Lifestyle

Deisy Suarez-Giles on Beauty, Female Empowerment and Philanthropy

Published

5 years ago

November 17, 2020

The beauty and spa industry is inarguably cut-throat. It’s no easy feat for newcomers who are trying to make their name in cosmetics and skincare arena, when you’re competing with beauty giants who have been decades-long key players of the game. But Deisy Suarez-Giles braved the odds and came out on top with her namesake label.

A believer that she is more than just a businesswoman, she built her company for reasons tied closely to her core values — inspiring and empowering individuals through the transformative power of wellness and spa. We caught up with the founder as she has just dipped her toe launching her second DESUAR SPA location in Los Angeles, to discover what success means to the girl boss.

Name: Deisy Suarez-Giles
Profession: Founder and CEO of DESUAR SPA, AUTHOR and PHILANTHROPIST
Start up since: 2010

Tell us about your business. What do you do?

I like to believe that I am able to be part of something bigger in my role as the Founder and CEO of DESUAR SPA, esthetician and philanthropist. The brand was founded with the intention of inspiring and empowering individuals through the transformative power of spa and wellness.

Wellness Spa provides a universal language of happiness, self-love and creativity, and I learned this through my philanthropic work. I had the unique opportunity to volunteer at the Living Water Children’s Centre in Tanzania, Africa where I applied my touch therapy to healing orphan children.

DESUAR Spa has continued to grow, providing clinically proven skincare procedures, ultrasonic, chemical peels & microdermabrasion facials, and Suarez-Giles’ very own “secret” body scrub formula, along with massage treatments, spray tanning, body scrubs, soak rituals, wraps, and waxing services. DESUAR Spa offers healing as well as high-end relaxing treatments fit for royalty, be it massage, waxing, facials, body scrubs, saunas, or even CBD treatments.

DESUAR SPA encourages self-love, inner power and realizes the different definitions and expressions of beauty and wellness: each product and service is designed with unique aspirational affirmations, so that the individual feels uplifted when using our products or services.

Tell me about your best and worst day at work?

As an entrepreneur, no one day is exactly the same, but my favorite kind of days are the ones in which I am able to feel and see that my services are serving as a source of confidence.

My so-called worst days are the ones where I feel I need two of me and more hours in a single day. I am extremely hands on with all areas of the business from concept development to product formulation, management and distribution to ensure every addition to the DESUAR SPA portfolio speaks true to our values: to empower and inspire all those who use our services and products.

Looking back now, what would you have done differently?

I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason. I always believe that every failure shouldn’t be labeled as a failure, but rather a step towards being a better version of yourself. If I have to do it again, I will do it the same all over again.

What is a normal work day like?

While I wouldn’t categorize this as a ‘normal’ workday, I’d say my days usually consist of: speaking with my staff, liaising with, working on new formulations and products, creating new menu, and engaging with my community via social media.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start up?

Starting something up is one of the most fulfilling, but also one of the most challenging things you will do. It will push you to your utmost limits, but will also be unbelievably gratifying. My advice would be to take a chance on yourself, set your sights on the goals you want to accomplish, believe in yourself no matter what anyone else says and take the first step in the right direction. Never stop learning, continuing education is a must to be able to stay current to new trends and changes in consumer behavior.

What are your goals for 2020? And in the near future?

It’s full speed ahead at the moment in terms of expansion and growth in order to be accessible to our customer. We are also working on several new products to add to the collection. I aim to launch my Skin Care products, along with my second book as an author called “Holy Skin”, in December 2020. Lastly, I am fully involved in my new outdoor spa concept, in order to adapt to the new normal and be able to continually provide wellness services that people need and want. Especially now during these difficult times.

How hands-on are you?

Extremely! I’m involved in every aspect of the business from hiring, training, management, conceptualization to formulation and distribution. Every service that is in our spa has been inspired by my experiences through my philanthropy, travels around the world, and as an esthetician and massage therapist. With that being said, I am very fortunate to have a team that I can consult with and support in making each product and wellness treatment a reality.

How do you define success? Do you consider yourself being successful?

My definition of success is being able to make someone feel empowered and indestructibly confident in themselves, be it through the application of one of our services or through my voice.At this very moment in time, I would say that success is a journey and I still believe that for myself, there is more to come.

With her entrepreneurial spirit and emphasis on education, it is no surprise that Suarez-Giles has been featured in Forbes, LA Magazine, Entertainment Tonight, NBC, ABC News, Zoe Report, Voyage LA, Spa Insider, Well and Away, DTLA Weekly, LA Magazine, Medium, Thrive Global, and MTV. She has also worked with many Hollywood celebrities and sports figures. Success is important to Suarez-Giles but philanthropy also has an important place in her life.

Lifestyle

Wanda Knight on Blending Culture, Style, and Leadership Through Travel

Published

2 days ago

December 24, 2025

Michelle Langton

The best lessons in leadership do not always come from a classroom or a boardroom. Sometimes they come from a crowded market in a foreign city, a train ride through unfamiliar landscapes, or a quiet conversation with someone whose life looks very different from your own.

Wanda Knight has built her career in enterprise sales and leadership for more than three decades, working with some of the world’s largest companies and guiding teams through constant change. But ask her what shaped her most, and she will point not just to her professional milestones but to the way travel has expanded her perspective. With 38 countries visited and more on the horizon, her worldview has been formed as much by her passport as by her resume.

Travel entered her life early. Her parents valued exploration, and before she began college, she had already lived in Italy. That experience, stepping into a different culture at such a young age, left a lasting impression. It showed her that the world was much bigger than the environment she grew up in and that adaptability was not just useful, it was necessary. Those early lessons of curiosity and openness would later shape the way she led in business.

Sales, at its core, is about connection. Numbers matter, but relationships determine long-term success. Wanda’s time abroad taught her how to connect across differences. Navigating unfamiliar places and adjusting to environments that operated on different expectations gave her the patience and awareness to understand people first, and business second. That approach carried over into leadership, where she built a reputation for giving her teams the space to take ownership while standing firmly behind them when it mattered most.

The link between travel and leadership becomes even clearer in moments of challenge. Unfamiliar settings require flexibility, quick decision-making, and the ability to stay calm under pressure. The same skills are critical in enterprise sales, where strategies shift quickly and no deal is ever guaranteed. Knight learned that success comes from being willing to step into the unknown, whether that means exploring a new country or taking on a leadership role she had not originally planned to pursue.

Her travels have also influenced her eye for style and her creative pursuits. Fashion, for Wanda, is more than clothing; it is a reflection of culture, history, and identity. Experiencing how different communities express themselves, from the craftsmanship of Italian textiles to the energy of street style in cities around the world, has deepened her appreciation for aesthetics as a form of storytelling. Rather than keeping her professional and personal worlds separate, she has learned to blend them, carrying the discipline and strategy of her sales career into her creative interests and vice versa.

None of this has been about starting over. It has been about adding layers, expanding her perspective without erasing the experiences that came before. Wanda’s story is not one of leaving a career behind but of integrating all the parts of who she is: a leader shaped by high-stakes business, a traveler shaped by global culture, and a creative voice learning to merge both worlds.

What stands out most is how she continues to approach both leadership and life with the same curiosity that first took her beyond her comfort zone. Each new country is an opportunity to learn, just as each new role has been a chance to grow. For those looking at her path, the lesson is clear: leadership is not about staying in one lane; it is about collecting experiences that teach you how to see, how to adapt, and how to connect.

As she looks to the future, Wanda Knight’s compass still points outward. She will keep adding stamps to her passport, finding inspiration in new cultures, and carrying those insights back into the rooms where strategy is shaped and decisions are made. Her legacy will not be measured only by deals closed or positions held but by the perspective she brought, and the way she showed that leading with a global view can change the story for everyone around you.