Toronto woman building a beauty empire that's unlike anything else in the city

Upon moving to Toronto from Russia, Valeria Mozheyko was struck by the lack of beauty bars in the city that offered the same high-quality care she was accustomed to back home.

Rather than settle for what she could find, she took matters into her own impeccably manicured hands, and, in 2023, Project Essence was born.

Valeria herself admits that she never dreamed of becoming a business owner, nor did she have any work experience in the realm of beauty prior to opening her own business, but where there's a will, there's a way, and her experience as a customer at such establishments primed her to know exactly what she wanted out of her own business.

"As a customer, I wanted high-quality services, but I also wanted good customer service. I wanted to be taken care of," she tells me, "and I just couldn't find a place in Toronto that had both."

Valeria founded Project Essence in the absence of the beauty bars she was accustomed to in Russia.

In her own experience, she felt like quality services often came at the expense of a luxurious experience, with some of the best nail techs in the city operating out of their own homes or rented chairs, and vice versa. Often, she found, the places that offered the best customer service and most plushy experiences had her walking out with a sub-par manicure or wax job.

"I just wanted to combine both and have a place where you can come and not just do your nails, but also brows and lashes, kind of like a full tune up," Valerie says; a notion that's a holdover from her upbringing in Russia, where head-to-toe beauty maintenance is a way of life.

"It's part of a culture. It doesn't matter who you are. You always have your nails done. Doesn't matter if you're like a teacher in the village or if you're a businesswoman. Everyone gets their nails, brows, lashes, done all the time," she tells me, "and so I was always searching for that perfect nail technician, for the perfect salon. And then I also realized that there might people like me."

In the spring of 2023, she opened the first location of Project Essence on Ossington, and a near-instantaneous surge of popularity proved Valeria's suspicions correct: people were hungry for a place that took pampering beyond the physical act of beauty procedures and infused it into the whole of the experience.

Extra details like complimentary beverages and friendly staff sweeten the deal.

At Project Essence, that extra mile comes in the form of clean, bright interiors, staff who are both talented and friendly (which, Valeria admits, are not as easy to come by as one might imagine), and a variety of special touches, like complimentary beverages served with a side of popcorn, fresh flowers, and phone chargers.

Then, of course, there are the beauty services, which Valeria has taken pains to ensure are of the highest quality. They're one of the only salons in Toronto that offers Japanese manicures, a gentler alternative to more regularly available options, and IBX, a fortifying treatment that strengthens and repairs damaged nails.

But that's just a small sliver of what they do. The beauty bar offers a full suite of services attending to every type of brow, lash, foot and hand needs imaginable. They even do makeup.

It's a far cry from what immediately springs to mind when you usually think about the multicultural influences that shape Toronto, but it's yet another example of the ways in which they do and, more often than not, improve the city.

Suffice it to say, the concept was an instant hit, and within the first year of opening, the Ossington location was almost entirely overwhelmed. While in the early months of operation, Valeria couldn't have dreamed of expanding the business, she quickly realized it was the only option.

Project Essence's second location opened in November of 2024.

Less than two years after the business first began, Valeria opened the doors to its sister location on Dupont in November of 2024.

The space, which was formerly a condo presentation centre, is just as breathtaking as its forefather, though it required much less of the build-out that the first location did, which was a major plus for Valeria, who tells me that, to save on costs, she did much of the renovations on the original location herself, and it, too, has been an instant hit.

"It's been going great," Valeria tells me. "It's some old faces from Ossington, but a lot of new people. The crowd is a little bit different."

Whereas the Ossington location is largely a magnet for younger people carving out time for a quick hit of pampering, the Dupont location has attracted an older demographic from the Annex and Casa Loma area, who live and work nearby and are able to spend more time at the beauty bar — which was Valeria's vision all along.

Having virtually no experience before opening her first business and quickly expanding to two locations in two years has been, to put it lightly, a wild ride for Valeria, and not without its challenges, but the rewards have so far outweighed any struggle.

Finding the people who share her vision has been among the most rewarding parts of the job for Valeria.

"There's just nothing better than hearing that other people share your vision and values, and having returning clients," Valeria tells me. 

"Most of our client base are regulars, and that's always been my dream to make sure that we don't just become this one place that's  easily forgettable, we just become a go-to destination for most people, and that's what we're working towards."

When it comes to expanding the business further, Valeria, still in the wake of opening her second location of a business she founded when she was 26, has no immediate plans, intent on honing in and perfecting what she has today, but never say never.

"Expanding feels kind of addictive. I can't really stop," she says, "and sometimes I need to take a step back and remind myself, okay, just enjoy this process."

At the same time, there are many neighbourhoods both within the city and outside of it that she feels could prove formidable homes for future Project Essence locations.

"Obviously, I would like to expand a little bit and cover more neighbourhoods," she says. "A lot of our clients drive to us from like Mississauga or Scarborough, or even like North York, so potentially having another location would be great in the future, but probably not for now."

For the time being, you can check out Project Essence for yourself at their locations at 219 Ossington Ave. and 408 Dupont St.