The two began their relationship as classmates who always happened to walk in late to class at the same time. Yu, described by her peers as a wild child, spent many nights checking out the social scene, while Velayo preferred quiet evenings indoors. Despite their polar lifestyles, they were able to find some common ground after spending time together on class projects: both possessed the drive to be successful entrepreneurs, enjoyed watching movies and loved being pampered with facials and massages. After working in the corporate world for several years, the two teamed up and turned one of their favorite pastimes into a career.

"It started out as a joke," Yu said. "We saw a place that was for sale and I turned to Albie and said, 'Hey, it's only $1.6 million. We should buy it.' Turns out that the owner heard us and actually made an offer."

The joke developed into a year of serious searching for potential spots to run their own day spa. The first place that the two had their eyes on was one in Palo Alto and the second was in Cupertino, where they hoped to build one from scratch. These attempts were unsuccessful due to financial constraints. However, the third time proved to be a charm for these determined Stanford graduates, thanks to a mutual friend and the previous owner, who helped spread the word about the opportunity to buy the business.

"We immediately knew this would be a perfect location because we've gone to this spa several times as clients and really liked the service," Yu said. "We were probably their top clients."

But there was another reason why the two were attracted to this particular location.

"The previous owner really raised the bar in the spa industry," Ablie said. "She cultivated a warm and intimate environment. This is something we want to carry on."

Going to day spas was almost a necessity for Yu and Velayo, both formerly working in the oftentimes stressful upper-management level for well-known corporations. Yu, currently the senior director of marketing at Syndeo Corporation, worked as a trader for Chase Manhattan Bank for approximately one year before it was bought by J.P. Morgan.

"This is where I learned to be aggressive and to have a spine," Yu said.

While Yu was busy thinking of marketing strategies, Velayo was sitting high at Gap Inc., managing more than $1 billion in expenses for Gap brands and crunching numbers for budget analysis. Prior to that, she was a private banker for J.P. Morgan Chase.

With the two of them in different areas of business, it was easy to delegate responsibilities for the business. Yu, the extrovert of the two, handles most of the marketing and public relations activities, while Velayo takes care of all the internal functions such as payroll, employee benefits and billings.

"We complement each other pretty well," Yu said.

The two took over the business in December 2003 and already have several changes in store, from extending their business hours to cutting the costs of certain treatments and adding new services.

"Working for Gap Inc. was not challenging enough for me. Owning a business is hard work, but there are more possibilities in terms of growth," Velayo said. "You're more motivated to do things when you know it's for something you own."