Andrews Rebecca White was put on a Brahma Bull at age 9, but not by choice. She was terrified. That was just part of a difficult upbringing.
Born in 1974 in Hiawassee, Ga., White grew up in Hayesville. Her first job was working at a grocery store in the bakery department – and she hated it.
“I still don’t like the smell of donuts,” she said.
The next job she had was in liquidation of general merchandise in Conyers, Ga. That was a different experience altogether.
“I loved that job,” she said. “My boss, Danny, turned out to be one of the best friends and mentors I’ve ever had in my entire life.”
Danny would also be the person who first discovered her ability to sing as he once caught her singing on a forklift. She was so embarrassed and mad at him, but after a few months he was able to help her get comfortable enough to sing in front of a few people.
However, fear kept her from singing the national anthem at an Atlanta Braves game.
“It’s the biggest regret I have in my 49 years of life,” White said.
Danny died suddenly in 1999, which devastated White.
“It just broke me,” she said. “I climbed into bed for about two months after he died. I didn’t care about anything. I called him my functioning father figure.”
Danny’s influence has stayed throughout her life. He inspired her to be a good person.
“I didn’t know how to be a good person,” White said of her dear friend. “I didn’t know how to be a person. It’s because of Danny I’m who I am today.”
In the fall of 1999, she moved back to Hayesville and did some landscaping work. She also worked at the Clay County Progress in bookkeeping.
Around that time, she had a son. Day care was able to watch her child while she went to work for the Clay Farmers Exchange in Hayesville.
White also decided to go back to school, completing a two-year associate’s degree in arts. While in school, she became the student government president and wrote a scholarship for single parents that is still at Tri-County Community College today. She is also proud to have been crowned Miss Tri-County.
Other employment has included work as a dispatcher as well as in corrections with the Cherokee and Clay county sheriff’s offices.
After leaving the sheriff’s office due to politics and conflict, White decided to take some time to work on herself. As a result, she lost about 120 pounds.
While getting her hair done one day, someone suggested she be an esthetician. She enrolled in school once again for the training she’d need to make the career change. At first she hated it, but by the second week she loved it and realized she wanted her own spa.
White purchased all the needed equipment for the spa while still attending school in 2021. After graduation in January 2022, White opened up her new No. 18 Day Spa in Andrews.
Just three days later, she closed it for a short period of time to care for her sick mother in Georgia. A month later, she returned to North Carolina and reopened her spa, only to close it once again in September 2022, due to her own medical issues. After being closed for six more weeks, she reopened the spa – cancer-free.
White also has a band that plays Southern rock music in Georgia. She is the lead vocalist for Papa Q, but previous medical issues involving her lungs have kept her from resuming the music until she is better able to do so.
While No. 18 Day Spa is doing business in Andrews today, it will be moving to Murphy this spring, merging with Essence Med Spa & Wellness Center.