Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton is modernizing the self-care experience through her brand, Chillhouse
Get to know Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton, founder of Chillhouse, a new-age spa and wellness line focused on self-care.
Video Transcript
CYNDI RAMIREZ-FULTON: Self-care, it doesn't have to be this whole 12-step routine. It could be as easy as doing that stretch in the morning or taking that bath at night. Chillhouse creates self-care treatments for a chiller you through our modern day spas, both in SoHo and in Paris. It inspires people to be good to themselves.
Hi, I'm Cindy Ramirez-Fulton. I'm the founder and CEO of Chillhouse.
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Born and raised New Yorker, first generation Colombian American, I am the daughter of an aesthetician. My mom, she's a small business owner herself. And she started off with one little chair in a salon and kind of grew her business to having three spas at one point.
I watched her grow her businesses, but I felt like there was just always something missing for me and my generation. I just like sought out to change this industry I knew and grew up in, make it fun, accessible, light, and really for the modern day consumer. It just feels very full circle for me.
- Hey, how's it going?
CYNDI RAMIREZ-FULTON: Hey, I'm good.
We opened the doors March of 2017. It really did feel like it was something new, fresh, and exciting. In that first location, it was so tiny. We were busting at the seams. So instantly, we knew that we needed more space.
- All right, so we're all set for the new cafe menu.
CYNDI RAMIREZ-FULTON: OK, great.
We are at our flagship in SoHo. We have manicure services and pedicure services, massages, facials. We have an infrared heat room, and we also have a wellness cafe where we do anything from coffees to matches to our specialty lattes. And then we also have our at home self-care treatments. That's what we call our products essentially.
[NON-ENGLISH] OK, yeah. OK. I have a launch tomorrow for this new product called On the Mend. On the Mend is an instant mani makeover. So it comes in a little box. It comes with a nail file, crystal nail file, and then a nail repair serum. We really try to recreate whatever services that a spa or a salon and package it in one sort of easy, digestible manner so that you can replicate those experiences in your home.
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Instantly, the voice behind Chillhouse really resonated with people. Immediately, we got phone calls from the likes of Nike, H&M, all these major brands trying to partner with us. And I was just like, whoa, whoa, hold on. We're just a tiny spa on the Lower East Side, but it had so much impact because of what it represented.
We were finally speaking to a whole new community of people that can actually have access to services and in an industry that notoriously really only catered to wealthy individuals. The fact that I am Latina, and I just kind of represent an entirely different type of individual than the wellness industry has seen before I think really helped open up our doors and make ourselves appealing to a much larger community than the wellness industry has ever really seen before.
You can just talk through some product, though today. Obviously, On the Mend is launching tomorrow. So excited. We still tried to continue being a very attainable, affordable spa destination for our community, and also inspire them to take self care seriously.
We really want to be inclusive and think about where our products can reach people that may not have access to luxury spas. How do we make sure that they feel like they can still have that moment of chill? We really want to show up for all different types of demographics and think about how we can be there for them.
Last year, we launch 1% for our Chiller world where we get back 1% of our proceeds to a couple of mental health organizations. And I really love our partners-- Sad Girls Club, and Half the Story. And I'm so excited to continue our partnership with them.
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I don't want to stop at self care, or beauty, or wellness. I want to be a lifestyle brand that really elicits a feeling of well-being and self-care and doing good for yourself. I'm crazy enough to take us in all sorts of weird directions. But I think for now, we really want to hone in on how are we present for you at home when we can't be there for you in person. And hopefully, of course, open up more stories down the line in the future.
Of course, I hope to inspire others. I just want people, particularly women, to feel a little crazy sometimes, and follow your heart. And if it really feels like something that you yourself need, then it's something that the world probably really needs too.
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