A Feature Close to Our Hearts 
We’re so humbled and thrilled to share that The Beauty Barn Spa has been featured in the Summer 2025 issue of Retail Style Magazine — in their special edition highlighting Canadian brands that give back.
The piece shares the heart behind our Awakening to Better Beauty event, but more than anything, it celebrates the people who bring it to life: our volunteers. This event is only possible because of the kindness, compassion, and time donated by the incredible humans who show up year after year to serve, support, and pamper women undergoing cancer treatment.
When the editor told us, “What you’re doing is truly moving, and I’m sure it will inspire many other retailers across the country to do something similar to give back,” — we had chills. That’s exactly why we do this.
We’re sharing the full article below in deep gratitude to every soul who’s ever been a part of this journey. Thank you for helping us turn beauty into something that heals.
With love,
Corrie & The Beauty Barn Spa Team
GIVING BACK
BEAUTY, REIMAGINED
Inside an Ontario spa’s heartfelt tradition of pampering individuals facing cancer-and the community that makes it all possible
For most estheticians, opening a spa is about creating a space for beauty and relaxation. But for Corrie Gallant, it was about building a sanctuary of hope and community.
Nestled just outside Brantford, Ont., The Beauty Barn Spa is a peaceful retreat in a restored barn. While it offers all the usual pampering you’d expect from a spa-facials, massages, and pedicures-it’s best known for its signature event: Awakening to Better Beauty.
Awakening to Better Beauty is an annual charitable event that offers complimentary spa days to women undergoing cancer treatment in the community. In partnership with Brantford General Hospital’s oncology team-whose nurses carefully pre-select the women who will benefit from the event-and supported entirely by volunteers, the event offers makeup, massages, photo shoots, delicious food, and live music to help guests reclaim their sense of self, even if just for a few hours.
The first Awakening to Better Beauty event was born from Gallant’s deep desire to bridge a gap she saw in cancer care. As one of the first estheticians in Ontario trained specifically in oncology esthetics, she knew firsthand how much cancer patients needed safe, compassionate beauty care during treatment.
“Back in the day, if you had cancer, it was kind of a no-fly zone for moving the blood and lymph around because we didn’t want to stimulate any aggressive cancers,” she said. “So everything we did had to be either with a doctor’s note or we just didn’t do it. We didn’t really understand how to work with it. That’s when I realized something was wrong with having to say ‘no’ all the time and I wanted to find a way to safely offer these services.”
Newly trained, Gallant teamed up with a photographer she was working with who had recently lost her mother to cancer to host a day of pampering and a photo shoot.
“We rented out a spa and invited a dozen women and their families,” she said. “We did makeup, hair, took photos, and my heart just blew up that day. I knew there was something in this.”
The impact of that event stayed with Gallant, even after she left her job as a spa manager and began to open her own spa on her family’s third-generation property.
While her new spa was under construction, Gallant wanted to deepen
her commitment to cancer care and giving back, so she worked with the Look Good Feel Better Foundation as a
cosmetic advisor. But, despite the organization’s important work, she missed the direct interaction with clients.
It was then she knew she wanted to create something more personal-a space where she could connect with clients directly and see the impact firsthand.
In 2017, that vision became a reality when Gallant opened The Beauty Barn Spa. The following year, she hosted her second Awakening to Better Beauty event-and hasn’t missed a year since.
What began as a single day of pampering has grown into a meaningful annual tradition, touching the lives of more than 100 women and their families, Gallant said.
Every aspect of the event is planned with purpose and care. Awakening to Better Beauty is always held on a Sunday in September, timed to coincide with World Wellness Week, and to ensure guests can attend without missing chemotherapy.
Behind the scenes, it takes a dedicated team to bring the day to life, which Gallant says is the heart of the entire event.
“We have about 20 volunteers at every event, and nobody gets
paid,” Gallant said. “They’re all doing it from the compassionate
side of their hearts.”
Over the years, the event has expanded in both size and spirit. It now includes live music, meditation,
Reiki, photo shoots, and wigs donated by local shops. Families are welcomed and encouraged to take part, with services and space for everyone to relax and heal.
“There’s just so much love and so many tears,” Gallant said. “It’s a really good day.”
No formal date for this year’s event has been scheduled yet, but
Gallant is excited for the future and is committed to growing the event’s impact, one meaningful moment at a time.
“I feel like there’s a driving force in me that continues to want to give back,” she said. “I never knew when I opened a spa that this would be my driving force. But it is. My husband and I talked about legacy once, and I told him: it’s not the spa. It’s what my spa can do for the
community. That’s what l’d want to be remembered for.”
By Sonia Audet
