Hi! I am Ella, I am the owner of The Pink Room in The Corn Exchange. I am a holistic therapist, feminist, mum, business owner, shop curator, overly-keen friend and I am also a bit of a witch. My brain is a chaotic place to be and I get distracted really easily, so keeping a family and business afloat sometimes feels like a miracle! As long as I can remember I have always had huge amounts of empathy and have wanted to help people, I guess that is where The Pink Room evolved. *TW* Having experienced abuse in my early womanhood, once becoming free and empowered I have been really aware of how our society systematically disempowers women, and it has become my mission to be a champion and provide safe space to allow women to thrive.
Just really lovely stuff – hah! Everything we sell in our shop empowers women and queer people in some way. Whether it is through the vibrant artwork, life-changing books, stripped back skincare, ethical crystals, homeware brights – whatever you buy it empowers you either visually or with its use AND legit everything is sourced from other indie female businesses. So it makes you feel good, makes them feel good and it makes me feel good – no corporate monsters in sight.
In terms of therapies we have a lot on for a tiny space, and it changes a lot! At the moment there are 5 different self-employed women working from TPR: Jess, a reflexologist who is training in ayurvedic yoga massage – she is the youngest team member and as soon as I met her I knew she was right for the space because she is bursting with enthusiasm to learn how to be an inclusive therapist. She’s also a single mum – one of the core aspects of our ethos is to empower our practitioners and working with Jess has really allowed me to embrace that by passing on my own knowledge.
Then we have Mim! Mim is phenomenal, she is a person centered psychotherapist so offers talking therapy – she also volunteers at a domestic abuse charity and is so passionate about female empowerment. She is one of the natural nurturers, you instantly feel safe and heard in her company.
Charlotte is in on a Wednesday afternoon – a tarot reader! Charlotte is stepping into her own power atm and it is such an honour to watch her flourish, she’s such a calm and authentic presence and gives an intuitive reading free from bullsh*t!
Frances is our energy healer and resident ANGEL, she’s an absolute font of knowledge and a real expert in her field – she came to healing through her own cancer recovery and has a really powerful offering.
Finally, there’s me! I offer all sorts of different treatments, but my main focus whatever the discipline is to help people feel heard and nurtured. My skill set is nurture, I think it is really valuable to be able to provide a space women can come and feel held. We are all trained in trans inclusivity, it is a prerequisite of working at TPR.
Oh gawd, a lot! I spend so much time thinking about this to ensure I practice what I preach. In terms of the shop I try really hard to represent all women, so I seek out women of colour and queer people and will always opt for businesses by women of marginalised groups where possible as part of our curation. I think about how I merchandise to ensure it doesn’t feel like a sensory overload, I think about the smells and sounds too for that reason to really curate a calm environment. I make sure we don’t sell anything that culturally appropriates and try to ensure it has ethically sound origins.
Therapeutically everyone who works from TPR is passionate about our ethos, they’re qualified and part of a governing body, have given thought to and taken part in our “how to make trans inclusive spaces” seminar with Ana Bott, we have a consultation form which asks about triggers and pronouns etc and we are constantly working on improving our inclusivity organically. I work at a reduced rate for the LGBTCC to ensure I am giving something to the LGBTQIA community and learning from feedback, and I was so honoured to march in Pride this year. My current focus is to create a safe space for women of colour because I am really aware we are largely made up of white women, so we currently do not represent women of colour as much as I would like – it is an organic process and I am working on it!
Something that is really important to me is making it a safe space for women who are triggered by pregnancy and baby loss. Almost all spaces dedicated to women do not hold space for these women, and often are exclusionary. So for a female focussed space you might be surprised to see very, very little pregnancy and motherhood related products.
FINALLY, we are fat inclusive. I am part of the anti riot diet club and a big body positivity advocate – I teach yoga which leads with bigger bodied instruction because yoga generally excludes anyone who isn’t really lean. So yes, we are doing a lot – I am always fretting about not doing enough but now I read this I feel quite good about what I am doing.
Ooooh good question. I would probably tell you to come to one of our retreat days or workshops because they are the most The Pink Room thing, like The Pink Room on steroids. Therapy wise, everything is really good and everything is SO different so it really depends on what you need and what sort of gal you are.
Watching my clients transform.
So we have a website ofc, www.thepinkroomleeds.co.uk and there you can find our online shop and all the info you need to book. If you want to come visit our shop it is open Friday afternoons and all weekend – up on the balcony in the Corn Exchange. You can also find our little pop up at The Beauty Assembly from November onwards! Our insta is @thepinkroomleeds – drop us a follow, that would be lush. And tell your friends!
The Beauty Assembly x The Pink Room launches in mid November – expect to find cute, indie and personal gifts for Christmas in our first ever TPR pop up! And as ever, if you’d like to book a treatment with ourselves please head to our treatment page here.
