An Environmental Footprint

Today, Hannah owns and operates Eco Spa, an organic wellness spa located in the heart of Mandurah’s Dolphin Quay Marina. “My love for beauty definitely started at an early age, says Hannah. “My mum often reminds me how I used to make myself banana and avocado face masks when I was in primary school, and that the mess drove her mad.” .

Hannah’s love for all things beauty continued to grow as she got older, and she said it was when she was approaching her twenties that she became truly conscious of the importance of natural living.

“The skin is our largest organ on our body - and it’s important that we look after it,” she said.

It was her passion for natural ingredients that led Hannah to pursuing a career in wellness and beauty, with Hannah deciding her biggest priority would be sourcing organic products to use on her clients.

“Before I opened Eco Spa, I was subleasing from a few hair salons where I ran a small beauty business for a few years. “During that time, I gained clients and experience along the way.”

At the age of 22, Hannah decided she would take the plunge and open her dream business, a natural and organic wellness spa with 100% Australian-made products. our advocacy for ensuring sustainable green business methods on a daily basis, in order to support our spa, community and environment well into the future. We actively demonstrate this through the wellness treatments we perform, the organic products and raw ingredients we use, our wastage and recycling efforts, and our commitment to our environment. Says Hannah.

It opened with just one employee and one little treatment room - but as the boom of the wellness industry hit, the business she had built up from the ground started to expand. Hannah said that as her business began to grow, she began attracting like-minded people who would help her propel Eco Spa to an entirely new level.

I hired a second employee, Monique - who is now our spa manager, she has been with me for over 8 years and has been a huge part of the Eco Spa journey.

“We had an office that we turned into a treatment room and then just kept building on.”

When Eco Spa reached spatial capacity, Hannah realised she would need to rent a second space to cater to demand.

“There was a place that came up for lease at the back of our shop - that is where we performed all of our massages - it was hard having two different areas to manage, and we had to walk through another space to get there.

We have since purchased our existing ‘leased’ premises as well as the neighbouring space - now consisting of 13 treatment rooms, 18 team members, quadrupling our original floorspace footprint and establishing Eco Spa the largest spa in the Peel Region.

Having never been in charge of such a large number of staff before, Hannah said she went through a lot of self-growth to ensure she built a beautiful culture for the entire team.

It’s very much a learning process and it’s kind of not something you can prepare for - you just have to learn as you go and do the best you can.

My own personal development played an important role - learning the tools for emotional regulation so I can respond instead of react to the many stressful situations that arise in business with a calm and balanced mind.” My husband is also a trained breathwork facilitator so that has been a big part of our journey too!”

Hannah says the relationship between staff has enriched the salon, with the positive environment carrying over to influence how clients feel, “The culture is really beautiful - so many of our girls say they have never worked in a place like it.

“We have zero tolerance for bullying, and we really strive to provide a supportive environment with great managers.

Hannah said one of her main tips for running a successful business was learning to adapt when things go awry.

“We were shut for about 10 weeks last year during COVID which was quite scary, not knowing when or if we were going to come back out of it.

“During that time, we revisited the whole menu, created some new treatments, renovated and creating ‘home journey boxes’ so people could enjoy a spa day at home.”

Hannah and her team delivered home journey spa boxes from Rockingham to Dawesville, delivering to clients who were missing their services. “Those were really successful - they allowed us to keep paying our rent, we had to pivot and adapt.

“We were thankfully able to open again and now, more than ever, people are putting more focus on their health and wellness.”

Hannah said she has big plans for the future of Eco Spa, which include the possibility of becoming a franchise.

“We have been working on setting Eco Spa up to franchise and plan on taking the brand national - and we are welcoming interest from potential investors.”

“I feel a strong responsibility as a business owner to minimise our environmental footprint to support our world into the future,” Hannah Loreto, founder of Eco Spa, tells us. “If every business owner took the time to evaluate and improve their green business practices we collectively can make a difference not only in the workplace setting but potentially inspire and educate the clients and customers from each business to expand the impacts further.”