The Unfiltered Truth: 28 Days of Silence and Advocacy

April 27, 2026

For the past 28 days, we have been encouraged to be quiet. We have been told to "tread lightly," and to follow "proper legal movements" while our livelihood sat in ruins. We have been forced into a silence that has felt like a second crisis.

But we are done being quiet. We want you to know the actual, unfiltered reality of what is happening with Elly and Amar Studio, and the level of advocacy we have had to fight for just to be heard.

Elly and Amar Studio is not just a business entity to us. We are a husband and wife—Alyssa and Kevin—who come from humble beginnings. We built this space to be a bridge between the faceless corporate spa world and true, personal community care. We dreamt of this being a landing place for care—not just for our clients, but for our staff.

The name itself is a homage to where we come from. Elly and Amar was constructed by mixing our grandparents' names together. It is a tribute to our lineage and the values of hard work and care they instilled in us. Seeing this dream sitting in a state of dismay is not just a financial hit; it is heartbreaking on a deeply personal level.

We need to be clear about why our doors are closed.  We are not dealing with a simple maintenance issue. We are dealing with a Category 3 Sewage Breach. 

We didn't just hear about the "repair"—we witnessed it. We stood in our space for three hours as the landlord instructed a demolition that showed a complete lack of care for containment or basic health and safety protocols. We were the ones who noticed the red flags in the environment. We were the ones forced to breathe in that air while our concerns were ignored.

• The Exposed Structural Breach: We aren't just talking about a "hole in the wall." The facility has a gaping structural breach that has left the internal framework of the building exposed. This opening has remained unremediated for four weeks, serving as a direct path for contaminants to enter our clinical space.
• Containment Failure: During the repair process, there was a total failure in containment. This wasn't just a mess; it was a biohazard event that spread through the facility's infrastructure because the proper safety barriers were never established.
• The Hygiene Report: We brought in an Industrial Hygienist, and their report is clear: the space is currently not safe until properly remediated. Because this involved raw sewage, the remediation requirements are extreme.

We refuse to walk back into a contaminated space. As a compliant spa that adheres to the  IPAC and BodySafe standards, we refuse to let our clients or our team step foot into a facility that hasn't been professionally cleared and structurally restored.

While we fight the legal and insurance battles, we never lose sight of the fact that we aren't the only ones affected. We have an incredible team of staff whose livelihoods depend entirely on this business being back up and running.

They are human beings with their own lives, bills, and families. We have done our absolute best to keep them updated every step of the way, trying to nurture that relationship and maintain the trust we’ve built over the years. Navigating an unknown situation is terrifying for everyone involved, and we are doing everything in our power to protect their future alongside ours.

For four weeks, we have been met with delays where there should be support.

• We pay for business interruption insurance so we are protected from exactly this. Yet, for 28 days, we have received zero financial funding. We have had to fight to make Intact understand that this wasn't just "water damage"—it was a severe environmental hazard.
• Our landlord has left our space in a state of ruin and has provided no proof of remediation. We are done hiding from the negligence of a landlord who has left us in this position.

We are stuck in the middle of their deadlock. While they point fingers at each other, we are carrying the legal fees, the professional consulting costs, and the overhead of a shuttered business entirely on our own —with the vital support of our family. 

Alyssa’s sister started the Next Chapter Fund to act as a "ghost fund." It is specifically designed to handle the massive, complex unknowns that come with running a clinical spa—realities that are often invisible from the outside.

To some, it might seem as simple as "just moving" or "buying a few supplies." In reality, maintaining a compliant practice involves navigating specialized plumbing, electrical requirements for high-end equipment, strict IPAC-compliant renovations, and the replacement of specialized professional property that has been compromised by biohazard exposure.

This fund is our bridge. It allows us to secure a safe future without waiting for a system that already failed us from the start. We are no longer willing to let an insurance company or a landlord dictate the survival of our team or the safety of our clients.

 [Link: Support the Fund] 

We are currently in a state of professional limbo.  We are effectively being held to a lease for a space that is currently physically and biologically untenable.  While we have worked to find a resolution, we are now at a point where we must rely on our legal counsel to address the severe breaches of our agreement and the landlord's failure to provide a remediated space.

We know it has been frustrating not to have the "whole story" until now. We have shared updates on the legalities as they evolved, moving publicly only on what we knew for certain at each moment. We were trying to navigate a legal minefield based on "eggshell" advice that didn't allow us to be as aggressive as we wanted to be. We are done being quiet about the negligence we have endured.

We won't compromise. We won't reopen until we can guarantee your safety. We have had to become advocates, legal liaisons, and environmental experts overnight just to defend the standards of our studio. 

We are exhausted, but we are no longer walking on eggshells.

Thank you for seeing the humans behind the brand. Thank you for supporting us as we fight for our Next Chapter.

With love and transparency, Ingat ("Take Care"),

Alyssa & Kevin
Elly and Amar Studio Inc.