A Moment to Breathe: How Two Trans Entrepreneurs Built a Self-Care Sanctuary in Katy

When you're transgender, walking into a salon or a massage studio can carry a quiet layer of dread. Will they understand your body? Will they respect your name and your pronouns? Will you spend the whole session explaining your existence instead of finally getting to relax? 

For clients in Katy, Texas, two local entrepreneurs are working to erase that uncertainty entirely. 

Meet Cam Stodghill (he/they) and Koda Roome (they/them). Cam is a three-time OutSmart Magazine Gayest & Greatest award-winning massage therapist and instructor. Koda is a two-time winner of Gayest & Greatest’s Best Nonbinary Hairstylist award. Together, this queer couple has built a five-minute-apart pipeline of somatic healing and gender-affirming joy right in the Houston suburbs. 

They recently sat down with the Trans Voices Podcast — available to stream on all major platforms — to share how they went from small-town isolation and church rejection to community leadership.

The Ultimate Suburban Self-Care Pipeline 

When people picture LGBTQ+ life in Greater Houston, they tend to look toward central neighborhoods like Montrose. Cam and Koda are intentionally planting their flag out west instead, in Katy. 

"There actually is a very large queer community out in Katy," Koda said during the episode — a community that's often hiding in plain sight, full of people who'd rather not make the drive into the city. Clients come from Brookshire, Fulshear, Galveston, and beyond; Koda has even had people fly in from Washington State. 

Because Cam's private bodywork studio and Koda's room inside Hue Hair Lounge sit just minutes apart near Katy Mills, the two have built a collaborative sanctuary. 

Joint clients book a therapeutic massage with Cam first — shedding tension, regulating their nervous systems, resetting their mind-body connection. From there, they head straight to Koda's chair to finish the day with a vivid rainbow color or a transformative, gender-affirming cut. 

Both spaces double as neighborhood resource hubs, with community boards full of vetted, safe referrals — trans-friendly doctors, an affirming chiropractor, and more. Cam and Koda only refer clients to providers they personally trust and see themselves. Cam's studio also serves as a drop-off point for clothing donations (to the Transparent Closet and local clothing exchange Queer Exchange HTX), offering $5 off a session for every bag of gently used clothes. 

Roots, Rejection, and Reinvention 

Neither Cam nor Koda stepped into these roles easily. Their businesses grew directly out of the spaces they realized were missing during their own transitions. 

Cam: From Church Interventions to Conscious Touch 

Cam grew up deeply embedded in a Southern Baptist community in the Stafford and Sugar Land areas. "I was down bad for the Lord," he joked, recalling youth-group mission trips and years in the church choir and on percussion. But as he began coming out — first as a lesbian, later as transmasculine — the welcome curdled. Church leaders eventually pulled him into the youth pastor's office to stage an intervention. 

Pushed out of the church, Cam held onto the one thing that hadn't changed: a deep instinct to care for people. After roughly a decade in unfulfilling retail-management work, he went to massage school in 2021 with a mission — to become the kind of therapist he'd never been able to find himself. It wasn't until a month before his own top surgery, after two years away from the massage table, that Cam finally sat down with a trans-affirming therapist. Those sessions inspired him to pursue a career as a massage therapist himself. 

Today, Cam runs his own private studio, where a client can stay fully clothed, ask "is this a weird question?" without flinching, or simply get fifteen quiet minutes away from a world on fire. As a certified instructor, Cam also teaches a continuing-education course he built himself, Inclusive Care for Trans Clients, and makes a point of coming out to every new class on day one. "Get [your questions] out right now," he tells students. "I'm fine with it." 

Koda: The "Killer" Hair Artist 

Koda has spent more than twelve years in the beauty industry, long before coming out. Their handle, @klr.hair.artist, also reads as "killer hair artist". 

Their alignment with Cam came after a cross-country leap. Koda moved from small-town Indiana to Texas in 2020 to be with Cam, which at the height of the pandemic was a real risk. One of Koda's first queer mentors in the industry looked them dead in the eye and told them not to do it — which Koda believes would have been the biggest mistake of their life. Koda went anyway, determined to prove them wrong. After two OutSmart awards and a chair that books out clients two months in advance, they have. 

Koda's room is a haven for everyone — all hair textures, all identities — but gender-affirming haircuts are the bread and butter. It's also built to be neurodivergent-friendly: a closed door, a TV, snacks, and a rainbow wall covered in vinyl art. Koda describes the privilege of meeting people on their best days and their worst, giving them a space to break down or light up as themselves. 

The transition has been deeply personal. This year, Koda became Koda Lou — "Lou" for their grandmother Louise (and Koda's longtime middle name), and "Koda" for the cub in Brother Bear, which clicked into place when they connected it to their late father, whose nickname "Griz," for grizzly bear, even appeared on his obituary. "I have never felt more myself," they shared, celebrating their first weeks on testosterone during the recording. 

Why They Choose to Stay 

Given the current political climate in Texas, Cam and Koda have faced the question so many trans Texans carry: Is it time to leave? Cam has supportive family in the Pacific Northwest. There are absolutely places where daily life would be simpler. 

But every time they weigh it, they come to the same conclusion. 

"It means more to us to be that safe space for people," Cam said. 

Koda agreed without hesitation: "I have to stay and be a safe space in Texas, especially right now. I have to be the representation that we want to see."

Support Your Local Trans Creators & Entrepreneurs 

• Cam Stodghill (Cam's Hands LMT): Find Cam on Instagram at @cams_hands_lmt for therapeutic bodywork, trauma-informed touch, and nervous-system relaxation. Free consultations available. 

• Koda Roome: Find Koda on Instagram at @klr.hair.artist for vivid color, alternative cuts, and gender-affirming styles inside Hue Hair Lounge near Katy Mills. Consultations are also free. If you want them for the holidays, book now. 

Joint clients: get the massage first, then the hair. Both are available Thursday through Monday in the Katy Mills area, with plenty of great food nearby to round out the trip. 

Want the full, unfiltered conversation? Head to the podcast section at transvoices.life/podcast to listen, and subscribe for more stories of trans resilience, joy, and community across Texas.