A group of educators who taught at Algonquin College’s now-shuttered esthetics program will be welcoming a new batch of students next week after opening their own esthetics college. In 2024, Algonquin College announced it would be cutting its hairstyling and esthetician programs, saying they were “economically unsustainable.” Since then, Mariève Siracusa says she and other former staff of the program have been hard at work getting The White Pearl College off the ground. “When they announced we were going to suspend it, we took it seriously, and then they closed it, and this is where it became all too reality,” Siracusa, the founder and president of The White Pearl College, told CTV Your Morning Ottawa. The college is located in Casselman and offers certifications for a range of esthetics skills, including nail techniques, hair removal and body therapy and spa treatments. Siracusa says the decision to launch the new educational institution was a risk, but it was one she was ready to take. “It wasn’t the end for us. We have so much knowledge and experience in teaching, but not only teaching — we all have a business, and a lot of them have a business more than 15 years; too much knowledge to disappear,” she said. The new college will begin offering part-time esthetics courses on Sept. 8. The plan, Siracusa says, is to offer full-time courses beginning in January. Siracusa says registration for The White Pearl College’s September courses are still open.
