ABOUT US

I began my journey in alternative therapies in 1996 in Hong Kong where I was born and raised. In 1997 I moved to Dubai UAE with my family and realised after spending a year here, that there was nothing happening in alternative medicines, healing modalities, essential oils and so much more. I did my research  and commenced with importing my brand ‘eSSensuals’  grade A, organic essential oils from France and moved into the retail side of it in a shared shop in Jumeirah. Within six months I realised that there is a lot more interest and people want treatments, bespoke blends, especially learn how to blend essential oils safely and use at home. This ‘AHA’ moment set me off to look for a space to open the first ever Aromatherapy centre in the region.  Essensuals Aromatherapy Centre was born in 1999 with a lot of work with the government authorities, as they did not understand what aromatherapy was. With much deliberation and hard work we were the first ones to get a ’specialised rehabilitation license’ to treat men and women equally.

My business flourished and I was working 12 hours a day to make it work, recruiting  3 trained South African therapists to work at the centre. News got out that there was a new place in town where one can go and get alternative treatments without drugs or conventional medicine. Our business grew almost instantaneously and we were so proud. However after 9 years of working such long hours I got paralysed in my right arm and was unable to continue with my work and sold the business and took a one year sabbatical. This was a low point in my life but I had no choice and after receiving healing I was back as a freelancer offering sessions, classes and workshops in what I do best. This went on for 1.5 years until I realised I need to open up my business again.

In 2010 I opened one of the first alternative training centres in Dubai in JLT called ’The Holistic Institute’. This was a registered KHDA training centre offering Diploma courses in Clinical Aromatherapy (IFPA and ITEC). It was truly one of its kind and we flourished with students rushing to get accredited with the best affiliations in the world.  Unfortunately in 2014 the DHA came up with a regulation that did not support us and said that all our graduates will have to leave the country for two years to get post experience before they can work legally here at any spa or centre. This killed my business and I shut down at the end of 2014

Since then I have worked as a freelance trainer and therapist in Dubai, Hong Kong and London, travelling between these places to offer workshops and sessions. In 2020 COVID hit the world and I decided to start training on-line as we were restricted with face to face sessions and I opened ’The Holistic Alternatives’ where till today we offer the IFPA and NAHA International diploma in Clinical Aromatherapy on our digital platform. We also added some fun short courses to add value to our newly created platform.  This is what I continue to do  today, creating new courses online for the platform and still see regular clients for treatments and face to face training. 

I have a lot of speaking invitations for Traditional medicine forums worldwide and am a Keynote speaker for them, this I still continue today using scientific research in explaining the different diseases we encounter and which essential oils help to aid those conditions. As always life takes you further and I continue learning and teaching and doing my research. I am also proud to say that I have written a chapter in a published book called ’She is Remarkable’ written by 29 strong women about their struggles and obstacles they had to face to where they have reached today.