Today we’d like to introduce you to Colleen.
Hi Colleen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Colleen
Founder & Owner, Woodhouse Spa — Gainesville, VA
Colleen is the founder and owner of Woodhouse Spa in Gainesville, Virginia, a 7,000-square-foot luxury day spa built around a simple idea: self-care and preventative care should be part of everyone’s routine, not an occasional indulgence. Her path there, however, started nowhere near the spa industry — it started in a courtroom.
A Career in Law, By Age 18
Colleen grew up in Islip, New York, and just two weeks after graduating high school, she began legal assistant and paralegal studies on scholarship at a private business school. She was working in the legal field as a Certified Legal Assistant and Paralegal within nine months — at 18 years old. Over the years that followed, she worked across several areas of law but spent the bulk of her career in plaintiff’s personal injury, where the caseload doubled as an education in the medical field. By 20, she was training law school graduates on how to take a personal injury file from a new claim all the way through trial.
The Insight That Changed Her Direction
Handling personal injury files gave Colleen an unusual vantage point on recovery and insurance. She noticed that a client’s body tends to hold the benefit of a massage treatment longer than a chiropractic adjustment, and that insurance carriers were far quicker to deny a chiropractor’s three-times-a-week regimen than a once-a-week one. That led her to a strategy for her clients: a chiropractic adjustment on Tuesday, a massage on Friday, and a better shot at making it comfortably through the weekend to the next adjustment. The pattern taught her firsthand how much benefit massage therapy provides, and how central self-care is to recovery and long-term health — a lesson reinforced at home, watching how preventative and restorative massage helps her own sons, both Division I baseball pitchers, perform and stay safer on the mound.
A Pivot, and an Opportunity
When Colleen relocated to Virginia, her years of hands-on legal experience carried little weight without a college degree to back up her certification — a frustrating setback for someone who had been training law school graduates at 20. She found an attorney in Washington, D.C. willing to give her that opportunity, but after two years the commute became untenable. The experience left her wanting to invest that same drive closer to home: building something that brought awareness to self-care and preventative care for people of all ages, especially athletes and anyone navigating a fast-paced world, while giving guests a genuinely relaxing, complete experience.
A Career Built on Trust and Discretion
Throughout much of her professional career, Colleen worked directly for and closely with a number of highly prominent individuals and families across the United States. Due to the confidential nature of that work, many of the specific details and names cannot be disclosed. The experience, however, instilled in her a deep respect for privacy, trust, and personalized care — qualities she has carried directly into how Woodhouse Spa treats every guest.
Woodhouse Spa Today
When the opportunity to open a luxury day spa came along, it resonated immediately. After a great deal of hard work and long hours, Colleen now runs Woodhouse Spa in Gainesville, championing preventative self-care for her community. She counts the relief her guests feel — and the stories they share with her — among the most humbling and motivating parts of the work.
“Hearing our guests’ stories is humbling — it’s what keeps me going.”
Quick Facts
• Business: Woodhouse Spa, a 7,000-square-foot luxury day spa in Gainesville, VA
• Background: Former Certified Legal Assistant/Paralegal specializing in plaintiff’s personal injury law
• Focus: Self-care and preventative care for all ages, with particular passion for supporting athletes
• Prior Clientele: Worked closely with prominent individuals and families across the U.S.; details confidential
• Based in: Gainesville, Virginia
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not exactly the smooth road I’d pictured! We opened Woodhouse Spa Gainesville during COVID, which came with its own unique set of challenges no business plan could have prepared me for. What was supposed to be a three-month buildout turned into nine, as we ran into supply chain delays on materials and fixtures alongside permitting and contractor scheduling issues that were hitting every business at the time. Those extra six months meant carrying rent and overhead with zero revenue coming in, which tested both our finances and my resolve. On top of that, I was trying to hire and train a full team of therapists and estheticians in the middle of massive uncertainty, and then open our doors to a community that was understandably cautious about close-contact services. It forced me to be patient, resourceful, and a lot more flexible than I ever expected to be — but it also taught me early on that this business, and the people I brought on to build it with me, could weather just about anything.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m the owner of Woodhouse Spa Gainesville, but day to day I’m also the onsite general manager — I’m hands-on in every part of this business, not just running it from a distance. My belief is simple: everyone needs and deserves self-care, no exceptions. That philosophy shapes how we’ve built our guest community here, which includes active military, first responders, veterans, and guests living with early onset dementia and Alzheimer’s, alongside everyone else who walks through our doors. Making sure self-care and human touch feel accessible and welcoming to all of them, without singling anyone out, is something I’m genuinely proud of.
Outside the spa, I’m deeply involved in Prince William County’s business community. I’m a member of the Prince William County Chamber of Commerce, where I’m an active member, attendee, and supporter of several of their councils and committees, and I serve as an active member of Calibrate, a program under the Prince William County Department of Economic Development and Tourism, supporting local small businesses. That work has been recognized in ways I’m genuinely humbled by — I’ve been nominated for the Women’s Leadership Award and the Influential Women’s Award through Prince William Living, the Community Outreach Award through the PWC Chamber of Commerce, and the Business Ambassador Award at the Make Your Mark Awards Ceremony & Business Celebration, hosted by the Prince William Department of Economic Development & Tourism at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, recognizing my work elevating self-care, wellness, and local business across the county. I also make it a priority to partner with local nonprofits, schools, veterans’ groups, and churches — because for me, what sets us apart isn’t just the services we offer, it’s the way we show up for this community beyond our four walls.
Any big plans?
Looking ahead, I want to keep growing our outreach to new guests who are just beginning to explore self-care and discovering how much their body and mind truly need and deserve it — while continuing to take great care of the loyal guests who’ve been with us from the start. I also plan to keep deepening my work with local small businesses and community outreach here in Prince William County; touching more lives through that work is something I find just as meaningful as what happens inside our spa. Part of that growth means expanding our team, so we can welcome even more guests into the atmosphere we’ve worked so hard to create at Woodhouse Spa Gainesville.
Pricing:
- Swedish Body Balance – 50, 80, 100 Minutes
- Deep Tissue Massage – 50, 80, 110 Minutes
- Spa Hydrafacial – 25, 50, 80 Minutes
- Sports Massage – 50, 80, 110 Minutes
- Signature Calming Retreat – 110 Minutes
Contact Info:
- Website: https://woodhousegainesville.com
- Instagram: @woodhousedayspa.gainesville
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whsgainesville/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleen-quintana-1733194b/
- Twitter: https://x.com/woodhousedaysp2
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheWoodhouseDaySpaGainesville
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@gainesville.woodhousespa
