When Newton Ribeiro founded Instituto de Massagem Doutora Oyama in January 1970, he brought charm and elegance together in an innovative venture: a Relax Club offering sophisticated, exclusive services.
Born in Belo Horizonte on May 13, 1923, Newton was a bold entrepreneur throughout his life. Among his many roles—as a business owner, lawyer, journalist, advertising executive, writer, actor, and television presenter—the most remarkable was that of a visionary.
With a vision ahead of his time, he found success as an entrepreneur early on. After a brief career as a right-back for América Futebol Clube, he moved to Rio de Janeiro in the 1940s and entered the advertising industry. He established himself as a businessman across different markets, spending 30 years at the head of his own companies before turning his energy toward what would become his boldest venture.
Newton was already showing his pioneering spirit in the 1950s, when he founded TUFA—Torcida Uniformizada Feminina do América Mineiro, the women's supporters' group of the club whose anthem he co-wrote. He wrote that, among its members, he felt in his element, ‘among practical, courageous, determined, and idealistic women’.
After moving to São Paulo, he placed an advertisement on January 6, 1970, in the Business and Opportunities section of O Estado de S. Paulo, opening the doors of Brazil's first massage institute at Rua Doutor Vila Nova, 46, in the city center. The establishment took its name from the street: Instituto Dr. Vila Nova. It moved to Rua dos Otonis, in Vila Clementino, in 1984, where it remains today.
Leading a team of courageous, determined professionals during a period of severe repression, Newton saw success come quickly. Before long, his dream had become a remarkable reality: Instituto Dr. Vila Nova—now Doutora Oyama—quickly became an icon. It was the first step toward establishing Newton Ribeiro in the media as the King of Relax.
Later in 1970, he launched his own television program, broadcast on Saturdays. In 1971, together with Mário Américo—the Brazilian national team's massage therapist at the 1958, 1962, and 1970 World Cups—he founded the Associação Brasileira de Massagistas (Brazilian Association of Massage Therapists), giving the profession representation in Brazil.
Newton and his institutes earned many awards. On May 7, 1976, at the Hotel Meliá Castilla in Madrid, Grupo Newton Ribeiro received the Trofeo Internacional a la Calidad, awarded by Spain's Editorial Office at a ceremony attended by representatives from twenty-eight countries. He also trained talents such as Solange Jobert, who was named the World's Symbolic Massage Therapist in Paris.
Also in 1976, the Institute's story reached the screen and the stage with the premieres of the feature film O Segredo das Massagistas, starring Aldine Müller, and the play Os Clientes de Solange Jobert.
In 1982, when women's football was already permitted in Brazil but had not yet been formally regulated—which would only happen the following year—Newton founded ÍSIS POP Esporte Clube, one of the country's pioneering women's teams. According to the Museu do Futebol, the club paid its players and coaching staff on time, at a time when this was not the norm, and brought together players such as Marileia dos Santos, known as ‘Michael Jackson’, Sukita, and Maninha. In 1983, it reached the final of the first São Paulo State Women's Championship.
His favorite project? In his own words: Instituto de Massagem Doutora Oyama, the country's first and most established massage institute. To this day, it remains a benchmark for trust and quality, with international prestige and recognition.
