admin While beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, there’s nothing wrong with a little extra care. Making this a norm and dispelling the social stigma, budding beauty entrepreneurs are bringing new techniques and treatments to the forefront. Among the top names leading this revolution against the taboos around beauty treatments, Diana Richardson is the most promising one. Working through her UK-based boutique beauty salon, Diana is reimagining beauty treatments for all.
Diana’s journey in the beauty industry is an ode to her lifelong dream of helping others and fostering confidence in others. As a skin and beauty expert, Diana’s hardwork has earned her not just the appreciation of clients but also several accolades. She is national Dermalogica brand ambassador, entrepreneur, skin expert, and most recently, a coach and mentor. Diana’s contributions to the industry have also been recognised by the BABTAC and CIBTAC International Beauty Therapist of the Year awards.
I love to give people the best treatment to make them comfortable in their own skin. This has been the driving force behind Orchids Retreat and will continue to inspire all my future endeavours – Diana Richardson
With over 20 years of hands-on experience in the beauty industry, Diana believes that confidence is born out of a synthesis of looking good and feeling good. To this end, all her treatments are customised to fit the specific needs of her clients that help them build their confidence. With a customer retention rate of 99% (more than double of the industry average), the secret to success for Diana is hidden in customer service. Needless to say the ‘Queen of Customer Service’ title – endearingly used by her clients- fits Diana aptly. Orchids Retreat also received the Dermalogica Derm Circle award for the last 6 consecutive years as well as Lux Magazine’s Customer Service Excellence and Leading Provider of Holistic Beauty in 2021.
A Courageous Origin Story
Diana’s passion translated into tangible work experience at the Luxor Hotel in 2000, while she was studying at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. From there, she moved to the UK and started training in beauty and holistic treatments. After this, she started Orchids Hideaway in 2003 from her bedroom. As times progressed, her clientele grew, and business prospered, moving the practice out of her mother’s home. Finally, she laid the foundation for Orchids Retreat, dedicated to offer safe and painless treatments leveraging cutting-edge technologies to amplify confidence in people of all age groups.
Heading the budding Orchids Retreat venture, Diana has to don many hats. From being the manager, mentor, social media expert to beauty therapist and team leader, Diana has to dispense varied duties on any given day. In the coming days, she wants to create a small team of dedicated professionals and delegate this myriad of operations to keep pace with the scaling speed of the venture.
Orchids Retreat: Beauty for All
Daina founded Orchids Retreat to help clients feel comfortable in their own skins. To this end, it offers a comprehensive list of services -right from chemical peels, and mesotherapy to customised facials to full body massages, and reflexology. With the goal to offer clients holistic care, Diana also disseminates valuable knowledge about skin care and beauty. Orchids Retreat also offers make up lessons and skin products online to help clients maintain their home care routines.
Incorporating well-being services like Reiki, Polarity, Aesthetics, and Hypnotherapy into the mix, Daina transformed the venture into the ultimate holistic health and beauty care name in the UK. As a result, the revamped Orchids Retreat Beauty and Well-Being Clinic was born in Lymington in July 2021.
Annihilating Roadblocks
Like all great and daring business women, Diana, too, knows that the path to excellence is one riddled with roadblocks and challenges. Diana believes challenges help you become resilient, teaching you invaluable life lessons. For Diana, the first hurdle was to dissipate the myths around beauty and self-care. To this end, Diana’s task was to actively create awareness among generations about the accessibility of beauty.
As women, we need to be audacious enough to seize opportunities and live our dreams. Success is not a quick-fix you can attain overnight or even a year. However, if you keep working relentlessly and stay true to your craft, success is inevitable – Diana Richardson
Among the recent roadblocks, the global pandemic was the most significant hurdle Diana had to eliminate. Diana was able to quickly respond to the aggravating situation given her ability to adapt to different circumstances. With the world migrating to a digital environment, Diana started virtual skincare lessons and physical pain relief treatments by working with osteopaths and chiropractors. Her foresight and relentless will power helped her move forward and pivot her business around changing circumstances.
Striking a Favourable Work-Life Balance
As a mother of two, Diana also has to cater to her sons, while growing her business. Her ace organisational and time management skills have helped her create a fool-proof routine. As a result, she can wake up at 5 a.m, go to the gym, manage business activities, prepare meals, and see her boys off to school, all without feeling overwhelmed. Given her inspiring work-life balance, Diana has also managed to create time for family meals and vacations. She believes that this level of organisation can only be attained through planning and as such, plans out not just her day, but also her calendar year.
Beacon of Inspiration
As a strong and successful women entrepreneur, Diana carries the mantle of encouraging fellow women folk. She believes in inspiring women to help build each other up, instead of finding faults in one another. Diana recognises financial independence as key to forging one’s own path. To this end she has pioneered the Signature D initiative.
Building on her passion for the industry, Diana started sharing knowledge and expertise to a new tribe of entrepreneurs through her latest Signature D initiative. The venture was created to help others in the beauty industry to grow and develop their businesses. Helping new entrants in the industry maintain the best industry standards, Signature D is responsible for mentoring, training, coaching, marketing, branding, and setting up businesses.
The Road Ahead
Given the success of Orchids Retreat, Diana plans to increase the scope of influence the company has and to change more lives in a positive way. To this end, she plans on a franchising model that can carry the confidence-building capabilities of the venture throughout the UK.
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