Today we’d like to introduce you to Jovanni Lorigo.
Hi Jovanni, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up in Brawley, a small town in the Imperial Valley, about two hours east of San Diego. I moved to San Diego in 2010, straight out of high school at 17, to pursue a graphic design degree at The Art Institute of San Diego. Three years in, I dropped out. The next seven years of my life, I just felt lost. I was chasing what I call “the bag.” I worked at a hotel gift shop, a mortuary, I was a personal assistant to one of my close friends who’s a prominent fashion designer, I even worked at a law firm handling workers’ comp cases.
It wasn’t until 2021, when COVID hit, that I started taking real steps to change my life. I enrolled in beauty school to become an esthetician. I got my license in 2023, but honestly, I didn’t take it seriously. I was too focused on making quick, easy money doing things like helping run a drag brunch show, cleaning houses, running social media for other businesses, and eventually working at a bathhouse, Club San Diego. I learned so much about myself during that time. While I was working overnights there, I also picked up a part time gig as a brand freelancer at Sephora. I was running myself into the ground, and I burnt out hard.
One night at work, I had the most insufferable cramps I’ve ever felt in my life. It sent me straight to the ER. Long story short, they found a tumor in my right testicle, and I was scheduled for an orchiectomy the following week. I was out of work for two months recovering, and I used that time to really focus on my esthetics business and my Sephora freelance work.
Things were going great for about five months. I was under routine surveillance, until one of my lab appointments picked up something off. The cancer had come back. Or really, it never left. I was told I needed to start chemo right away, so for three months at the beginning of 2026, that was my entire life. After I finished chemo, I had to let my body recover so I could prepare for surgery to remove two lymph nodes where the cancer had accumulated. I was pretty much out for all of 2026, but it gave me so much time to reflect and really forced me to focus on my life and what actually makes me happy.
Through all of it, I found my purpose. I’m here to help people feel beautiful, to help them be beautiful. So now that I’m back to working, that’s my whole focus: my brand, my business, Esthetics by Jovanni.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Very far from it. Honestly, I shouldn’t be where I am in life right now. Since I was a kid, I’ve faced struggles and obstacles that made it feel almost impossible to get here, but I’m here.
I come from a broken home. My sister took guardianship of me when I was 8 years old and raised me when she was only 21 herself. If it wasn’t for her, I honestly don’t know where my life would be right now. My father wasn’t in my life, and my mother and brother enabled each other through drug addiction. I’m first generation born in the United States. My dad’s side of the family is scattered between Coachella Valley and Mexicali, and my mom’s side is mostly all living in Spain. So growing up, I didn’t really have family outside of my mother, my brother, and my sister.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Esthetics By Jovanni ?
I’m an esthetician, but I like to think of myself as a healer. I enjoy making people look and feel beautiful, but more than that, I love making them feel safe. My specialties are lymphatic drainage massages, enzyme treatments, peels, brow laminations, and Korean lash lifts. Everything I do is rooted in one idea: resetting your nervous system. From the moment you walk into my treatment room, you leave your world behind and enter mine.
My greatest strength has always been connecting with people. That’s been true everywhere I’ve worked, whether it was at the bathhouse, where my manager became a close friend and mentor, or at Sephora, helping people find real solutions to what they wanted and needed. That same energy is what I bring into my business now.
What I want people to know about me and my brand is simple: I’m here to connect with you and help you forget about the stress in your life, even if just for a little while. The 75 minutes you spend in my treatment room is treated like a sanctuary. It’s not just a facial or a massage, it’s a space to breathe, to be taken care of, and to remember what it feels like to just be present in your own body.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I’ve been lucky enough to travel around the country and to some parts of the world, and honestly, nothing compares to San Diego. In under an hour, you can be at the beach, up in the mountains of Julian, or crossing into another country. And the food here is just top tier, in my opinion.
What I like least about the city has to be the parking, lol. But even that’s not terrible compared to other places I’ve visited.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.estheticsbyjovanni.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/estheticsbyjovanni
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jovanni-lorigo-b41b4729b/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@estheticsbyjovanni
