WORKING LUNCH WITH ROS

MELANIE GLEESON - ENDOTA SPA

Created in 2000 by Melanie Gleeson, Endota Spa was born of a dream to give back and inspire people to connect with themselves, the environment and others. In April’s Working Lunch, Features Editor Ros Reines, discovers what it takes to run a beauty brand that helps nourish and nurture the mind, body and skin.

The sun is shining down on the headquarters of Endota Spa on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula and the founder and CEO, Melanie Gleeson has just put her lunch order in.

She’ll have the tuna salad. Make that 100 serves.

“Once a week we get our team lunch supplied, which we will eat outside in our lovely kitchen garden,” she explains.

“Sometimes it’s Mexican or it could even be dumplings, as we like to mix it up. It’s really a chance to bring the team together, to listen to what they say and show them how much they are valued,” she says.

It’s all part of Gleeson’s business model that wellness starts from the ground up. She has built a brand which is based on pampering and empowering her customers. That also means “looking after the people who serve them”.

Charismatic and kind, Melanie Gleeson is the spa mogul who ushered in Australia’s wellness revolution with the Endota Spa empire that now includes over 100 spas, as well as an Australian-made treatment range and a training college. She’s now the country’s largest spa operator and one of the first to introduce natural, local ingredients in her products.

‘Endota’ is an indigenous word meaning beautiful – a quality which Gleeson exemplifies with her radiance and flowing natural grey hair.

Circle back to the year 2000 when, at the age of 26, she took over a Mornington Peninsula shop, transforming it into a spa, financed on a $5,000 credit card.

Some locals were appalled by the move.

“We nearly didn’t get our permit as the council thought that we were going to open a brothel. You see, 24 years ago there wasn’t really a spa industry in Australia.” Gleeson, in efect, launched it.

From that modest investment, Gleeson reports that Endota Spa now has a “$200 million turnover including the Endota Wellness College, the product line and the franchise network.”

She’s recently expanded to New Zealand and, in an audacious move, there’s now an Endota Spa in Thailand – the pampering heartland of the world.

Isn’t that a little like carrying sand to the beach?

Gleeson laughs, after all that move wasn’t part of a planned expansion.

“We make the Endota skincare range here in Australia and we have some amazing business partners who distribute it throughout Thailand,” she explains.

“So, we thought, why not open a spa to go with the products”.

“They found this incredible site beneath the Intercontinental Hotel in Bangkok with ten treatment rooms and it’s one of our most beautiful spas,” she marvels.

And by the way, business is booming.

The Endota range, which encompasses everything from Native Mint & Cedarwood Hand Cream – to Anti-Ageing treatments, is further enhanced with packaging from First Nations’ artists.

At special times of the year, including Mother’s Day, artists from the Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre at Flinders Crossing, in the Northern Territory, create the look for the brand with a portion of sales going back to their community.

“They run programs that help indigenous female artists create and give them a space to go to where they can talk and connect,” she explains. “It’s our way of giving back.”

Melanie Gleeson operates her business from a stable base. She and her husband, Peter live on the Mornington Peninsula with their two sons, Fergus, 15, and Jimmy, 11.

Once the boys are packed of to school, her work day begins with a walk along the beach with Pete and then a daily email from her dad. It includes an inspirational quote, which is then circulated in an all-staff email.

Today’s quote is: “The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone but the things you do for others remain as your legacy”.

It’s written by Kalu Ndukwe Kalu – a Nigerian born American political scientist.

“My dad started out just emailing myself and my sister, “ Gleeson explains. “But now it goes out to our whole organisation including our training college.”

“We concentrate on each one and that’s our intention setting for the day,” she says.

This practice further amplifies Endota’s values: Intent, Connect, Truth and Balance.

Still, Gleeson hasn’t exactly had a dream run with Endota Spa and there were several times when she considered giving up.

“In the beginning, it was tough,” she reveals. “I was only 26 and I was super naive about the road that lay ahead.

We were living from moment to moment but somehow we pushed through.”

Her advice for anyone else starting out a business in a similar position is straightforward.

“Only stick at it if you love it,” she says, “Because if you don’t love it, you won’t be able to fight for it when you have to and to get through all of the setbacks.”

Gleeson ensures her own life is balanced by staying in tune with her body with daily pilates or yoga sessions and a guided meditation at the end of each day. But she also makes time to have fun and has recently returned from a “girl’s trip” to Byron Bay where she admits that she may have indulged in a few too many cocktails.

Her own business goals in 2024 include looking for more opportunities to open Endota spas throughout Asia and to expand further across New Zealand.

Of course, wherever an Endota Spa is opened, Melanie Gleeson and her team will ensure that the treatments are more than skin deep and that it’s a place to momentarily switch of from the world.