Celine Tadrissi, the unassuming entrepreneur who is putting Canada on the luxury beauty map

Walking into Hammam Spa in Toronto, your first thought may not be “humble beginnings.” The luxurious Turkish-inspired spa is welcoming but much more elaborate than your average registered massage therapist locale. But the person behind the spa, its founder Celine Tadrissi, worked hard to get to where she is today. And perhaps even harder because she’s female.

Tadrissi is an innovator. Hammam was founded in 2005. Throughout the years, Tadrissi has formulated her own products to use for treatments at the spa. Her clients would ask for the products to take home and she would give them samples. This led to the inception of Céla, Tadrissi’s line of luxury beauty products that are made from mostly Canadian ingredients.

Tadrissi credits a lot of her success to her mom. Tadrissi’s mother was a single mother who worked three jobs to support her kids. Her mother was so driven, she even ended up going back to school later in life, attending the University of Toronto at the same time as Tadrissi.

Now Tadrissi has a very established spa and beauty business and enjoys weekly meals and manicures with her mom and three daughters. Tadrissi also has a very dedicated team of employees, many of whom have been with her for over 15 years. It’s not a surprise that Tadrissi’s team is so loyal, as she leads through empowerment. Tadrissi treats her employees as partners and encourages their collaboration because she believes that the people who are client-facing are the most important to her businesses’ success.