Small Business Saturday: The Joanna Vargas Story

Small Business Saturday: The Joanna Vargas Story

This Small Business Saturday, we are sharing the story of how Joanna founded her namesake spas and skincare line. Small Business Saturday is a celebratory shopping day started in 2010 as a way to help small businesses gain additional exposure during the holiday season.

We’re all about small business - and big on glowing skin!


What inspired Joanna to build a brand?

Bringing her background in photography and a BA in women’s studies into the beauty industry, Joanna navigated her way through her early days as a facialist in New York City in the early 2000’s.

Joanna first fell in love with natural skin care products while practicing esthetics at a day spa, and later worked for a celebrity dermatologist, where she learned extensively about anti-aging treatments and the most efficacious ingredients and formulas available.

Joanna realized that people want active ingredients and the best results possible, and it was from this idea that her spa was born in 2006, with the product line to follow in 2011.


How did Joanna create her spa experiences?

In creating her signature services, Joanna combined her coveted products with proven techniques including microcurrent, microdermabrasion, oxygen infusions, and LED light therapy to deliver immediate results.

Joanna specializes in cutting edge treatments, from her microcurrent Triple Crown Facial that tightens and lifts the skin for an instantly sculpted face, to her patented LED RevitaLight Bed, developed from NASA studies that found LED lights heal the skin at a 300% faster rate, promote collagen production, reduce inflammation and shrink pores. Joanna’s treatments are completely unique, from her training methods, to her knowledge and attention to detail to her products and machines.

Each of these elements contribute to the Joanna Vargas experience that is unparalleled to other salons. 

And the skincare line?

As her practice evolved and expanded, Joanna was inspired to apply her philosophy to a namesake skin care collection, making it possible for clients and fans everywhere to maintain their skin at home. In 2020, she launched her first-ever at-home skincare device, Magic Glow Wand, that also won an Allure Best of Beauty Award.

In 2018, her Rescue Serum was named an Allure Best of Beauty winner, and simultaneously her Super Nova Serum won InStyle’s Reader’s Choice Award. 

How can a small business have a big impact?

In February 2020, Joanna released her first book, “Glow From Within” – a lifestyle guide on how to everyone can achieve glowing skin from the inside, out. In it,

Joanna shares a comprehensive overview to skincare past just the basics: how nutrition affects your skin, self-care rituals and includes detailed tips for troubleshooting highly specific skin concerns, all mixed in with Joanna’s sought-after insider secrets and real-life anecdotes from celebrity clients. 


Joanna has teams in both New York and Los Angeles ready to get you glowing, in an elevated yet personal spa setting. Or, shop Joanna’s products online this holiday to support our female-founded small business!