North Charlotte Today

Priti Patel attributed her inability to find a job in her chosen field in Charlotte to discrimination, so she decided to fight back — not by legal challenges, but by opening her own business.

Now, Le Petit Spa is achieving higher levels of success than she expected.

"I was told when I decided I was going to open up that I couldn’t do it,” Patel said, according to a WCNC report. “It was just comments you would hear on a continuous basis, and I used to call my husband and say, 'I have to fight this. I have to navigate this.'"

She says it wasn’t an easy transition for an Indian woman from Montreal to make in Charlotte.

"Just trying to navigate through life every day; even just the simplest thing of going to SouthPark Mall back in the day was different if I wore Indian attire,” she recalled.

Patel, an experienced esthetician, wanted to open her own spa but faced some naysayers, but she persevered and that eventually paid off in spades. After earning Charlotte Magazine’s Best of the Best award her first year in business at her SouthPark Mall shop — an award she has won every year since — she opened a second, larger location in Ballantyne.

While "It's an emotional roller coaster that you go through,” she says she considers Charlotte a welcoming home now, as people seem to be more open to people from different backgrounds.

"There's a lot more diversity now. There’s a lot more acceptance,” she said. “It’s been wonderful Charlotte embraced me with open arms. I can walk through SouthPark Mall wearing an Indian outfit and not have a concern but when I first moved that was a big concern." 

Patel is finding new avenues to pass along her expertise about skin care. The COVID-19 pandemic gave her the time and motivation to write a book offering health and beauty tips.

”I never thought I'd be where I am today, truly a dream come true!" Patel said. And with an anticipated third location slated to open in 2023, it seems like the dream will continue.