Pat Rorke Passes the Spa Rockaway Torch
By Katie McFadden
For 14 years, Pat Rorke has worked to make Rockaway residents feel their best with spa treatments. But the time has come to pass down the torch. Spa Rockaway is officially under new ownership with Marisa Napoli at the helm but take a deep breath—a smooth transition is underway as Spa Rockaway will continue to offer its relaxing services and Rorke isn’t going anywhere.
In 2010, after a career switch from interior design and time spent in school learning to be an esthetician, Rorke decided to bring Rockaway its first spa services, in a second-floor room above the former Blue Bungalow gift shop on Beach 116th Street. But with a taste of some spa treatments, Rockaway locals’ desire to look and feel their best quickly grew, and so did Blue Bungalow Spa. Rorke hired more estheticians and massage therapists. “I remember one day I was walking down the hall, and all three rooms were booked,” Rorke said. “I continued walking down the hall with a big smile on my face thinking, Rockaway needed a spa.” And from there, she set out on bringing Rockway a full spa experience.
Rorke started making plans to move and expand when in 2015, her son was tragically killed in a car accident. “I could either lock myself up in a room at home and never come out, or I could keep going and keep his spirit going by continuing to make people happy. Around 2016, Rorke rebranded as Spa Rockaway and found a perfect space to bring the spa to ground level at 112-20 Beach Channel Drive. “Spa Rockaway kept me alive by helping other people feel good and that for me is the game in life—to make other people feel good makes you feel good.”
Since making the move, Rorke has grown Spa Rockaway even more, expanding to a neighboring space and building up a solid team of massage therapists and estheticians, offering seven rooms for massage and ever-growing facial treatments. Meanwhile, Rorke has never stopped expanding her own knowledge of the latest, most advanced and effective skin treatments, attending workshops across the country, and doing extensive research online. Her interest in ingredients in various skin products led Rorke to creating her own skincare line, Skin Holistic by Pat Rorke.
Despite being in the business for 14 years, Rorke has ensured that Spa Rockaway incorporates the newest and best services. In May 2023, Spa Rockaway became one of the first spas in New York to offer Cold Plasma Therapy, a noninvasive, painless skin treatment that provides prime absorption for skincare products to work their best, ultimately improving the appearance of skin, diminishing wrinkles, acne and other issues. They also recently added Jet Peel, a process that offers similar results to microneedling, without the needles, allowing skincare products to fully penetrate the skin. With extensive knowledge of the best products, Spa Rockaway recently introduced a medical-grade skincare line, Noon, which has allowed them to help clients with advanced skin issues, on an even deeper level. They’ve also started using Noon’s Mesotherapy system that combines cryo and heat to penetrate the skin without needles. All of these new treatments are able to improve skin without causing trauma or necessitating down time.
These new treatments and the many others offered at Spa Rockaway are all part of the knowledge that Marisa Napoli has acquired since she started working there about a year and a half ago. After graduating college with a psychology degree and working as director for a children’s swim program, Napoli was feeling unfulfilled and wanted to pursue other routes. With an interest in skincare and beauty, she decided to go to esthetician school. Napoli was having some doubts about this path until she met Rorke, whose passion and love for what she does radiated, and Napoli quickly found that same appreciation for the field. “When I met Pat, she really helped me to love it. She taught me everything and she really showed me there’s so much you can do in the field of esthetics,” Napoli said. Meanwhile, Rorke also took note of Napoli’s leadership experience.
Around the same time Napoli had started at Spa Rockaway, Rorke was toying with the idea of taking a step back and fished around the idea of selling the business to her staff. Much of her superstar team also have family obligations, so there was little interest in taking on the business. “Then came Marisa. And it was amazing because Marisa is young and she is one of the smartest women I’ve ever met and businesswise, she can run a business,” Rorke said. Rorke began showing Napoli the business side of the spa, and despite being just 25 years old, Napoli quickly proved she could handle more than facials.
“When Pat first proposed selling the business, I didn’t take it so seriously at first, I just thought of it as this dream of mine. But we didn’t rush into this, I started learning more about payroll and scheduling and helping out at the front desk and it slowly became more serious and when Pat was like, OK, we’re going to do this, it just felt natural. I’ve been working towards this, and everything feels smooth. Everyone is super helpful here and supportive. We’ve got an amazing team here,” Napoli said.
With all the pieces in place, including her confidence in Napoli’s ability, earlier this month, Rorke officially sold the business and handed over the key. But Rorke’s not going too far, and retirement is still years away. However, she fully plans on taking advantage of the free time. Rorke says over the last few years, she’s been spending winters in Florida, teaching other estheticians everything she knows so they can also run a successful business, so she’s planning on expanding those efforts, including attending conferences to take her knowledge even further. She also plans to continue working on her skincare line, Skin Holistic by Pat Rorke. And in between, she’ll be spending quality time with family. “I’ve been blessed with three grandsons and I’m having a ball with them, so with grandma working a little less, I’ll be home a little more to spend time with them,” Rorke said.
And of course, Rorke will still be there for her Spa Rockaway clients, continuing to provide spa services while she’s in town, and continuing to help Napoli with whatever she needs as she navigates this new endeavor as owner of Spa Rockaway. “It feels like everything is right because over the past year, I never had any second thoughts about Marisa and this transition. There’s never been anything negative. It’s all meant to be, it’s the perfect fit,” Rorke said. “I am confident that Marisa is just going to keep Spa Rockaway going.”
And Marisa feels the same. “Pat built this over so many years and I love how it operates, and I want to keep everything how it is. It doesn’t even feel like I’m working sometimes because I love coming to work and love who I work with, and I love working with the clients. Clients come here looking to relax and escape daily stresses in life and they’re able to do that here and it feels good helping everyone,” Napoli said. “When someone leaves saying they love how they feel or look after treatments, it makes everything I’m doing worth it.”
For more information about Spa Rockaway and their services, head to www.sparockaway.com. And for updates on Rorke and her extensive knowledge on all things skincare, follow skinholistic on Instagram or Skin Holistic by Pat Rorke on Facebook.
