Interview with Emily Bent, Co-Founder of the Top-Rated Social Spa in North America

We recently sat down with Emily Bent, Co-Founder of Othership, the top-rated social spa in North America. Emily and her husband Robbie launched Othership during the pandemic with a mission to help people feel more connected, to themselves and to each other, through immersive wellness experiences combining breathwork, sauna, and cold plunge therapy. Today, Othership operates multiple locations across Toronto and New York City, drawing thousands of guests each week into its device-free, alcohol-free social wellness spaces. We spoke with Emily about how holistic self-care practices can complement, and even enhance, a great skincare routine.

Q: Othership is known for its immersive combination of heat, cold, and breathwork. How do these practices connect to skin health?

Emily Bent: They’re more connected than most people realize. When you move between our saunas and cold plunges, you’re stimulating blood circulation throughout your body, which delivers oxygen and nutrients directly to the skin. The sauna opens your pores and promotes sweating, which helps flush out impurities, while cold plunge tightens everything back up and can reduce puffiness and inflammation. And breathwork ties it all together. When you’re breathing deeply and intentionally, you’re oxygenating your cells and activating your parasympathetic nervous system, which reduces the kind of chronic stress that can show up on your face as dullness or premature aging.

Q: You mention stress showing up physically. Is that something you see a lot at Othership?

Emily Bent: All the time. People walk in carrying so much tension, and you can see it in their face, their posture, everything. When someone goes through a full session with us and comes out the other side, the transformation is visible. They look relaxed, their color is better, their whole energy shifts. I’m not a dermatologist, but I can tell you that when people commit to managing their stress through practices like breathwork and contrast therapy, they consistently tell us they notice changes in how they look and feel. Self-care isn’t just about what you put on your skin. It’s about what’s happening underneath. A consistent wellness practice that manages stress, improves sleep, and boosts circulation creates the foundation that lets your skincare products do their job.

Q: For someone building a holistic self-care routine, how would you suggest combining wellness practices with a skincare regimen?

Emily Bent: I’d say start by thinking of your routine in layers. Your skincare (serums, moisturizers, sunscreen) is your external layer. But the internal layer matters just as much: your breathing patterns, your stress levels, how well you’re sleeping, whether you’re moving your body. At Othership, we see people come in feeling overwhelmed and disconnected, and after a 75-minute session of toggling between hot and cold with guided breathwork, they leave looking noticeably different. Their skin is glowing, their eyes are brighter, their posture has changed. That’s not a coincidence, it’s physiology. My advice is to find practices that down-regulate your nervous system and make them as non-negotiable as washing your face at night.

Q: What’s one simple thing someone can do at home to bring that Othership philosophy into their daily routine?

Emily Bent: Start your morning with 60 seconds of intentional cold water at the end of your shower, followed by three minutes of slow, deep breathing. It’s a mini version of what we do at our spas, and it wakes up your circulation, reduces puffiness, and sets a calm, focused tone for the day. Pair that with a great vitamin C serum and sunscreen, and you’ve given your skin the internal and external support it needs to look and feel its best. Wellness and skincare aren’t separate categories. They’re two sides of the same coin.