WAVE Social Wellness Brings Holistic Healing to Southampton

Lisa Zagola and Stephanie Esposito deeply understand that life moves in waves, from relationships and health to the seasons themselves.

And for them, last week, they entered a new season — one of growth for their business and for their partnership. One that feels like coming home, Zagola said.

On Friday, February 28, the co-founders of WAVE Wellness opened the doors of their new 4,000-square-foot space in Southampton — just down the road from where Zagola was born and raised — that only builds upon the holistic work of their Sag Harbor flagship location.

They call it WAVE Social Wellness, a facility that offers cutting-edge wellness technologies, community-focused experiences and immersive therapies, bringing an innovative take on self-care to the heart of the village.

“We know the waves of the seasons and we’re opening in the two softest months of the year,” Zagola said. “On some level, it’s strategic, in the sense that we wanted our local community to have their first talons in and be able to really get to enjoy a space that they can feel like is theirs year ’round.”

The facility, which is about five times larger than the Sag Harbor location, features a 1,000-square-foot studio for movement classes and sound baths, cold plunge and contrast therapy suites, biohacking tools, and a high-tech recovery suite and social lounge space where friends can gather.

“Everybody’s got their aches and pains,” Zagola said, “and so we thought that this would be a really good opportunity. It was an opportunity for us to create what Steph and I created in our own living room.”

The couple first crossed paths in 2021. Zagola, who is a yoga instructor, was meeting a friend for dinner and Esposito, a massage therapist with a mobile business, was finishing up a session with her.

“My friend said, ‘You guys should know each other,’” Zagola recalled. “You share mutual clients and it would be good synergy.’”

They wouldn’t reconnect until a month later — though it was under unfortunate circumstances. Zagola had just been in a car accident and desperately needed body work during Memorial Day weekend.

Esposito said she’d be there the next day.

“A few massages and a few glasses of wine later, that’s how we fell in love,” Zagola said, smiling at her life partner.

As she recovered from her accident, Zagola started researching ways to heal her pain holistically. Marrying what she found — largely biohacking technologies — with Esposito’s classic therapies, such as massage, lymphatic drainage and skincare, they opened their flagship location in Sag Harbor.

“I wanted something where it was private, it was small, anyone who’s anyone can come here and feel so comfortable and relaxed,” Esposito said, “and that’s really what I wanted.”

That will continue, she said, both in Sag Harbor and Southampton as WAVE Wellness settles into its larger space.

“When we stumbled upon Southampton, originally, it was going to be a smaller part of where it is now,” Esposito said. “And I’m like, ‘No, if you’re going to do it, let’s do it. Let’s have everything.’ And then we can cry about it over a bottle of wine later.”

The couple laughed together.

“Go big or go home,” Zagola said.

Ahead of the opening, Esposito said she was both nervous and excited — and ultimately ready, never losing touch of their why.

For the massage therapist, it boils down to making people feel good.

“I’m a realist,” she said. “I want real people and their real problems. It’s nice to do that relaxation, yummy, fluffy massage. But at the same time, if someone comes in that’s going through cancer treatment, or has an autoimmune deficiency, or anything, it makes my heart warm to know that we made a difference.”

Over her nearly three-decade career, Zagola simply loves teaching, she said, and sees how group yoga experiences not only add to her students’ lives, but also to her own.

“It’s a profession that shows me, just like WAVE shows us,” Zagola said. “I feel like it’s bigger than us on some level. It’s got its own mind, and it’s meant to happen.”

For more information about WAVE Social Wellness and its membership options, visit wavewellnesshamptons.com.