By Michelle Alles
Keeping in mind the busy lifestyles of today, Teruni De Silva, the Managing Director of Soirté Links (Pvt) Ltd, brings you Club Soirté, an online platform for salon and spa appointment bookings. I’ve no doubt that all the busy folks out there looking for an enjoyable and convenient salon, spa, wellness center experience are going to love what Teruni has in store for you! Club Soirté is similar to a travel agency and notes your beauty requirements in order to match that specification through their state-of-the-art reservation engine. They have partnered with many reputed establishments and offer many valued added services as well. We visited Teruni to find out more…
Teruni, tell us more about yourself.
I studied at Ladies College and went on to do my Bachelor’s degree at American National College and majored in International Business and Management. After that, I travelled to Sydney to further my education with my Masters in Commerce. Marketing was always my passion and I wanted to take on something more challenging with my knowledge. While employed at Aviraté, I got the idea of being a service provider in the salon/spa industry because I knew that much more could be done with a streamlined approach. With so many salons, spas, wellness/medical aesthetic centres out there, all we needed was a medium of bringing them to the clients and making it a beneficial experience for everybody by gathering them all under one roof to bring a range for clients to choose from and giving the establishments a competitive chance and exposure that’s healthy.
What exactly is Club Soirté?
Club Soirté is basically an agency that brings the client to their preferred beauty experience. We’re an online reservation platform that’s a one stop beauty agency which allows a client to find the best stylists/therapists to meet their requirements. Furthermore, we also display the profiles of the stylist/therapist and the treatments they perform, giving one plenty of options to choose from. I want Club Soirté to be beauty that’s just a click away. Everyone is quite intrigued by my idea, as it’s a unique and novel concept that constantly meets the needs of the clients and salon/spa operators. There are two types of clients. The first is the type who knows what treatment they want, but are not aware of the places. The second kind of client knows where to go, the stylist’s and price range. We cater to both types. The website is very simple. As soon as you visit, you see the quick search bar and you can type in either stylist name, establishment name, budget, location, and the information is ready and filtered for you. We have covered everything in terms of client requirements and they can also search via treatment type. For example, if you type ‘waxing’, all the establishments that offer waxing will appear with all the necessary information, making it very easy to search, compare and contrast according to your requirements. There are many options and one is open to a lot more choices; unless you look at what’s on offer at other salons/spas, you wouldn’t know what they have or how good it’s going to be. On Club Soirté, you have all the selections and there are also client ratings and comments so that you can see who is really good according to the Club Soirté database. We also have our value added services such as ‘Hot Seats’ which are appointment deals on offer, and the partnership with our transport provider, Kangaroo Cabs, ensures our clients have a complete booking experience with Club Soirté acting in the capacity of a beauty agent.
How did you come up with the name?
Well, ‘Soir’ is derived from the French word ‘soirée’ meaning a gathering of people (as I partner all these establishments and bring them together) ‘Te’ is my nickname. So it’s a combination of the two.
What do you think makes a woman beautiful?
True beauty is really what’s on the inside; it has nothing to do with your exterior. If you have good intentions and a good heart, it reflects on the outside. Being beautiful externally however, could take some work!
Do you have any role models/influencers?
As a teenager growing up to be a young adult, I was very lucky to always be surrounded by relatives and friends who were very successful people. I can’t individually point them all out, but I have friends from various circles and I’m inspired by them all; they focus on their individuality and creativity and are successful entrepreneurs.
What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs?
If you come up with something novel, people will not always take you seriously until you actually make a success of it. Keep going ahead and keep persevering. Be consistent and things will pick up.
What are your future plans for Club Soirté?
Club Soirté is new, novel and is slowly but surely becoming part of our client’s lives. As a fourth category to the site, I plan to include freelancers as well and make it a more mainstream site. I also feel that the market will perform better because of healthy competition as there is motivation to be more attractive. This concept will not only enhance the establishment but will also promote the individuality of the stylist.