A core belief in inner beauty and skin care led beauty therapist Alecia Hodgson to immerse herself in the industry and subsequently open Silver Sixpence skin clinic and spa in Wānaka.

“After qualifying from Christchurch’s National School of Aesthetics I went to Canada for spa experience and then travelled to various countries. This provided excellent grounding for what works and what clients ultimately desire from their beauty clinic.”

Returning to Wānaka from her travels Alecia set up a mobile beauty bus at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

“My goal was to create a job that I loved going to everyday and offer luxury spa treatments in a mobile environment. The beauty bus was a way for me not to feel trapped in one place and we catered to hens’ parties, glampers and ski bunnies.”

But she was intent on owning her own skin clinic and spa and to achieve this stepped out of her comfort zone to drive trucks in the Australian mines for two years.

 “I saved the money to open Silver Sixpence and I’m so happy to have taken the risk of creating this new business venture.”

Silver Sixpence is based at Three Parks and has a range of high-quality treatments focusing on long-term skin health, beauty enhancements and indulgent relaxation therapies.

“While the initial focus was skincare, our new luxury spa experience is dedicated to creating an oasis of calm and our clients love it. There are four treatment rooms, a twin tiled shower with infrared sauna and pedicure station with massage chairs,” says Alecia. “We offer medical grade infrared, hot oil and fizzing cocoa body wraps, massage and spa facial treatments and cater for large groups and wedding parties.”

“My team are constantly educating themselves to ensure best practice and I recently attended the Inmode conference in Australia. Our bright, clean clinical room is used for injectables and laser and we have Morpheus8 and FormaV treatments which are my current favourites.”

Alecia’s ambition has come to fruition and she is excited about the next chapter.

“I feel very grounded in Wānaka and absolutely love what we are doing here. Seeing clients walk out in a dreamy state or happy with the change in their skin is exciting and is the motivation for my team of seven to come to work each day. It’s a lovely, fun environment.”

“My partner Dan has been a lifesaver, taking time from his own Wānaka based gib stopping business to be very hands on with our daughters Marlee (1) and Frankie (4) so my business can thrive. It’s been an interesting, hard journey and I am grateful to all our clients for their positive support.”