When aesthetician and educator Farida Lynch lost her job as head of the aesthetics department at the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon and Spa at The Westchester in White Plains after the pandemic lockdown on March 14, 2020, she said she cried for two or three days. Then she remembered something her mother said: “Things happen for a reason. You can’t do anything about (what’s past).”
But she could do something about the present and the future. She turned to her husband, John Lynch, and said, “I want to open my own business.”
He was understandably skeptical: With mask mandates and no vaccine yet, people were not venturing out to spas – or anywhere, for that matter. But Farida, as she styles herself, was determined.
On June 23, 2020, she opened Farida Studio Inc. with an $800-a-week room at Sola Salon Studios in White Plains and two former Red Door employees. (By then Red Door – founded in 1910 by skincare and fragrance entrepreneur Elizabeth Arden and, after many changes in ownership, lastly rebranded as Mynd Spa & Salon – had filed for liquidation bankruptcy and shuttered some 30 locations nationwide.). Slowly, Farida and her staff increased their offerings beyond eyebrow threading, tinting and waxing, which could be done with masks in place, to facials, including HydraFacials, which use a special machine; laser hair removal; nonsurgical toning and lifting; body wraps and scrubs; and massages. Within two years, Lynch would add four more employees and two treatment rooms.
In a “Field of Dreams” case of “if you build it, they will come,” the clientele Farida and her team had at Red Door – where she had been a certified Red Door Educator, offering training in White Plains and at other locations – remained loyal and grew. Perhaps that’s because Farida was loyal to them.
“They’re not my clients,” she said. “They’re my guests, my family.”
The proof of that is in the numbers: Revenues for Farida Studio, a business begun with family capital, have grown from $100,000 in 2020 to seven figures in 2023. And since March 4 of last year, the business has occupied a prime piece of real estate nestled at the back of 120 Bloomingdale Road in White Plains, an office building next to the tony Waterstone of Westchester senior living complex, across the street from Bloomingdale’s and just down the street from Whole Foods and The Westchester, where Lynch once worked.
Numbers, however, tell only part of the story. The 4,500-square-foot Farida Studio radiates ease and comfort. A crisp signature lemongrass scent wafts through the space. The six treatment rooms are elegant and immaculate, with a gray and white palette and enough space for guests to change so there’s no locker-room for awkward encounters with people in too-skimpy robes. For the time you are there, the treatment room is truly your space to use.
There’s a small lounge outfitted with lemon water, tea and snacks and a small yoga studio for classes in classic hatha yoga. The well-stocked, pristine ladies’ room and a gender-neutral bathroom for male clients reflect the preponderance of female guests, who, Farida said, are mainly ages 25 to 60 and seeking to age gracefully. Farida Studio’s male clients are mostly looking for facials and laser hair removal or accompanied by a significant other. (A sliding wall converts two of the treatment rooms into a couple’s suite). The studio also treats teenagers with acne problems and seniors as well.
Farida the studio is very much a reflection of Farida the woman, who has a soothing, open-hearted manner. Skincare has been a passion from her early youth in Chennai (formerly Madras) in South India. After high school, she studied skin care in Kerala, the birthplace of ayurveda, a form of alternative medicine that includes acupuncture, dietary changes, herbs, massage therapy and yoga. Farida went on to become a certified skin therapist after graduating from the South Indian branch of Pivot Point, an American beauty institute, where she also started her career as a teacher.
It was in India that Farida met her husband, who was working for an investment firm there. (Lynch, director of finance for the town of Ramapo, is co-founder and CFO of Farida Studio. The couple have boy-girl twins and make their home in Suffern, having settled in the United States in 2010.) Farida earned her American certification at Dermalogica Academy in Manhattan and worked at medical spas in 2013 before joining Red Door a year later.
Now the former medical spa employee is about to become a medical spa employer: Farida said she’ll be bringing a doctor on board for an array of medispa offerings, such as botox, fillers, IV infusion therapy, advanced acne treatments, chemical peels, skin tightening, weight loss and advanced laser treatments like RF (radiofrequency) and PRP (platelet-rich plasma) microneedling.
News 12 called her “a brave woman entrepreneur opening in the middle of the pandemic,” but in addition to being brave-hearted, Farida said, “I want Farida Studio to be a small company with a big heart.” During Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, 10% of proceeds go to White Plains Hospital for breast cancer research, with $25,000 donated over the past three years. And each month company gift cards are part of various nonprofits’ fundraising events.
For Farida, it’s a reflection of her purpose and her passion. She may be working six days a week, but, she said, “it’s fun.”
For more, visit faridastudio.com.
