Words by McKenzie Wade | Images by Al Blanton 

Lily Drummond sits on a plush sofa in Elle Luxe Spa, surrounded by luxurious bath bombs, scented candles, smooth lotions, and just about any other skin product you can think of. As she begins to tell her story, the shock of being a successful business owner is still evident in her voice. 

“I was not planning on opening my own spa this early on. I am only 22,” Lily says. “Being as young as I am, I never thought that I would be able to do things like this.” 

When Lily was 13, she began struggling with skin breakouts. Not sure what to do, Lily’s mother began taking her to a dermatologist, where she received facials that began curing her breakout problem. Lily’s visits to the dermatologist left a lasting impression on her. “I really saw how much they helped people feel good about themselves,” she says.

At 16, Lily began her first job in the spa business as a receptionist. By that point, she was convinced that esthetics was the career path for her. Upon graduating from then-Walker High School in 2017, she studied at Body Logic, where she became a certified esthetician. 

After spending a handful of years working at different spas, an opportunity arose for Lily to open her own spa. “We found this building. My mom and my grandparents really pushed me to go ahead and open it because it was a good opportunity,” Lily says.

Despite the encouragement from her mother and her grandparents, Lily wasn’t quite sold on the idea. “It was very overwhelming – the thought of it,” she says. 

Eventually, Lily jumped on board and in December 2020, Elle Luxe Spa opened its doors to the public. What lay ahead was more than she could have ever dreamt of.

Originally, Lily planned for the spa to be smaller and expected it would take a while to get off the ground. “[I] turned out to be very wrong,” she laughs. “It expanded much quicker than I thought it would.”

With the rapid growth of clients, Lily decided to expand her services and products. Today, Elle Luxe offers a wide variety of esthetic services including massages, facials, microneedling, brow and lash services, and much more. One of the spa’s popular services is the HydraFacial – a treatment that cleanses, exfoliates, and infuses your skin with nourishing hydration. “It is one of the quickest services with the best results,” Lily explains. 

In March 2021, just short of three months after opening, Elle Luxe was awarded Best Day Spa in Jasper by the Daily Mountain Eagle. “I am very proud of that because we are so new, and we have worked very hard,” Lily says.

Lily believes that her success is a direct result of the relationships that she builds with not only her employees, but also her clients. “My relationships with my clients are very genuine… showing clients that we really care about them. We are not just selling a product or a service,” she says.

As Lily reflects on the past six months, she is overcome with gratitude to her family and her employees. “They have helped me so much,” she says. “We definitely couldn’t do it without them.” 78