Michelle Bourdeau, Founder & Owner
Michelle is the owner and head therapist at Andari Spa. She has been practicing massage and spa therapy for 15 years in Cabarete. She is an avid windsurfer, the event coordinator for The Cabarete Butterfly Effect and fundraiser for The DREAM Project.
Michelle Holds a Bachelor of Human Kinetics from The University of Windsor, Canada, with Honors in Movement Science, and is a Registered Massage Therapist. She received her Massage Therapy Diploma from the Sutherland Chan School & Teaching Clinic in 1999. Michelle is also a Member in good standing with the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario, Canada since 1999.
My Story
“I came to Cabarete the first time in April of 1999 on spring break during my last year of massage therapy school. My best friend and I had the most amazing trip and I think it was within a week of returning that we decided we would go back. Originally it was going to be the ” I don’t know what I want to do with the rest of my life yet so let’s go and hang out in the DR for 6 months” trip. I was 25 years old.
We finished school, graduated, wrote and passed our board exams, and then hopped on a plane with a hockey bag of clothes and a massage table. I was very fortunate that within the first month of being here I manage to land the position of massage therapist at the Vela Windsurf Centre. I was working with my ideal client base and by January the boss had put me out on the water for my first windsurf lesson. These two things, in hindsight, would change the course of my life. It was a very easy decision for me to stay.
Over time as Vela grew and added a kite school, I would also expand with them. I had the opportunity to take a second office in 2003 and I jumped at the chance. I hired another therapist and for the next 8 years would have a small but successful treatment based massage therapy practice.
In 2007 the idea for Millennium Resort and Spa was in the works. I was given the opportunity to work with Georges Coutu and together we would develop the spa end of the resort. It would take another 4 years, but on December 17, 2011 Andari Spa opened its doors.”