body remember safety. This work is not indulgent — it is restorative, preventative, and deeply human.
Trained at Cornerstone Birthwork Training in Oakland, CA
Usui Reiki 3rd Degree attuned at Avalaura's Healing Center
600 hours at Euphoria Institute
75 hours of Laser Hair Removal training
800 hours at Northwest Career College
NVMT.12869
Nefertiti Schell’s path to healing didn’t begin in a spa — it began long before she ever knew the words esthetician, massage therapist, or healer. Born and raised in Sacramento, California, by a resilient West African mother who immigrated from Liberia with nothing but hope, Nefertiti learned early that strength, service, and compassion run in her blood. Her mother worked tirelessly — often under difficult circumstances — to build a life for her and her sisters, teaching them that hard work and care for community were not just virtues, but lifelines.
At age twenty, juggling multiple jobs with full-time university, Nefertiti faced a turning point when life steered her away from academia and toward purpose. Her passion found form when she joined a non-profit and later trained as a full-spectrum doula in Oakland, inspired deeply by her sisters’ journeys with fertility and birth. In that work, she discovered a truth she felt in her bones — her grandmother on her mother’s side had been a midwife and healer in her Liberian village, a lineage of care she had never known but deeply connected to as she supported families through profound moments of life.
The world shifted again in 2020, and so did Nefertiti’s life. During the uncertainty of the pandemic, she stepped away from corporate work, pursued Usui Reiki mastery, and moved to Las Vegas to follow her calling into healing and self-care on a broader scale. She enrolled in esthetics school to transform her own experiences with skin health into knowledge she could share — educating her community while nurturing bodies and spirits.
Today, Nefertiti operates in Las Vegas, Nevada, with mobile services extending into California. She holds licenses as an Advanced Esthetician and Massage Therapist in Nevada and as an Esthetician and Massage Therapist in California. Her training is extensive and deeply rooted in wellness: Full Spectrum Doula certification through Cornerstone Birthworkers in Oakland; Usui Reiki Master certification from Avalaura’s Healing Center; completion of 600 hours in esthetics at Euphoria Institute of Beauty Arts & Sciences; and 800 hours in massage therapy at Northwest Career College. She is trained in PCA Skin protocols, certified in chemical peels, microneedling, and is a Face Reality Acne Expert. Her massage training includes Swedish, Deep Tissue, Hot Stones, Aromatherapy, Sports, Prenatal, and stretch therapy.
Nefertiti’s work goes beyond technique — it’s personal. She brings a holistic lens to every client, honoring both the visible and invisible aspects of well-being. Her Liberian heritage — the midwives, village doctors, and medicine women in her family tree — continues to guide her, infusing every facial, massage, or support session with reverence for body, lineage, and healing. As she launches The Obsidian Spa in January 2026, she carries forward that legacy: a practice rooted in community, empowerment, and compassionate care.
The Diaspora Healing Circle is a community-centered offering within The Obsidian Spa that creates space for collective restoration, education, and reconnection.
These circles are designed for individuals who carry stress, grief, and trauma in their bodies — and for wellness professionals seeking to deepen their trauma-informed practice. Through guided somatic experiences, facilitated dialogue, and culturally conscious education, the Healing Circle supports nervous system regulation while fostering connection and shared understanding.
This initiative also serves as a pathway for continuing education and mentorship, helping increase representation of Black and underrepresented practitioners in massage, esthetics, and wellness — an industry where we currently make up less than 5%.
Donor contributions help subsidize participation for those who might not otherwise have access, fund educational resources, and sustain a healing space rooted in dignity rather than urgency. Your support ensures that healing is not reserved for those with privilege, but extended to those who need it most.
By supporting the Diaspora Healing Circle, donors are investing in collective care, professional equity, and long-term community wellness — not just a program, but a ripple effect of healing.