SUSANA BELEN AND SUZY LOMBARDI We Care Spa
“ Spa was never on anybody’ s mind: It was really about health and lifestyle. We were just taking care of others.”
SUSANA BELEN AND SUZY LOMBARDI We Care Spa
WHEN WE CARE SPA founder Susana Belen opened her home in 1986 to teach others what she had learned about well-being, the term“ gut health” was still decades from entering the mainstream.“ There wasn’ t a name for it,” says Belen.“ I was simply providing a solution that helped people be well.” That solution— for both Belen and her clients— was a multi-day liquid fast designed to detoxify the body and reset one’ s digestion. This cleansing program seems prescient now, when new research findings about the gut microbiome emphasize its role as an engine of overall well-being.
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For much of its existence, Belen’ s home was a comfortable but simple health retreat.“ Spa was never on anybody’ s mind: It was really about health and lifestyle,” Belen says.“ We were just taking care of others,” she adds. We Care’ s client base grew largely through word-of-mouth, especially in Hollywood; according to Belen, it was essential in the spa’ s early days to demystify and explain liquid diets, fasts and colonics to potential clients who were unfamiliar with them.
As word spread about the efficacy of We Care’ s treatments, the facility increasingly found itself fully booked. Belen’ s daughter, Suzy Lombardi, joined We Care 33 years ago, and in 2018 she spearheaded an expansion of We Care’ s facilities to better serve more clients. Belen’ s home outside Palm Springs, California, is now an intimate desert campus with 28 rooms, a yoga studio, pools and spa facilities. Yet the core of the campus remains Belen’ s home, and the core of the spa’ s programming undeniably remains the liquid fast. Everything else— from colonics
and classes to spa treatments and yoga— are in support of that, not the other way around.“ The facility has been elevated,” says Lombardi.“ But at the end of the day it’ s still a home, and it’ s still comfortable and familiar.” Now 87, Belen still leads classes and Lombardi is intimately involved in the spa’ s programming. Both women believe deeply in the practices they espouse:“ This is our lifestyle, too,” Lombardi notes. n
“ Spa was never on anybody’ s mind: It was really about health and lifestyle. We were just taking care of others.”
FOUNDER’ S PLAYBOOK: Suzy Lombardi l ADVICE FOR YOUR YOUNGER SELF:“ Just keep going and have the strength of conviction.” l PERSONAL MOTTO:“ Be joyful in everything that you do.” l BIGGEST MENTOR:“ My mom!” l ALTERNATE CAREER:“ Real estate or fashion, two passions of mine.”
Know a company founder in the spa industry whose legacy should be celebrated? Contact ispa @ ispastaff. com to share their story.
PULSE n NOVEMBER 2025 17