How it started
Opening a business during a global pandemic? Most people would call that terrible timing. I call it destiny.
In 2020, as the world shut down and isolation became our new reality, I opened Sous La Face Skin Restoration Studio in Toronto’s Yorkville neighborhood. But this wasn’t just about launching a business—it was about reclaiming myself after years of feeling like I’d lost touch with who I was beyond “mom.”
The truth is, Sous La was born from a very specific kind of loneliness—the kind that comes from loving your children fiercely while simultaneously craving something more for yourself.
For years, I was a stay-at-home mom. And while I treasured that time with my kids, I also felt myself fading into the background. My identity became “mom” and nothing else. I missed the intellectual stimulation, the creative challenges, the version of myself that existed beyond snack time and bedtime routines. And then came the guilt—the crushing, relentless guilt for wanting more. For missing my career. For dreaming about going back to work when I “should” have been content.
But here’s what I learned: wanting more doesn’t make you ungrateful. It makes you human.
The inspiration for what would become Sous La came years earlier, after three consecutive summers travelling through Spain, Italy, and England. I stumbled upon a historic-meets-modern form of facial sculpting that absolutely captivated me. It was transformative, immediate, and rooted in techniques that had been practiced for generations across cultures that understood something profound: wellness is community. Beauty is connection. Transformation happens when we’re seen, touched, and held.
Those European summers reminded me of who I was before motherhood consumed my entire identity. They awakened something in me I thought I’d lost—my ambition, my curiosity, my fire.
I knew I had to bring it home to Toronto. But more than that, I knew I had to create a space where people—especially women—could step out of isolation and back into their power. I wanted to build something for every woman who’d ever felt invisible, every mother who’d ever felt guilty for wanting more, every person who’d forgotten who they were beneath all the roles they played.
When the pandemic hit and the world went into lockdown, that isolation I’d experienced for years as a stay-at-home mom became universal. Everyone suddenly understood the loneliness, the disconnection, the desperate need for human touch and meaningful connection.
And I thought: If not now, when?
So I made the decision. I was going back to work. I was building something extraordinary. And I was done apologizing for it.
The principle behind Sous La? True facial transformation happens from within—literally. We sculpt the face by working inside the mouth, using buccal massage to access the muscles beneath the surface. It’s an innovative, non-invasive approach that delivers immediate anti-aging results without needles, fillers, or Botox. But it’s also deeply intimate, deeply human, and deeply healing.
To master these techniques, I travelled to Germany and New York to study face sculpting and intra oral buccal massage under the best in the field. Every trip, I felt more alive. Every certification, I shed another layer of guilt and stepped further into my purpose. What I learned changed everything: transformation happens Sous La Face—beneath the face—where we work intensively with the muscles to release tension, increase blood flow, stimulate collagen production, and engage the lymphatic system.
But I also learned this: when you touch someone with intention, when you create space for them to be held and seen, you’re not just changing their face. You’re changing their nervous system. You’re reminding them they’re not alone. You’re giving them permission to take up space again.
One of our signature offerings is the trademarked Radical Radiance Regime Face treatment (RRR™ Face), born out of what started as a midlife crisis and turned into a midlife awakening. The treatment uses multiple modalities—including reflexology, lymphatic brushing, and deep facial massage—to create meaningful change. Two popular modalities included are our signature buccal (inner-mouth) massage, which releases deep muscular tension, and micro-electrical currents that stimulate facial muscles to improve tone and diminish fine lines.
The benefits go far beyond aesthetics. Clients experience relief from tension headaches, jaw clenching TMJ, neck pain, and sleep disturbances. We remove toxins and fluids to lift the face, rediscover cheekbones and jawlines, and restore what’s been there all along. But what they tell me most often is this: “I feel like myself again.” “I didn’t realize how much I needed this.”
I understand that feeling intimately. Because Sous La gave that back to me too.
That’s what Sous La is really about. It’s a safe space for full-body rejuvenation, yes—we offer services that help clients reclaim confidence. But it’s also a sanctuary. A place where isolation ends and transformation begins. A place where men & women can shed the guilt and step back into their power.
Sous La story
Starting a business is a wild ride I could never have fully imagined. Then throw a pandemic on top of it? Add the complexity of balancing motherhood with entrepreneurship? I could have played it safe. Instead, I said fuck it and went all in.
The pandemic gave me the time and space to start a quiet rebellion against the norms of the beauty industry—an industry that had become transactional, superficial, disconnected. But it also became my rebellion against the guilt and invisibility that so many mothers carry in silence.
I built Sous La out of isolation and loneliness, yes. But I built it for connection. For community. For every woman who’s ever wanted more and felt guilty about it. For the radical act of caring for our bodies as integrated systems, not just surfaces to fix.
That rebellion became Sous La. And now, it’s become a movement.
From Toronto to Los Angeles, we’re proving that true transformation isn’t about chasing trends or fighting aging. It’s about coming home to yourself. It’s about being held. It’s about remembering that wanting more doesn’t make you a bad mother—it makes you ambitious, driven, and unapologetically alive. And you were never meant to do this alone.
That’s the Sous La story. That’s my story. And we’re just getting started.
