Erika Maki is ready to turn the page on the pandemic and move onto a new chapter in entrepreneurial success. Despite having to temporarily close her doors due to pandemic restrictions, Maki, owner of A Spa For You and dean of Esthetic Academy, took advantage of the time and sought to cultivate her next move.
Her spa, no longer shuttered, continues to provide residents of Thunder Bay with services like salt glows, body wraps, facials, pedicures, manicures and massages. On the education side, Maki is starting up a new school year at her academy and has also made a number of workshops available in hot stone massage, Brazilian waxing and gel nails. However, one new jet setting venture, which Maki is calling Spa education, will be integrated into her business model come May 2022.
“I’ve found personally that when travelling, I’ve been enriched with new knowledge and new experiences that have been valuable for students, so why not offer something that is an extension of that,” she says.
The annual trip, which Maki explains will last 14-16 days, will take participants to a number of European Regions. The idea is that at each stop, travellers will be offered a taste of the region’s beauty industry and spa treatments, culinary scene and yoga practices. Despite the event being branded as a trip in spa education, those who are interested in culinary or yoga can opt to engage in those respective activities, Maki says. If significant others, friends or family of workshop participants also wish to tag along, they are welcome to do so.
The development of the Spa education component is part of Maki’s larger plan to personally transition out of her role as an aesthetician and take on a role to grow the beauty industry through education.
“This is not just about nail polish and facials,” she says. “This is about the need to experience human touch and to be nurtured. I feel as a society in general we have lost a little bit of that, especially with COVID. And I think we can provide people with nurturement in the world of aesthetics.”
Maki says she’d also like to focus some of her attention towards programs like Business In A Bag, that help people, specifically women, in underprivileged countries become entrepreneurs. For her, she’s even thought about how she might be able to provide others in developing nations with free education as it relates to the beauty industry. Ultimately, she knows that in the years ahead whatever she decides to do will involve using her skills to make a positive impact in more ways than one.
