Ellise - Ethical Beauty Therapist

​Ellise Toop opened up her first Beauty Therapy business just before her 18th birthday in August, at The Core in Swindon. She discusses with me her motivations, goals and future dreams!

Ellise completed a Beauty Therapy course at college, while also working at The Core juice bar. Her manager at The Core offered her a treatment room to open her own business.

Having only just finished college, Ellise at first had some trepidations, but saw it as a fantastic opportunity she just couldn't miss out on! Everything happened very quickly and Ellise found her sole trader of her own business
The Core Holistic Lounge. Finding herself her own boss at such a young age has been a huge gift, as whatever she decides to do in her life, it will always stay with her that she ran her own business.

Ellise admits that it hasn't all been smooth, and she has made mistakes with bookings on several occasions. Especially in the first two weeks, as the half-price promotions meant that it was crazily busy the whole time! But, she says, everyone realises I am only human and I learned that it's okay to make mistakes.

What makes the Holistic Lounge stand out among the rest is Ellises' use of vegan-friendly products and organic massage oil. She says while they may be slightly more expensive to buy, they are easy to get online, and it's worth it because many vegans come to her specifically. Ellise says she has made loads of new friends from it, and connected with many like-minded people. Customers come into the Core and ask for the vegan options, and so the promotion of a vegan-friendly holistic lounge is an easy one! The power of the word of mouth is invaluable in making this business successful.

She has been given the opportunity to go and work at a week long retreat in Marbella, Spain. The Core are running a Juice and Raw Food retreat in March, with yoga, watersports and relaxation. Ellise will go to give massages (fitting it in around the cool activities of course!)

Ellise shares with me her motivation for becoming a beauty therapist. Her mother passed away a few years ago due to cancer. The Prospect Hospice had given her free massages while she was going through chemotherapy. Ellise saw the difference it made to her mother, and wanted to help people in the same way. She plans to do the course specific for cancer patients, so she can work for Prospect in the future.

She says it amazes her even now the difference massage can make to peoples' lives: one client came back and told her she'd cured their insomnia for a week! Another said she felt Ellise had cleared her bad energy, and she felt so much happier for weeks after the massage. 

Ellise tells me she has to do some grounding work to ensure that she doesn't take on other peoples' negative energies, which did happen a few times while she was at college doing reflexology. 

Ellise is also considering a University degree in plant-based nutrition, of Naturopathic Medicine- the use of whole and organic food as medicine. And her interest in vegan food has opened up another fantastic opportunity for her: opening up a vegan cafe in Nottingham together with her partner, Ron. She may be able to franchise a juice bar section from The Core, although that is still under negotiation. And of course she will have her own holistic lounge attached! Ellise has plans of eventually leaving someone else to take care of the cafe and go travelling, writing about vegan restaurants and food along the way.

People may be baffled that she is so young and wants to run the risk of opening up a business in a place far from her home town, but Ellises' attitude is one of gratitude: ''I have been given this fantastic opportunity, again!'' So why not go for it? She understands that if it doesn't work out, she can always return to her family in Swindon.

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She says she would regret not going more than going and it not working out.
I totally agree... take the gifts the world gives you, follow your passion,
and the whole world will open up.
Thank you Ellise, you are an inspiration!

To find out more or book with Ellise please see the Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/thecoreholistic/