~Contributed: Rebecca Willson
Oshi Hampson has never let anyone else’s expectations of what she can or cannot do dictate her life, and she isn’t about to start now.
Coming from an entrepreneurial family where her mother and father were both known to try new things and start different businesses, Hampson was inspired to follow her dreams and play by her own rules from a young age. Her massage therapy clinic Parhelia, which provides the Revelstoke community with tailored massage techniques suited to the active lifestyles many lead, is an example of Hampson’s belief in taking opportunities as they come and never backing down from a challenge.
She’d been in Revelstoke for several years when she bought the clinic, knowing she wanted the mountain town to be her home. The space with bright natural light streaming in through big bay windows encouraged her to ask a close friend she’d been working with to jump in with her on this next adventure.
“One step led to another and it just kind of happened,” Hampson said of her now seven years of business ownership. “I’m super grateful for its success, everything it’s done for me and allowed me to have and do.”
At the same time as she was starting the clinic, Hampson said she was in a phase of her life where she ‘just wanted to take on all the things in the world’. She did just that, joining the volunteer fire department at a time when very few other women were involved.
Again, she credits her mom with the resolve to try that new experience and said the bond she and the other women formed in the heavily male-dominated industry was an experience she cherishes.
Alongside these ventures, Hampson was also working in landscaping and coaching gymnastics and said she was always looking for things to motivate and stimulate herself.
“Sometimes I believe when you have the capacity to juggle multiple balls at once you should go for it, and other times you should offload and rest,” she said.
Currently, Hampson is in the juggling stage, travelling across the United States with her partner following dirt bike racing circuits coast to coast. Another of her passions, dirt biking is a space similar to firefighting in which Hampson believes women can hold their own and deserve their spotlights.
As she travels, she is working as an insurance agent selling lifestyle benefits, “almost a form of athlete’s insurance,” she said.
“It’s another complete 180 in my life, but I’ve been enjoying it and learned a lot, and I’ve overcome a lot of obstacles. It’s all part of me never being able to sit still or be told that I can’t do something or that there’s an obstacle that prevents me from doing something. I always find a way to make it work in my favour.”
Hampson said her main motto is that our boundaries are only set by ourselves and that anyone can accomplish anything they believe they can.
She follows this in her own life by making it a priority to support and advocate for women in the different industries she’s been a part of. She hosts an annual summer clinic for dirt bikers from all over B.C. and Alberta to share and learn from each other and is passionate about showing people that women can be strong and capable in any capacity.
“It depends how much you want to get out of life, and I believe in going for it all.”
