As a Latin woman, you are taught from an early age to take care of yourself. I grew up watching my mother and grandmother eating well, exercising, getting weekly massages and monthly facials. These early lessons in beauty and health led me to a career in movement, which led to degrees and certifications in nutrition, energy work, esthetics and bodywork. I fell in love with taking care of my body and helping other people do the same. Over the last 20 years, I’ve built a career that places me at the helm of 43 spa and wellness openings around the globe.

Wellness is respecting and taking care of your divine body. It is an all-pervading unity of the physical, mental and spiritual, endowed with a unique energy that vitalizes it.

This pandemic should turn into a global wellness revolution. Wellness is a collective endeavor: Fresh food, wellness education, clean air and water should be accessible to all human beings on this planet.

Time alone with myself, time with family and time with friends.

Discovering The Body's Wisdom by Mirka Knaster

"I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I cannot transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn't impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls." — Anaïs Nin

Baby carrots, almond butter and green apples

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I could write a series of books on this topic, but here is my top fifteen in order of importance:

1. Intimacy
2. Drink a gallon of water every day
3. Apply sunblock with iron oxide daily
4. Radiance salad: Kale, olive oil, black sesame paste, beets, walnuts, lemon
5. Lymphatic drainage and dry brushing
6. Kapalabhati Cleansing Breathing Technique
7. Progressive Weight Training
8. Intense pulsed light (IPL) laser treatment with Dr. Janelle Vega
9. THE WELL's Superpowder
10. Biologique Recherche facials at THE WELL NYC with Cristina and THE WELL Mayflower Inn with Sheila.
11. Omnilux Red Light
12. Acupuncture for rejuvenation once a week
13. Taking care of my skin's microbiome
14. Japanese sweet potato for dinner every night
15. Stretching! All those wrinkles in your face can be traced to tightness in other areas of your body.​​​​​

My morning ritual includes ten sun salutations, drinking 33 ounces of water, a breakfast of oatmeal with blueberries, almond butter and walnuts, dry brushing and facial lymphatic massage using Biologique Recherche’s cryo sticks. I finish by dressing to the nines — a ritual I take very seriously!

At bedtime, I double cleanse my skin with Biologique Recherche’s creamy cleanser. I avoid digital screens at least an hour before bed. I like to drink chamomile and lavender tea, have one ounce of dark chocolate and finally, I mist pillow with THE WELL’s Relax Everything Mist.

I don't like to eat airport or airplane food, so I prepare a small bag with cut vegetables, fruits, almond butter, overnight oats and seeds. So I guess you can say that healthy foods are my travel essentials.

I believe the key to a good night’s sleep is tied to the decisions that you make during the day. My advice is to stop drinking caffeine by 11am, find time for movement during the day, manage stress in the morning so it doesn’t follow you to the bedroom and lastly, don’t watch TV in the bedroom — there are only two things that you should be doing in the bedroom and one of them is sleep!

For a quick chill: An acupuncture session, a thirty-minute walk outside or texting with my high school friends. But for something more rejuvenating, I travel back home to Puerto Rico and get on a surfboard. There are no emails or zoom calls when I am in the water. It is just me and "el rubio" (the sun). I also love a four-hour flamenco class with Siudy Garrido.

Putting on a killer dress for dinner with Tall & Handsome, aka my husband, and cuddle time with my two boys.

A gift certificate to THE WELL, massage oil (like THE WELL’s Reset Body Oil) or a book from Dr. Frank Lipman.

Summarized by the incredible Michael Pollan: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." I eat for pleasure. If it is not nourishing and delicious, I will not eat it.

Sea salt

Pure black coffee is perfection.

Water is life-enhancing and life-sustaining. If you embody those thoughts, you will never forget to drink water. I keep glass bottles of water throughout my office and the house. It is part of my routine to drink one gallon per day.

Know your worth and add tax!

I reboot by doing THE WELL Cleanse every three months. It forces me to eliminate alcohol, sugar, dairy and gluten for a full fifteen days and it improves the radiance of my skin, lifts my mood and is very kind to my stomach.

Dancing Flamenco. There is something so powerful about stomping the ground in heels!

I rarely get sick — I've had one cold in the past five years, but if I do feel a bit run down, I visit Dr. Frank Lipman, the Chief Medical Officer of THE WELL for a shot of B vitamins.

Otonamaki or “human wrapping” in Japan was pretty intense. They wrap your entire body in tight cloth which is meant to take you back to the feeling of being in the womb.

Depth of character and style!

That is a tricky question to answer! I infuse laughter in everything that I do at home and work, but the last time I laughed was probably at dinner with a few colleagues in New York. We were discussing long hair, moxy, emotion, first times and ruffling feathers. I tend to love random conversations about multiple topics. I consider them wellness!