Sobriety to Skincare: Crafting The Luminary
Some of my earliest memories are of watching my mom take care of her skin. She wasn’t a makeup person. She was a skincare person. On her bathroom counter were the products she used each day, but it was the care and intention behind the ritual, how she moved, how she dressed, how she carried herself, that left the deepest impression on me. I remember watching her perform that ritual, morning and night, with a quiet reverence. It wasn’t about vanity; it was about care.
Those small acts imprinted on me. From a young age, I loved the idea of ritual. The way a scent, a texture, or a small moment could become a form of self-connection. At first it was perfumes and skincare, but over time it became something deeper: the understanding that how we care for ourselves on the surface reflects how we feel underneath.
Growing up in the country meant I spent a lot of time alone. The trees and plants around me became my friends and teachers. They held me through loneliness and shaped my sense of belonging. Even now, I think that early solitude and connection to nature became the quiet roots of what would later become my work.
My grandmother was one of my greatest influences, though I didn’t fully understand it until much later. She was Ukrainian, strong, and incredibly resourceful. A woman who overcame severe alcoholism and lived more than thirty years sober. She found her healing in the same house I live in today. After getting sober, she became devoted to plants, alternative medicine, and natural health. Her cupboards were full of books on herbs, tinctures, and healing foods.
That legacy of self-healing runs deep in my family. My mom and sister are incredible cooks, and from them I learned that nourishment is its own kind of care. My sister and I were both heavy into sports growing up, so we were taught early on about hydration, food, and movement. Lessons that have carried into my adult life, motherhood, and my work with skin and the body.
Like many of us, I had to navigate my own struggles with addiction and the consequences of losing sight of the rituals that once grounded me. In my twenties, I moved away from the country and into the city, chasing art and freedom. I got into fashion photography and, eventually, into drugs and alcohol. The teachings of my mother and grandmother faded into the background as I tried to carve out my own path.
By the time I was twenty-five, I had hit bottom. I went through detox and rehab and began the long process of recovery. Through it all, one thing never left me: tending to myself, even in the smallest ways. Even during my darkest years, that remained a quiet thread of consistency, something I could return to that felt pure and grounding.
In 2013, newly sober and just beginning to rebuild my life, I moved back home to Guelph and into my grandmother’s basement to live with her and my sister, who was also navigating her recovery journey. It was humbling, but it was also a return to my roots in every sense of the word. My sister and I would forage leeks, mushrooms, and herbs together, and she taught me how to preserve and pickle what we found. Those moments were healing. They reminded me that beauty and nourishment could come from the simplest things.
Around that time, I was reading Flare Magazine and came across an article about Province Apothecary, a small skincare company in Toronto. Something clicked. I reached out to the founder, Julie, and asked if I could intern. I started traveling from Guelph to Toronto once a week to help her pour, label, and package products. Working for free, but completely lit up by the experience.
Julie was the first person who mentioned “holistic facials” to me, and I remember feeling an immediate pull. She encouraged me to go back to school, and without overthinking it, I enrolled in the Medical Aesthetics program at George Brown College. For three years, I drove to Toronto in the evenings while working other jobs during the day. Along the way, I became a certified aromatherapist and began taking advanced trainings across North America: Dr. Vodder’s Manual Lymphatic Drainage, holistic facial massage, reflexology, gua sha, cupping, Ayurvedic facial therapy, and more.
Education became and has continued to be apart of my healing. I realized that the more I learned, the more I could help others understand that beauty is not something we apply, but something we uncover.
When I first started my practice, I worked from home. I had no clients, but I had time, drive, and an unshakable belief that this was what I was meant to do. I poured everything I had into my craft, flying to workshops in New York, North Carolina, and anywhere I could learn. Within a year, I was fully booked with a waitlist.
Then COVID hit, and like many, I had to pivot. I realized I didn’t want to work from home anymore, especially with a new baby. I needed space to create, to breathe, and to fully express the vision I had for my practice. That’s when I found a home for Woodside Holistic and began the long process of renovating, designing, and creating a sanctuary that could hold my clients, my family, and the work I was building.
I’ve relapsed, I’ve restarted, and I’ve rebuilt, but I’ve never stopped learning. More than ten years sober, my sobriety and my work are deeply connected. Every step of this journey, from experimenting with essential oils and crafting soaps, to traveling for training in lymphatic drainage, gua sha, and holistic facial therapies, has led to the work I do today.
Since opening Woodside Holistic, I’ve offered a consistent facial menu grounded in my philosophy of slow beauty and body-based healing. Now, as I focus on the next chapter, I’m thrilled to offer three specialized experiences that reflect both my training and my personal approach to transformation: the Lymphatic, Microneedling, and the Luminary.
The Lymphatic is a gentle, deeply detoxifying treatment that supports the body’s natural flow and relaxes the nervous system using Manual Lymphatic Drainage, leaving the skin glowing. The Microneedling session combines next-generation technology with holistic care, stimulating collagen and enhancing vitality while nurturing the skin’s natural rhythms.
And then there’s the Luminary — the pinnacle of my work. A fully bespoke facial immersion, it blends sculpting, myofascial release, buccal massage, gua sha, cupping, reflexology, lymphatic drainage, and modern modalities like microcurrent and red light therapy. Years of study, practice, and personal exploration have all led to the creation of this treatment. Every element is selected to honour your skin and body’s unique needs. The ritual concludes with a custom facial oil I craft personally, paired with structured water, tea, or artisan chocolate. It is a co-created experience where skin, spirit, and nervous system converge in restoration, radiance, and renewal.
Every choice I’ve made, every treatment learned, every botanical grown, every ritual practiced has led to this moment. The Luminary is now available to book. It is a deeply personal, transformative journey for your skin, your body, and yourself.
This work has always been about coming home. To my body, to the earth, to the rhythms and rituals that have carried me here. The Luminary is the culmination of that journey, and it is my invitation for you to experience it for yourself.
