Having started my career in the beauty industry back in 1981, I am incredibly grateful to be on the cusp of celebrating 40 years in a profession that I am still totally passionate about.
My career has given me immense pride and pleasure over the years and taken me all over the world. I can remember the day I passed my exams, “with distinction,” like it was yesterday! I knew I was at the start of an amazing journey; I was so excited and optimistic about the future. Back then, Beauty Therapy was not freely available in further education colleges so I had to pay for all my training, but I have never regretted this and have continued to invest in my career ever since in order to achieve my goals. The fantastic exception was when my day spa won awards working with the different brands we featured. These generous brand owners (G.M. Collin, Rene Guinot, Depilex, Clarins to name but a few) would pay for everything, whisking me off abroad to train with their latest treatments and products, and wine and dine me across the UK. Coming from a working-class background it was very difficult paying for my training, however the determination to open my own day spa always spurred me on. This was the beginning of the 80’s, a very different time for young women dreaming about a career, let alone aspiring to one day open their own business!
Throughout the 80’s and 90’s I soaked up all the training, knowledge and experience I could - I loved every second. I would select one area per year to study and become qualified in, until eventually, in addition to all the traditional beauty therapy training, I had qualified in Aromatherapy, Indian Head Massage, Shiatsu, Reiki, Flower Remedy, Stress Management, Hypnosis, Guided Imagery, Lomi Lomi and a whole host of other therapies. During this period I also wrote a monthly health column for a local magazine, qualified as a trainer and went to University at the age of 33 as a mature student. It was an extremely exciting time with new organisations regularly emerging onto the scene. I took the opportunity to join the FHT as soon as it launched - having that kind of supportive organisation behind me as the holistic industry grew was amazing. It was all new - the start of something totally brilliant!
Once my business was established, I allowed myself a few well-deserved breaks to my dream destinations. Being a workaholic, breaks have always been a ‘bus man’s holiday’ of sorts – holidaying at hotels with great spas I wanted to experience. I was lucky enough to often find myself in the right place at the right time - chatting to hotel owners resulted in the offer of free holidays in exchange for my ideas on improving, giving suggestion or providing training in their spas. It was during this time my love affair with The Caribbean started and I had the realisation that at some point in my career I wanted to become a spa consultant, create my own spa brand and design my own spas! This felt like a natural progression in my career, so I put in the hard, long study time required to make my dream a reality.
After 20 years (1981 to 2001) working my way up from holistic Therapist to Spa Manager/Spa Consultant/Teacher and finally Spa Owner, I was ready for the next chapter - in The Caribbean! It was scary to think about starting over when my UK business was so successful. However, the big push to pursue things abroad came in 1999 when I was diagnosed with cancer! This was a catalyst for change for me and within 18 months I was living in The Caribbean. The first couple of years were far from easy as my approach to spa (creating natural, indigenous spas) was not well received. It took several years to find my feet and I was ready to come home several times! Money was low, there was little work coming in and it was a very scary time of self-doubt and fear. Finally, in 2003 my perseverance paid off and my luck started to change with lots of unique small projects coming in. I then pitched my ideas to the owner of an uber cool boutique hotel in Negril, Jamaica - Rockhouse Hotel & Spa (https://www.rockhouse.com) and little did I know it, but it was to become a marriage made in heaven. Although those first few years were tough career wise, the down time gifted me the space to started developing the concept for my own aromatherapy spa lifestyle brand. This amazing spa brand now facilitates the two spas I am partner with in the Caribbean offering a beautiful collection of NATURAL INDIDGENIOUS SPA RITUALS AND HOMECARE PRODUCTS.
Over the next 17 years I had many career successes. I created several indigenous spas, including the award-winning spa at Rockhouse and introduced my own spa brand, Caribbean Essentials, to several spas around The Caribbean, including Rockhouse. Under my leadership Rockhouse Spa went on to win back-to-back World Travel Spa Awards in 2014 and 2015. After 10 years as the Spa & Wellness Consultant at Rockhouse, the owners wanted me to cut back on my other projects and focus more on their spa, offering me a partnership in the spa in recognition of my hard work and diligence over the years. It was then that I created and implemented the Wellness Program at Rockhouse.
In 2018 the owners of Rockhouse added to their portfolio with the purchase of a beach front property - Skylark Beach Hotel (https://skylarknegril.com). My Spa Partnership was extended to include Skylark and I was tasked with creating the Spa as this hotel too.
In 2010, after ten years in The Caribbean, I wanted to bring what I had created back to the UK to shine a light back on my Caribbean successes and launch my brand on home turf. I also missed the UK, friends & family and wanted to merge both aspects of my life. Although the move hasn’t all gone to plan, I have had some UK success - as an unknown brand my spritzer (https://www.lindahall-spaconsultant.com/oshun-skincare-collection) won Red Magazine's first Green Products Award. As you get older you learn to be flexible and adapt, listen to the whispers the universe provides. Working remotely is now the new norm and I can oversee both sides of the pond from whichever side I happen to be on. My revised career vision is a beautiful one, it feels right for the next chapter (retirement, who said that word? NEVER).
Life is a roller-coaster as the saying goes - with great highs come some lows. It’s all about yin and yang. A career in holistic health offers a wealth of knowledge and experience that you can pull from at different times during your career. Whether you’re a Therapist at the start of your journey, or like me, someone who has spent 40 years in the industry, there is always variety and excitement to be had. I couldn’t work 8 hours a day doing therapy anymore, however I still love the practical side of my career. Whether it’s teaching or being with clients, performing a beautiful spa ritual always takes me back to those early 80’s days when my career was still ahead of me. My advice is to always have a vision or dream, be flexible and stay focused, even when you fall. Some people say fail, but I don’t buy the failure concept - get back up, keep your focus, rise like a phoenix and most importantly, believe in yourself, even though the scary times! We are facing a major global fear right now with the Coronavirus pandemic and as we emerge from these tough times the world will need amazing, compassionate, dedicated holistic Therapists more than ever. That’s you! Our industry will be the “go to” as we move out of this fearful time.
As I reflect back on my journey, I feel my current position is the perfect culmination of the last 40 years. I am incredibly lucky to have projects on both sides of the world that still fulfil me creatively. I divide my time between running my own self-titled Spa Brand and exclusive private practice in the UK, and working with authentic eco-conscious hoteliers that I admire and respect at Rockhouse & Skylark Spas in The Caribbean. I am also very proud to still have the same fantastic spa team I interviewed and trained in 2004! With their help I have created award-winning luxury boutique spas, sensory spa treatment rituals and a natural aromatherapy spa product collection, all of which have more than answered my visions from the early days. I’m delighted to say my career has come full circle…