Meet Melissa Rosen | Restaurateur, Business Coach & Therapeautic Hypnotherapist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melissa Rosen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melissa, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
I have two quotes I live by –

“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.”
― Émile Zola

“You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics.”
― Charles Bukowski

I believe we are born into this epic mystery to experience transcendent oneness through awakened individuation. The more we bypass mass edicts on behavior or opinion and connect to our internal moral compass, most authentic expression, and the universal truths of existence, the more we rise above group think and root in genuine compassion for ourselves and others.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m a Jill of All Trades, aspiring Renaissance woman, of sorts. I’ve been lucky enough to experience many different professional pursuits in my life thus far as well which has given me a unique experience of business, a variety of industries and the human condition. My love of food, branding and recipe creation ultimately lead me to create Locali with my business partner in 2009. We were one of the first to combine healthy food in a convenience store setting. At that time, it was an oxymoron.

Today, you have kombucha at 7-Eleven. However, at that time, we were renegades of sorts and we’ve received many accolades over the years for our pioneering initiatives in food service and retail. Our menu (which I have continued to add to over the years in collaboration with wonderful team members who have worked in our deli) has a cult-like following of serious foodies. We are most known for our Warrior Smoothie, Vegetarian Reuben, Brekkie Breakfast Burrito and world famous Badass Breakfast Sandwich. We pride ourselves in producing food that is made with love and quality ingredients. Our greatest thrill is the joy our customers express after trying us for the first time.

It is not all roses, of course. We sold a franchise territory in Miami that the buyers failed to open and we made the choice to close locations in LA due to the effects of pandemic operating restrictions on the revenue and safety at those sites.

However, these amongst many other adversities, provided a deeply spiritual personal epiphany regarding my journey as a business woman in conjunction with my experience of motherhood. As a single mom of a toddler during the pandemic, I realized that my aspirations for our brick and mortar business locations and packaged food line would need to be tempered to prioritize my child. I celebrated our failures along with our successes for what they taught me. All made me a more patient and resilient parent.

The strength that I have gained through our challenges and my ability to quickly pivot in generating alternate revenue streams for my business spurred a desire to help coach other small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs on how to transform both their personal and professional lives to be in greater alignment. Since working with people to overcome burnout, transform their operations or start a business from scratch, I was continually referring clients to hypnotherapists to deal with subconscious blocks that inevitably came about during our business mindset coaching. After a conversation with a powerful healer friend, I realize that I would best serve my clients and myself by getting certified as a therapeutic hypnotherapist in order to provide the most comprehensive work together.

Hypnosis is something that has changed my life in every turn. I’ve utilized the modality for everything from handling sudden driving anxiety to my fear of hospitals for childbirth to coming up with new business ventures to getting over break ups. I’ve used the modality of hypnotherapy for everything – because it works and works quickly. That’s why it’s a very popular healing modality used by athletes and entertainers to enhance their performance and achieve their goals efficiently.

During hypnosis, we induce a calm and peaceful state of focused awareness and deep relaxation in order for the client to access their subconscious mind. The conscious mind takes a step back and allows the subconscious to takes over. By accessing the subconscious mind during hypnosis, we can help identify and change any negative patterns or beliefs that may be holding the client back. We can also discover new ways to better problem solve and make positive changes on a deep and lasting level. I’m terribly passionate about the immense benefits of hypnosis and see it as one of the best tools to break free from mass marketed phenomena and achieve next level individuation. We are being programmed to view ourselves as less than in order to fuel consumerism. Hypnotherapy really helps to address the shadow, ego and inner work required to know authentic self-love and the personal fulfillment of being of service to others as our most authentic self. It’s a joy to expose people to this work and have even initial cynics experience, at the minimum, a profound level of relaxation.

So while I still love owning and operating my restaurant, I am most satisfied by the support I give others as a business mindset coach and hypnotherapist. It’s really fun to enjoy an additional career that has a similar positive impact like Locali.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Saturday Fun on the East Side –

We would start the morning with a hike in Debs Park followed by brunch at Pocha, an amazing woman owned and incredibly delicious Mexican restaurant on York in Highland Park. Try the vegan breakfast bowl! You won’t regret it. Then we would head to Kim’s Hapkido to watch my daughter kick and punch in her class. They have several locations in LA and have an incredible group of instructors that make it an incredible martial arts experience for children. After we would go over to La Canada Country Club for pool fun and then end the day with donuts from Donut Friend and a classic movie at Vidiots…and if I have a babysitter, evening hot yoga class at Kinship Yoga, a comedy show at Ice House or music at Footsies, Redwood Bar & Grill or Pasadena Pops in summer.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Nate Jemison of the SBDC at El Camino College. He was an amazing business counselor and connection to funding when we wanted to grow our business. I had opened a second restaurant location on my own that was completely vegan in downtown LA called Localita & The Badasserie. I went to him when I was dealing with the stress of first year operations there along with a traumatic brain injury that had occurred for me during our opening week. Nate provided invaluable business counsel and the service was free through the SBDC. He continued to be a resource for years after. That’s why I would often call him the Fairy Godfather of Locali. In turn, he doesn’t know this, but he inspired me to want to help people through business coaching as well.

Website: https://www.localiyours.com & https://www.bemyguest.world/

Instagram: @localiyours / bemyguestworld

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mar11/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/locali-hollywood-los-angeles-2

Other: https://heal.me/melissaadelerosen

Image Credits
Exit The Matrix Trucker Hat Created and Available through Jennifer Mulhare / Instagram – @MaidenNewYorkLA