From Superyachts to SKIN CLUB®: The Extraordinary Journey of Alice I'Anson Widdows
- emily4478
- 8 hours ago
- 8 min read
An interview with Alice I'Anson Widdows
A Career Reborn
Alice I'anson Widdows is the founder of SKIN CLUB® a luxury skincare, beauty and wellness clinic redefining concierge-led skincare in the North East of England. Before this, she spent 25 years as a superyacht fixer and marketing and events director, operating with the highest echelons of society. She managed prestigious regatta programs for yacht owners and Royal clubs, where the mandate was always excellence, overdelivering, and meticulous precision to create an exclusive, protected world for the elite.
Alice founded SKIN CLUB® after discovering advanced wellness and skincare opportunities in places such as Palm Beach, Miami, Sydney and St. Tropez, aiming to bring that cutting-edge quality and service to her local community. She specialises in a VIP, hand-held, bespoke experience for her members, integrating new technology, treatments, and biohacking protocols. She has now leveraged her award-winning business expertise to mentor entrepreneurs. Her mission is to distil her proven, revenue-generating strategy into a "Business in a Box" model, empowering spas, hotels, and ambitious beauty professionals to launch thriving luxury skin clinics and advance the careers of other women.
The View from the Deck: You spent 25 years in the superyacht industry, becoming a "go-to guru" for regattas. Can you paint a picture for us of the sheer glamour and luxury of that world? What was the most breathtaking or exclusive event you helped orchestrate?
Wow, there were so many it really is hard to pick just one. My top three would be the Prada Classic Yacht Challenge, the World Superyacht Awards and the Giorgio Armani Superyacht Regatta. Each was incredibly special in its own way.
I spent 25 years organising and marketing superyacht events and regatta programs for the elite, so I was lucky enough to be involved with some of the world’s most prestigious events. Sometimes I worked directly with yacht owners and their boats, and could have a crew of up to 50, I also worked for Royal yacht clubs and Specialist yacht media groups organising some of the most famous events in the industry. The one thing they all had in common was a need for excellence – I had to overdeliver and place our event and experience over and above anything else that had been created before. The glamour and luxury were, of course phenomenal, but often guests may not realise how much planning and precision goes on behind the scenes 24/7. The glamour and luxury were demonstrated in the dedication to detail, the service and exclusivity, the privacy and discretion. We were creating a protected world for the highest echelons of society. From Royalty to billionaires who had started with nothing, we brought people together in a world most people will never know, let alone experience. The society, protocols and nuances had to be precise and respectful of international cultures.
A Life of Global Events: Your work saw you organise regattas around the world, from the Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta to The America's Cup. How did this constant exposure to high-end, global event management shape your professional outlook and your expectations for service?
I had to always take heed of the core values of excellence and a high touch-point customer service; personalisation became second nature. I learned to never stand still; always be on call. Nothing just ticks over in high-end events. I was always striving for perfection and an enhanced experience.
The 'Fairy Dust' of Regattas: You've described events like Les Voiles de St Tropez as having a "special air" and being "sprinkled in fairy dust." How important was it to create a magical, luxury atmosphere for your superyacht clients, and how do you try to replicate that feeling in the SKIN CLUB® experience?
It wasn’t just important, it was essential. I have now taken everything I learned and transferred the same ethic to my business. SKIN CLUB® is a concierge-led skin subscription service where clients expect the highest end of customer care and measurable results. In St Tropez, I was responsible for organising everything from cars to cabins, dining to deliveries. I was the fixer and brought in the best people for the best results. This is exactly what I do for SKIN CLUB®
Building the Black Book: You built up a "little black book" of contacts, from owners to organisers. In a high-stakes, exclusive industry like yachting, how crucial was the power of personal relationships and trust to your success?
Imperative. There was no work without trust, loyalty and discretion. Every contract I won or worked on was down to word of mouth, having met a client one year and them asking me to work somewhere else. For example, after hosting a Spanish businessman and his son for a day of racing in Palma, Mallorca, and fixing a berth for his yacht in St Tropez later that same summer, that connection led to a monumental opportunity: creating the superyacht marina for the following year's America's Cup in Valencia. During the event, I invited the new Publisher of Boat International as a guest of The Americas Cup Superyacht Programme I was running. Deeply impressed by the scope of what I had orchestrated, he offered me a job on the spot! By the time I took him up on the offer, he had established an events department for the magazine. Over the next four years, that initial client day evolved into launching over 25 successful events. This was all down to one afternoon looking after a client. Word of mouth is paramount in business.
Building the SKIN CLUB® Brand
Pivoting to Beauty: Moving from superyacht press and marketing to founding a Hair, Beauty, Skin & Wellness business like Wynyard Therapy (and its SKIN CLUB® initiative) is a massive change. What was the moment you decided to make that dramatic pivot?
It was a culmination of yachting events post-COVID never really recovering, and my own personal love story. In the past ten years, I had met and fallen in love with my now-husband. I was running my events business from my new home in the north of England. My husband is a private dentist and I always saw potential in the building neighbouring his surgery. When it came up for sale I took stock of my life. I was suffering burnout, I was working myself into the ground, and I wasn’t pursuing my passion of enhancing wellbeing for others, having realised the need for self-care for myself. I had travelled to some amazing places – Palm Beach, Miami, Australia, South Africa and seen what wellness opportunities were available and how far ahead they were in the skincare journey. I wanted to bring that to my now-home in the north east of England. I could see the potential for bringing quality skincare services to my local community, and I grabbed it.
The Five-Star Service Standard: Your background is in providing an implicitly trusted, five-star service to an elite clientele. How have you taken that high-touch, bespoke service focus and embedded it into the core client experience at SKIN CLUB® ?
Concierge experience is what I specialise in and what I bring to SKIN CLUB®, everything we use is cutting-edge, new technology, new treatments, biohacking protocols. I lead, I don’t follow, and I deliver back to my SKIN CLUB® members something they cannot get anywhere else in the north, largely in the UK. They trust me, they are not just a number or a member, they are hand-held through a journey and each interaction is VIP and bespoke.
Business Management on the Water and Land: In your yachting role, you gained experience in the management of the boats and entries for regattas. Which key operational or management skills from that yachting life have proven most essential in scaling your team of 12 and achieving over 100% year-on-year growth in demand?
When going into a yacht race various elements need to be in place – the yacht must be safe and able to perform at its best ability, latest sails, kit etc. Crew must be operating, behaving and communicating as a team not in isolation. Must be safe, secure and focused. The important thing is timing on crossing the initial line – when you start. Cross the line at the right speed – powered up – crossing at maximum speed at the right time to get yourself ahead of the fleet in “clean air”. That’s the dial-up, hitting that line with everything in your favour to maximise performance and advantage. That’s how I see creating the business. So much, be it luxury or just in life, is about foundations. Being able to cross that line and deliver knowing that the hard graft, preparation and timing are exactly as they should be.
SKIN CLUB® as an Initiative: Your SKIN CLUB® membership model was highlighted for making high-end skincare accessible. Did your experience with the inclusive, social element of superyacht regattas - designed to welcome new owners - inspire your approach to bringing luxury to a broader client base?
Everyone deserves to have the best experience. Whether you’re a princess or a painter, if you have the time and means you deserve the best. Not limited by class.
The Holistic Approach: Wynyard Therapy/ SKIN CLUB® is celebrated for its "holistic approach to luxury." Is this focus on wellness as much as treatments a reflection of what you now value most in your own life and work?
Absolutely. I have my own ongoing wellness and health journeys where I value time, privacy and wellness more than a great night out. Time, space and quiet are what I need. True wellness is so much more than supplements and fads; it’s about a holistic approach to overall wellbeing. I have to practice what I preach to be able to hold space for others. The luxury experience means it is so much more than a manicure or blow-dry, I want clients to leave feeling calm, confident and powerful. A glow-up will make you feel better than a day out shopping; it’s self-care from the inside out. Women often feel guilty for taking time for themselves, which is why the subscription format works so well, because they are in the diary for the client and they don’t have to justify it to themselves or anyone else.
Mentorship and Support: A core part of your mission is to support other salon owners. Having been mentored yourself by industry expert Katie Godfrey, what drives your passion to share your success story and help others launch and develop their businesses?
My award-winning business and strategy expertise is the foundation of SKIN CLUB®, and I now plan to roll it out as a fully developed Business in a Box, so other people can launch thriving skincare businesses without having to do all the trial and error that comes with a new venture. I have done that for them! I've done the complex work - vetting investments, sourcing equipment, and perfecting frameworks - so they don't have to. I now leverage my leadership position to train and mentor the next wave of entrepreneurs, empowering them to move beyond basic services and own a thriving luxury skin clinic.
My mission is to distil my proven strategy for creating sustainable, recurring revenue and share it with leading spas, hotels, and ambitious beauty professionals, ensuring quality, luxury services are delivered everywhere. I get a huge amount of joy in showing how a young employee with a beauty degree can advance their skills to become an Advanced Skin Practitioner, should they want that. I love to support the training and mentoring of other women who are keen to move beyond beauty into the business of skin care.
The Reward: Is the satisfaction of seeing your Teesside-based business thrive and help others in the beauty industry more rewarding than the excitement of the superyacht world?
It’s certainly different. It’s incredibly rewarding to have built this business from nothing. I have never had to dig so deep or work so hard, and I worked bloody hard in yachting! The excitement and the challenges may be different, but the sense of achievement is all worth it.
The Million-Dollar Question: Having successfully navigated one of the most exclusive industries in the world and now building a business beacon of excellence in the north, are you, Alice Widdows, truly happier now running SKIN CLUB®?
Yes. I have purpose, this is a passion, and I feel I am having an impact. Not just on my clients who are seeing transformations in their health, happiness and confidence, but also on the local community – raising the bar in what can be done – and on the people who work with me. To see staff who came to me as school-leavers develop into confident people in control of their own lives is the greatest sense of achievement.
