How twin sisters Alyssa ’14, DPT ’16, and Brianna ’14, DPT’ 16, Almeida turned an AIC class project into a thriving healthcare practice
Every few months after graduating from American International College, twin sisters Alyssa and Brianna Almeida would reopen the same PowerPoint presentation.
Originally created for a healthcare administration assignment, the presentation outlined a business idea for a pelvic health practice in Western Massachusetts. Long after the class ended, they kept revisiting it — refining the vision, adjusting details, imagining what it could become.
Years later, that same classroom assignment became Renew Health.
Starting Side by Side
Today, the AIC graduates co-own the East Longmeadow-based pelvic health physical therapy practice, where they work with patients experiencing everything from pelvic pain and postpartum recovery to urinary incontinence and low back pain. But their journey toward becoming business owners — and physical therapists in the first place — was not one they initially believed was possible.
“We pretty much wrote off college,” Alyssa said. “We graduated top 10 in our class in high school…we played sports… But we were just like, ‘Oh, no, college isn’t for us.’”
Growing up in Ludlow with limited guidance around higher education, the sisters—both first-generation college students—said they felt behind during their senior year of high school.
“Folks are like, ‘What colleges did you apply to?’ And we were weeks away from graduation, like, ‘Oh, were we supposed to do that?’” Alyssa recalled. “We felt extremely behind.”
At the time, the sisters assumed they would enter the workforce after graduation rather than attend college.
But all of that changed after a conversation with a friend encouraged them to consider community college. Though still uncertain about the future, the sisters enrolled at Springfield Technical Community College.
“We kind of thought about PT, but it sounded so unachievable for us,” Alyssa said. “It was an interest in high school, but it was really never something that we were like, ‘We’re going to stick to this and pursue physical therapy.’”
Their interest in physical therapy had originally stemmed from Alyssa’s personal experience recovering from an injury in high school. Brianna often attended appointments alongside her sister and saw firsthand how much PT could impact someone’s quality of life.
“I was showing up to her appointments and seeing how much the physical therapist was helping her — my twin sister, who of course I care about and was worried about,” Brianna said. “So I think that shaped my perspective on being a physical therapist.”
The sisters also felt drawn toward a healthcare path centered on rehabilitation and long-term wellness rather than medication-based treatment.
“We wanted to be in healthcare, but we also didn’t want to be providers that were pushing surgeries and medications,” Alyssa said. “We wanted to be in a more active rehab role that would allow folks to use movement as medicine.”
After graduating from STCC, the sisters were introduced to AIC’s 3+3 Doctor of Physical Therapy program by a counselor who encouraged them to think beyond short-term goals and pursue their doctorate degrees.
“At that point, again, we were thinking very short-term,” Brianna said.
However, after they heard their STCC credits could be transferred to AIC, the sisters started to envision a larger future for themselves.
Once at AIC, the sisters found something they had not expected: a sense of community.
“We felt like we belonged,” Brianna said. “We probably could have gone to other colleges… but for us, feeling like we fit in was really important.”
The sisters said AIC’s supportive environment and diverse student population reminded them of their experience at STCC, where students from many different backgrounds and life stages were pursuing higher education.
“It felt like, you don’t have to have it all figured out to go to school,” Alyssa said. “We felt really supported… by the people around us, but also faculty.”
That support would ultimately shape far more than just their education.
A Shared Calling
During their time at AIC, the sisters completed a classroom assignment in which students were asked to develop a healthcare business plan. While others may have viewed it as simply another project, Alyssa and Brianna took it seriously.
“We were like, ‘Man, we could actually turn our idea here into an actual business,’” Alyssa said.
The idea centered around pelvic health physical therapy, an underrepresented area of care. An introductory lecture at AIC first sparked their curiosity and they felt compelled to explore the specialty further.
For Brianna, the specialty also became deeply personal after being diagnosed with a neurological spinal cord condition while attending PT school.
“I became pretty much obsessed with pelvic health,” Brianna said. “[I was] thinking… I want to be able to learn how to be a good advocate for myself. And then also as a physical therapist, I could potentially…relate to my patients because I think when you have…a personal struggle, you…have a different level of caring and understanding.”
As the sisters continued to evolve their classroom business proposal, they began to realize there was a major need for pelvic health services in Western Massachusetts.
“We were like, ‘Wow, this seems super cool and underserved and we can totally build out a pelvic health practice in Western Mass because there’s nothing like it,’” Alyssa said.
Even after graduating from AIC in 2016 and beginning work in hospital systems, the sisters continued revisiting the PowerPoint presentation they had created in class.
“Every few months, we would get together, and we would look at it, we would refine it,” Brianna said. “What we didn’t know then was that we were just trying to manifest this company.”
Just like for many others, the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately became a turning point.
Building the Vision Together
Experiences working within hospital systems during the pandemic caused the sisters to reevaluate what they wanted from their careers and the type of care they hoped to provide.
“It made me absolutely realize that I’m either not going to be a PT anymore, or I’m going to move forward with doing my own thing, where patients come first,” Alyssa said.
The sisters officially filed for an LLC in 2021 and began seeing clients through Renew Health in January 2022. Fittingly, the name had already been chosen years earlier in that original AIC presentation.
“When we were trying to think of names, we were just like, ‘Oh, we already have one. We’re just gonna keep it,’” Alyssa said with a laugh. “It was meant to be.”
Today, Renew Health treats patients across all stages of life and all genders, helping individuals navigate issues that are often stigmatized, misunderstood, or dismissed entirely.
“A symptom that they could have had for 20 years can go away in three months with the right plan,” Alyssa said. “It’s life-changing for our patients to actually just have an evaluation [and] know that their body is not broken.”
The sisters have also become strong advocates for education and awareness surrounding pelvic health, regularly participating in community events, lectures, social media campaigns, and mentorship opportunities.
“We talk about the things that people don’t often talk about,” Brianna said. “We are very active on social media… [Pelvic health] is becoming a conversation because of practices like ours.”
In addition to treating nearly 2,000 patients through Renew Health, the sisters now return to AIC to guest lecture on both pelvic health and healthcare entrepreneurship. They also mentor physical therapists interested in specializing in pelvic health or starting their own practices.
“It’s awesome that we’ve been invited to teach the pelvic health lecture at AIC,” Brianna said. “We also provide a guest lecture for a business-healthcare administrative class. We can go in and talk to the students about our journey.”
Reflecting on how far they have come — from students unsure whether college was even part of the plan to successful business owners and mentors — both sisters say AIC played a vital role shaping their future.
“AIC was really pivotal and important in our journey in allowing us to not only go to college, but then also stay in school,” Brianna said. “We really owe a lot to AIC, truly.”
And through every stage of that journey, the sisters have had each other.
“I don’t think we would be doing any of this if we didn’t have each other,” Alyssa said. “So, always grateful for that.”
