Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS shoes, addresses the crowd at the 2013 ISPA Conference & Expo. Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS shoes, addresses the crowd at the 2013 ISPA Conference & Expo.
The ISPA Conference & Expo kicked off today in Las Vegas. Held at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, the three-day event brings together the spa industry’s latest innovations, education and cutting-edge products, with attendees including Éminence, Sothys, HydroPeptide, Naturopathica and Jurlique.
The theme of the event is “grow”, with an agenda filled with talks and workshops on topics such as Why You Should Care About Wellness Tourism and Five Secrets of A Highly Engaged Spa Team.
Monday’s session kicked off with an inspirational talk from Ella Stimpson, ISPA Chairman, followed by Deborah Szekely, founder of the Golden Door spa in Escondido and, more recently, Wellness Warrior, a nonprofit that lobbies members of Congress to support wellness initiatives. Szekely went on to present the Alex Szekely Humanitarian Award, named after her late son, to Blake Mycoskie, who founded TOMS shoes in 2006. Just seven years later, the company recently celebrated a major milestone: ten million pairs of shoes have now been given away to children in need around the world. Continuing the “One for One” model, the brand also now includes eyewear and an under-wraps venture to be launched on November 5.
Mycoskie’s moving, uplifting speech ended with the message that if you incorporate giving into your business and your life, good things happen. And, to put it in the words of ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus, whose quote is printed proudly on ISPA’s brochure, “From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.”
Stay tuned for more updates from the show!—Lesley McCave
