Day: May 25, 2020

The Future Of Beauty: “Genomics and artificial intelligence should bring us to know things that were never possible before” With Mark Greenspan

The advancement in Genomics and artificial intelligence should bring us to know things that were never possible before. This will allow for exponential improvements that most people cannot fathom. A better understanding of one’s unique genetic variations will allow for the personalization of skincare products and precise pharmaceuticals that will fit each person’s genetic information.

As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mark Greenspan.

Mark Greenspan combines being a serial entrepreneur, avid anti-aging enthusiast, and futurist into all his beauty and wellness ventures. He has been managing, consulting, and marketing for elite Board-Certified Plastic surgeons and aesthetic physicians for over 15 years.

In 2014 he founded Beauty Fix Med Spa concept in NYC that has catered to an array of celebrities like Cardi B, Becky G, MS. USA, and a host of Instafamous models. He founded BeautyFix Med Spa with the philosophy of combining cutting edge science and technology and merging it with highly skilled clinicians. He is continuously working with medical advisers, and mentors around to the world to hunt down the most innovative and safest aesthetic treatments Additionally, he is launching Genlyft, the only patented face-lift with Yale physician Dr. William K. Boss, to address the needs for minimally invasive surgical procedures with dramatic results. Beauty Fix Plastic Surgery will launch in tandem with Genlyft bringing together a multitude of board-certified plastic surgeons led by Dr. Steve Fallek. This allows for the pairing of each patient with an expert in a specific area of plastic surgery. He is also a Co-founder of Sparq Life, the world’s First Lab tested eco-friendly vitamin inhalation device that replaces nicotine and harmful chemicals with Vitamins, Amino Acids, and Botanicals.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I think the idea for working for anyone else was just not something that had ever appealed to me.

My only job was being a personal trainer at 19 years old, and that was very flexible. It turned into what’s known now as a side hustle while pursuing a degree in nutrition. I think those early life decisions and passions led me into the world’s beauty, wellness, and anti-aging pursuits.

Can you share the most exciting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I think we are all living in that time currently. The current challenges that COVID-19 is bringing will challenge every entrepreneurs’ resiliency and resourcefulness. It is only with those two workings in a synergy that can we find ways to get through and even to flourish.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

I can’t identify an exact typing point, but I think it is an everlasting quest that continues to acquire more knowledge and the game of connecting the dots from all of them. I believe the more insights you can analyze and use, the better the results will be.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I cannot point to one individual, but instead, I think it’s just the culmination of ingesting knowledge from an array of brilliant minds of our time through their books, videos, and seminars.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?

We have recently begun to work with a new device called CoolTone. It has been developed by pharma giant Allergan that is known for manufacturing Botox and Coolsculpting. CoolTone received FDA clearance for strengthening and toning muscles. It accomplishes this with (MMS) which uses electromagnetic energy to cause involuntary muscle contractions.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

An unintended consequence of using magnetic muscle stimulation is that the device could work too well, and some individuals may become overly reliant on technology. This could lead to a neglect of traditional exercise routines, which have even a more extensive array of benefits than just creating muscle.

Can you share three things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?

I am personally very excited to see what happens in the next decade, not only in the field of lasers and novel compounds that will improve upon the facial fillers of today, but more so with artificial intelligence, genomics, and anti-aging medications. I think anything that can help slow down or reverse biological aging, to some degree, will have a significant impact on aesthetics.

1. The advancement in Genomics and artificial intelligence should bring us to know things that were never possible before. This will allow for exponential improvements that most people cannot fathom. A better understanding of one’s unique genetic variations will allow for the personalization of skincare products and precise pharmaceuticals that will fit each person’s genetic information.
2. The emerging breakthroughs that will be discovered in the realm of stem cells should have wide-reaching benefits in regenerating organs. Biologists are beginning to in Japan to grow retinas and cornea from a small sample of skin. I can only imagine what will be learned on how to treat our aging skin.
3. Augmented reality will help to keep propelling the surge of online shopping for makeup and skincare. Improvements in facial recognition try on apps that will change the online experience.

Can you share three things that most concern you about the industry? If you could implement three ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

1)The advancement of smart skincare tools and virtual try-on apps could help fuel insecurities when they result in negative feedback to the users. People may not be able to grasp the proper meanings and put them into perspective. It can also lead to people to have less human interaction with beauty consultants and rely just on computers for advice. Although intended to be personalized recommendations, they may be way off the mark until the technology continues to improve.

Solution

Is to have many trusted resources to keep a close eye and give as much realistic, unbiased information to the public

2) The advancement in technology has been occurring since the beginning of time, but now technology is growing exponentially at a rate never known before. I think there are a tiny fraction of the 8 billion people that even have a clue as to what’s to come in the next 20 years. Futurist and well-respected genius Ray Kurzweil, who is also the director of engineering at Google, explains the law of accelerating returns. Our growth is not linear but exponential and that we will see 20,000 years of progress in the 21 st century, not 100. I think technology is impressive when used for improving mankind, but there are always have been unintended consequences that are hard to predict.

This is another area that just needs more coverage regularly to get more people ready for changes, so they don’t seem as abrupt as they will if we stay on the current course. As of now, you need to follow select people and companies like Singularity University, Ray Kurzweil, or Aubrey de Grey to stay on the cutting edge. These names, unfortunately, are not familiar with the masses like our Hollywood celebrities or Instafamous models

3)The explosion of online platforms like Amazon and other ones that use 3rd party sellers may increase the amount of counterfeit skincare products on the market. Aside from just being ripped off, the more significant concern is to what is in these products that we are putting into our skin.

Solution

There needs to be more oversight by these platforms to rid themselves of counterfeit products, and there should also be an agency that just dedicated to monitoring the skincare industry. The ingredients that are used in many bestselling products have a very suspect component, to say the least, that we all have used.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. I think being aware of one’s posture is an essential component of confidence and beauty. I think we all can remember a time when we didn’t feel up to par and noticed our body language change negatively.
2. Another one would be not to allow yourself to have negative thoughts for too long and to break the pattern as soon as you recognize you are spiraling down. This is something we all have experienced at one time or the other and always need to keep an eye on it
3. One of the old tried and true ones are just to stay active physically. I think many of us can relate to feeling more beautiful and confident after consistent work at the gym
4. I think staying up to date on beauty treatments and working with experts in the field is vital as well. It’s empowering and can enhance one outer beauty as well as make you feel better psychologically. I had been injected with some Hyaluronic Acid-based filler under my eyes a few months ago because I’m noticing some hollowing out in the under-eye area. I felt better with my appearance in 10 minutes.
5. I think the last one I would say is to surround yourself with people who make you feel beautiful and who are your biggest advocates. I think everyone can relate to the feeling different about one’s self around different people.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I have already begun to do just that as a Co-founder at sparqlife, where we are bringing alternative products to create a movement away from nicotine addiction in any form. This could be in the form of nicotine vapes that our youth is addicted to or traditional cigarettes. This can have a substantial empowering impact on the mental and physical well being of vast quantities of people. The other movement I wish had begun would create the most significant impact on society though in my opinion.

The revolution against aging and dying has already begun, Calico funded by Google with 1.5 Billion dollars behind it and the Sens Research Foundation headed by Aubrey de grey is at the forefront of tackling this issue. They are approaching aging as a treatable disease rather than just the inevitable and have already made significant progress. I think the more awareness and money that is poured into this, the faster we will see things that will benefit our lives. I can’t think of a bigger problem than aging.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I think the quote by famous stoic and former emperor Marcus Aurelius has had a significant impact on me.

He said you could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.

The fact that the whole future lies in uncertainty I try to live in the immediate present.

How can our readers follow you online?

Instagram Markgreenspan_ and on linked in

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

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The Future Of Beauty: “Genomics and artificial intelligence should bring us to know things that… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Another very important element of the face is skin. We all want to have a more youthful, more glowing skin. In professional offices we have professional devices that can address a lot of skin conditions and issues. Led light therapy-completely non invasive and easy — helps regenerate skin from aging, and other skin conditions, such as acne.

As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Board Certified Plastic Surgeon Dr. Thomas Trevisani.

Dr. Thomas Trevisani, often referred to as Dr. Tom, is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon who specializes in Rhinoplasty, Primary and Revision, as well as Body Contouring after weight loss including post-bariatric reconstruction. His body contouring procedures are precise and transformative. His Rhinoplasties are elegant and refined. Practicing for over 30 years, Dr. Tom has become widely known for performing Closed Rhinoplasty, also referred to as Endonasal Rhinoplasty, nasal surgery performed by making all main incisions hidden inside.

Based in Orlando, Florida, Dr. Tom is one of the most experienced and trusted cosmetic surgeons in the country. He has been featured in a wide range of top tier media outlets including The Doctors, and won “Best Bets” by Orlando Sentinel for five consecutive years. He was named “Top Physician” by Orlando Family Magazine, “Top 100 Doctors” by Real Self from 2012 to 2019.

In addition to being certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Dr. Tom is a member of the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, and was previously on the Board of Directors for the Orlando Chapter of the American Cancer Society. In response to his lectures and publications, Dr. Tom has been the recipient of the Physician’s Recognition Award for Continuing Medical Education by the American Medical Association. Dr. Thomas P. Trevisani’s private practice has been successfully performing plastic and reconstructive surgery in the Orlando area since 1981.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

What brought me to this specific career path of plastic surgery goes back to my preteen years.

I’m part of a large Italian family and I’m a second-generation Italian American. We have a family grocery store and working there as a teenager taught me the benefit of serving the customer. Weekends at the grocery store were very busy, noisy and educational.

My father and grandfather were very specific and demanding with respect to the details of customer service.

One day I sustained a very deep cut on my right hand. My grandfather quickly applied pressure, wrapped it up and off I went to the emergency room. I was accompanied by my father’s younger brother, who was a medical student at the time. He actually supervised the repair of the cut. That was my first exposure to the power and efficiency of the field of medicine.

As a senior in high school, I started to develop abdominal pain, which was followed by two or three days of observation by my uncle, who now was a practicing family doctor. He ended up taking me to the emergency room, where I ultimately received the diagnosis of a perforated appendix. I was immediately rushed to surgery. At that time, we were lacking certain antibiotics and I spent one full month or more in the hospital, being tended to by nursing students, registered nurses, and my uncle. That experience solidified the path of medicine for me.

I made my way through college graduate school medical school but it wasn’t until my first job in the emergency room that I felt the calling for plastic surgery. The more I demonstrated my skills and proved my worthiness, the two plastic surgeons on staff both separately approached me with a direct order that I needed to return to residency training and focus on plastic surgery. They said I had the gift. That was a first I had heard of any specific kind of gift but I took them seriously and the more I pursued it the greater knowledge of how true it was.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

From the time I graduated high school at age 18, it took over 15 years of schooling and training in preparation for private practice.

My last and final year as a resident was very exciting and full of responsibility and fulfillment. But that first year of private practice was profoundly challenging in a much different way. Creating an office with all of its equipment and furniture is a daunting task. I had significant help in organizing this new and exciting venture and the practice became successful from day one.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

The tipping point of my success occurred when I was one of the younger plastic surgeons in the community and therefore all the older doctors gave me their call; meaning I was on call for all of the city and local hospitals. Within a matter of weeks, my waiting room was full of trauma patients, as well as patients with automobile accidents, and reconstructive cancer patients. I no longer had a professor watching over me since I had completed all of the required training and had passed all of the required testing. Within a matter of months I knew had made the right decision and the practice was off and running, serving the community.

The only thing different was that I was now completely and totally responsible for all aspects of the practice — — clinically, administratively, and financially.

The primary lesson that I learned was that preparation is everything; and oddly enough it was the customer service in respect for the patient’s that I had learned in the family business that gave me the greatest degree of advantage and fulfillment.

Clinically and surgically I was very competent from the beginning, but the relationships I made with my patients were just as important — and that is not taught in medical school.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My gratitude is spread over several individuals. My parents encouraged me to seek a path that I could find exciting, exhilarating and make a full commitment to.

The family business was an option, but I had different aspirations. My parents were understanding and helped encourage my exploration of career. My uncle, the physician, served as a role model and I tried to emulate his style and personality. He was very successful and loved by his patients.

My pivot to plastic surgery is definitely attributable to my relationship with the plastic surgeons in the community Hospital where I worked in the emergency room. They saw in me what needed to be seen in order for me to realistically achieve stature as a board-certified plastic surgeon. Without their acknowledgment of my performance in the emergency room and with their specific recommendations to residencies and training programs I may not have achieved what I was meant to do.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?

Technology certainly has a very identifiable role in the delivery of products and services in all aspects of life, especially the beauty industry.

However we must keep in mind that from a medical standpoint the beauty industry is divided into surgical and nonsurgical services.

The technological advances have been more profoundly identifiable in the non-surgical arena; Laser skin resurfacing, radio frequency applications, micro needling and many other noninvasive techniques have been found to be extremely helpful with respect to beautification and anti-aging of the skin.

One particularly interesting technological achievement is the UV sense device by L’Oreal. It is a nail appliqué that measures the UV light that you are exposed to at any given moment. It can sync with your smartphone to give your reading. I’ve used infra red light at a medium to low wavelength in order to facilitate dissolution of fat cells allowing greater amounts of fat removed would like a suction.

As a surgeon focused on rhinoplasty and revision, I have found the use of ocular magnification devices with built-in illumination abilities have helped to achieve greater, more refined results.

Body contouring can now be assisted with technologies like tissue glue; in the right hands and when used properly, this can help eliminate the need for postoperative drains after large abdominoplasty’s.

All of these technological advances for the most part can help achieve better results with lower complication rates — — greatly benefiting the public in general.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

Charlie Brooker, the creator of black mirror presents some very interesting dilemmas with respect to technology and humanity as portrayed in his TV series “Black Mirror”. I can think of one element with respect to surgical robotics — — that is the performance of surgery using robotic assistance.

Today, the robots are controlled by a surgeon from a distance. However it could be envisioned that these robots could develop artificial intelligence and begin to challenge the surgeons next move or decision-making process. This could create a very challenging environment for the future of robotic surgery.

Plastic surgery would be very difficult to transform itself into robotic surgery because the performance of our procedures are so specific and dependent upon the creative capabilities of the surgeon. In essence, plastic surgery is creative anatomy. Each and every operation is designed specifically for that particular patient by that particular surgeon.

Body dysmorphia can be very detrimental to the patient if that patient finds a surgeon willing to help materialize the images that sufferers of this entity create in their mind. We’ve all seen noses that are overdone, lips that are overdone, facelifts that have been overdone and pulled too tightly, as well as laser resurfacing carried to the extreme. Like most all things in life, balance and judicial use must be respected and sought. It takes a human conscious to make these types of judgement calls; you can’t replace that kind human emotion with a computer.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?

The beauty tech industry is fascinating! There are products now available on the market that have never existed before. Some of them work, some of them don’t, some devices are not for everyone. But overall, the variety of existing products is fascinating.

In my opinion, one of the most important elements of attractiveness is smile — and teeth.

I have always advised my patients to address their teeth prior to undergoing any facial surgery. One of the tools I always recommend is Electric toothbrush, such as Braun Oral B. I can’t wait to try the new Oral B iO Toothbrush — it will be a fun, multitasked brush!

Another very important element of the face is skin. We all want to have a more youthful, more glowing skin. In professional offices we have professional devices that can address a lot of skin conditions and issues. Led light therapy-completely non invasive and easy — helps regenerate skin from aging, and other skin conditions, such as acne. Of course Professional grade devices are always better , but you can always have a mini device at home as a maintenance in between office visits.

Lastly, we want our bodies to look the part. I always encourage patients to live a healthy lifestyle. In addition to it, there’re great devices to assist them with creating toned bodies, such Emsculpt or CoolTone. It is not a substitute for healthy diet and exercise but definitely a great machine to help tone the body.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

One aspect of the plastic surgery profession that concerns me is how do we address the concept of body dysmorphia. This is a condition that is essentially a mental illness characterized by an obsessive focus on a perceived flaw in one’s appearance. This can be very difficult to diagnose. These individuals may spend countless hours in front of a mirror evaluating and analyzing a perceived flaw and what can be done to improve it. They constantly compare their appearance with others and avoid social interactions and photos. There are no blood tests x-rays or other methods to make the diagnosis. The patient must recognize that they have this problem and seek psychiatric evaluation and assistance. More often than not however, they shop for a Plastic Surgeon that will agree with their perceived deformity and offer some surgical or nonsurgical treatment. There are charlatans and unethical surgeons out there who will take advantage of and abuse these individuals.

One way to address this is to require Plastic Surgeons to attend training programs given by psychiatrists to help identify these individuals prior to accepting them as a surgical candidate. Furthermore, it would be helpful if each State throughout the country requires very specific credentials for plastic surgeons to elevate our professions level of performance. Unfortunately, state laws allow many individuals, who are not qualified plastic surgeons, to operate and treat patients. Currently the profession to a great degree is self policed and unfortunately charlatans and unscrupulous and untrained individuals are often only held accountable after they do damage.

A second aspect or element of my professional Plastic Surgery is the concept of internal or closed versus open rhinoplasty. For many years beginning in the late 19th century the internal approach to creating an improved nasal appearance was the standard. The open approach gained popularity in the 90s and is the primary method of teaching new residents who perform rhinoplasty. I support that many primary rhinoplasties should not be done open as they have inherent risks, complications including a visible scar and prolonged swelling of the all-important tip area.

My solution to this would be to require all training programs whether they be plastic surgery training programs or ENT residencies — — be taught how to perform closed rhinoplasty.The new surgeon, armed with these two techniques can then be better suited to make the right decision to serve the patient. I am a proponent of closed or internal incision rhinoplasty whether it be primary or revision.

A third aspect of health and beauty as it pertains to my profession of plastic surgery is obesity. The relationship between a person’s height and weight will determine clinically whether or not they are obese. Charts are available online to evaluate one’s BMI and therefore their level of obesity. Being overweight is more than marginally appealing. Obesity has a direct link to diabetes, heart disease, and other potentially fatal conditions that can be minimized and in some cases eliminated by having an appropriate weight for one’s height. Improving the situation is very challenging. Because we have a nation predicated upon liberty and freedom, it’s challenging to mandate diet exercise and an overall healthy lifestyle. This must be a patient’s choice based on knowledge, experience and training.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)

The word beauty is as old as man himself.

Generally speaking the word beauty is a positive word, with roots in balance, harmony and overall general visual appearance. Although spiritually and philosophically we know that beauty is more than skin deep. However, for the purposes of our profession, we focus on anatomic or visual appearance as the gold standard for beauty. In today’s culture, the concept of beauty is clear — it’s all about how something or someone looks. This may sound superficial, but over the decades I’ve learned that one’s appearance is deeply rooted and intimately connected to their personal well-being. Body weight, BMI, muscle mass, cardiovascular conditioning, as well as drinking and smoking can all have very direct and profound influence on one’s appearance. In my particular profession, I focus on the nose and the overall body as it relates to excess skin and sagging. If a person chooses to be overweight, then that’s their choice. If a person would feel better having a more attractive nose, then it’s their choice to pursue surgical intervention. You’d be surprised to hear how something as simple as improving a person’s nose can help them feel better and more beautiful.

One of the most rewarding elements of my practice is when I have the privilege of assisting a person who’s made a lifestyle change and has lost over 100 pounds. Shedding unwanted pounds, especially in the 100 or more range, is cause for celebration in and of itself. Though, it normally welcomes unwanted excess skin. So, we discuss our surgical goals. I usually prefer to address the breasts and abdomen first, as this gives the best and quickest result for a person who’s lost significant weight. Redesigning and re-contouring the patient’s body after massive weight loss is a challenge, requiring great creativity and vision.

More often than not when we remove the splint off a rhinoplasty patient, whether primary or revision in, the patient and the family break down in tears. It is a very rewarding and emotional time. Similarly, with the body contouring patients the first set of procedures — breast and abdomen produce a profound improvement in their appearance and in their body image that they also are very emotionally impacted. This profession, plastic surgery is so rewarding and fulfilling that I am as motivated today as ever. I feel totally blessed to have found the profession that fits me perfectly.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

If I could inspire a movement that would benefit the most people with the most amount of good it would be a commitment by all humans to be the best. This may sound trite, but it is essentially a commitment by each and every one of us to a life of knowledge, experience, skill and training.

It takes great commitment and work to be our best both physically, morally, ethically, spiritually and financially. Ancient civilizations for example Greeks and Romans embraced these concepts very seriously. Much of the beliefs we have today have roots in antiquity. The great philosophers of the past focused on these attributes. I firmly believe that each human being has at least one gift and at least one passion. Many humans have multiple passions and multiple gifts — — these individuals stand out among us. However when a passion meets a person’s gifts that creates a life — I urge all my patients and everyone willing to listen to search their soul for what they truly find important and pursue it.

In the meantime, let’s stay healthy, check our blood pressure, modulate our blood chemistry and make a commitment to longevity. It’s not enough to just live longer, we have an obligation to live longer, live better, and look our best. My personal opinion is that this is God’s will for us.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — — think about such things.”

Of great influence on me were my parents. My father died young in his early 50s from cancer, but he was a hard-working, noble man full of generosity and very inquisitive. My mother had a very clear sense of right and wrong and she portrayed it to all of her six children on a daily basis. She was stern but not mean and had very high expectations for her six sons to live honorable lives.

How can our readers follow you online?

For more information about Dr. Thomas Trevisani, and to book a consultation, you can go to https://drtomtrevisani.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realdrtrevisani/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CelebritiesChoice

Twitter: https://twitter.com/drtomtrevisani

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

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The Future Of Beauty: “Infrared light can be used to dissolve fat cells” With Dr. Thomas Trevisani was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Dr. Hector Salazar-Reyes: I would like to start a movement to promote, support, and communicate about safety in the beauty industry

The true movement that I would like to start is to promote, support, and communicate about safety, whether it’s plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery or the beauty industry. I would like to be able to protect consumers and have them achieve the outcomes that they seek, safely.

As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Hector Salazar-Reyes. Passionate about cosmetic surgery and patient care, Dr. Salazar loves nothing more than seeing a patient’s confidence transform after a procedure. Having dedicated 17 years of his life to achieve the best medical training, his philosophy is centered around providing beautiful results safely and ensuring each and every patient feels well cared for from their first appointment to their last. In addition to being an American Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Salazar is a member of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), a prestigious organization that is highly selective with its membership. Only plastic surgeons who demonstrate a high lever of skill, experience, and expertise in aesthetic plastic surgery and cosmetic medicine are inducted in ASAPS. Dr. Salazar is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and an active member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Dr. Salazar is also committed to giving back, and he has worked with the Cronin/Christus Foundation to provide much-needed reconstructive care to those in need in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Thank you for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I’ve known I wanted to be a plastic surgeon since I was 10 years old. I planned my entire life for this path which I love. Plastic surgery is a combination of art and science. What brought me to plastic surgery is that as a plastic surgeon, I can impact a patient’s life in a very positive way. As a plastic surgeon. I can make tangible changes which can be seen in a relatively short period of time. Through these physical changes, my patients enjoy the changes in their physical appearance but I also see them benefit from a boost their confidence as well as their general wellbeing.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I vividly remember this 58 year old male patient who actually underwent a strict exercise regimen as well as a radical change in his diet and he was able to lose about a 125 pounds without any other further help. We examined him in the office and established a step-by-step surgical plan to get rid of all the excessive and loose skin that he developed. We performed a total body transformation that involved 3 surgeries. He obtained a very natural result. We started with a body lift in addition to a chest wall or breast reduction. On his 2nd operation we performed a face and neck lift together with liposuction on very small specific areas. And on a 3rd procedure we perform hair restoration for him which boosted his overall image. At the end he was still himself but looking much more healthy and with better possibilities of enjoying life without all the excessive tissue that was the result of his well desired weight loss. And this patient’s natural and gradual transformation really remained in my mind as well as in my heart as proof of what well performed step-by-step plastic surgery can achieve on a patient that has taken the appropriate steps for a better healthier life.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

I want to share 3 important moments in my professional development. The first moment was when I completed my plastic surgery training after 17 years of medical education. The second moment is when I became part of La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre, which I consider to be the best practice in plastic surgery. My addition created a synergy between a very respected and well-established practice with the youth and new techniques of a young plastic surgeon. The third point was the establishment of two new programs which I am bringing to our practice. These are high definition liposuction, which basically provides muscle etching to our patients, and a comprehensive hair restoration program which runs the gamut from nutritional supplements to full hair transplantation.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I’m very fortunate as my life has been touched by multiple mentors. Just to give you an example, I was trained in plastic surgery where the silicone implant was invented. Throughout this journey, I have operated side-by-side with some of the world experts in plastic surgery. I spent several months with Alfonso Barrera, MD, FACS, who is among the most respected plastic surgeons in hair transplantation and a pioneer in enhancing the natural appearance of this technique.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?

The world of cosmetic surgery and the beauty industry as you’re calling it is very, very vast. Many improvements and advancements are taking place each day.

I would like to concentrate on one topic that I feel really passionate about and that is the area of hair restoration which, it may surprise you to know, impacts women as well as men. Recently, multiple advancements are being introduced since traditional hair transplantation is mostly for men.

First, we are using a newer hair transplantation technique. Incisions are not necessary. This technique is called FUE, which stands for Follicular Unit Extraction. This basically means that every single hair that is going to be transplanted is harvested one by one without the need to place an incision. As incisions can cause visible scars, this is an important advance.

Secondly, we’re obtaining great hair restoration results by injecting of plasma rich platelets or PRP into the patient’s scalp. I have many female patients who are overjoyed to have healthier, thicker and more dense hair relatively quickly from this outpatient procedure.

Lastly, we recently added the Keravive scalp treatment which is a very powerful “facial” which is performed on your scalp, not on your face. Stimulating and nourishing the scalp is something that has never done before.

I’m very excited about the comprehensive holistic options that we have for hair restoration and those 3 things could be the considered noninvasive treatments that actually work and provide fabulous results for patients.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the Law of Unintended Consequences in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

All treatments have their own intrinsic risk and benefits, but we are very cautious with all the services that we provide. If we offer a treatment at La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre, you can be assured that it has been clinically proven and can be offered safely. Patients can rest assured that we are not experimenting with these new advancements in technology and that our number one priority is their satisfaction with the treatments that we’re providing.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

The beauty industry ranges from simple skin care product to complex surgeries to improve appearance. Along the continuum, new technologies and treatments are being introduced.

My main concern is the consumer’s ability to evaluate these new offerings and the qualifications of the providers. Our website, ljcsc.com, contains a treasure trove of information to help patients. We characterize our practice as, The Smart, Safe Place to Get Glam®. There is a lot of philosophy concentrated in those few words. Consumers need to be “smart shoppers” and choose practices that adhere to the highest U.S. safety standards.

Secondly, there is a great deal of misinformation that endangers patients. As consumers consider different procedures and providers, they will encounter much non-regulated content on websites and in social media. There is a lot of laxity or gaps in legislation that enables doctors and providers from other specialties to provide treatments or perform procedures that they may well not be properly trained or qualified to do. What someone can do in one state, they cannot do in another.

Lastly, it is important that patients are properly prepared for treatment and recovery regardless of how small or involved the treatment is. Our practice is known internationally for its patient education and informed consent process. We educate our patients and we make sure that we every opportunity to make them a partner in their rejuvenation journey.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”?

I think my response will surprise you. I think the most important things that people can do to feel good about themselves are pretty basic.

1. Maintain good health, which includes eating properly and monitoring your weight.
2. Exercise regularly and vary what you do so you can be consistent and enjoy this time.
3. Both men and women should have a good skin care regimen and avoid excessive sun exposure.
4. Nurture your mind by learning new things and interacting with positive people and activities
5. Do things that are fun, including non-surgical or surgical procedures that will reflect your spirit and enjoyment of life.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

The true movement that I would like to start is to promote, support, and communicate is about safety, whether it’s plastic surgery, cosmetic surgery or the beauty industry. I would like to be able to protect consumers and have them achieve the outcomes that they seek, safely.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

So even though this quote may sound obvious, it’s very important and not every health care provider or physician or specialist follows it, “Listen to your patient.” It is really important that the treating physician can listen carefully in order to translate their words into a surgical vision. The patient comes in with a concern, knows exactly what bothers him about a certain condition. The patient has an idea of the way she wants to look or the goals that she would like to achieve. Communication is crucial. Ultimately, the patient becomes part of the treating team.

How can our readers follow you online?

I invite your readers to follow La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre Instagram account (@ljcsc) as well as my Instagram account which is @dr_salazar_la_jolla_cosmetic and to visit our website at www.ljcsc.com. They’ll find many stories of people like them finding ways to better enjoy their lives. They can also email, give us a call, or send a text to establish contact. If there’s any area of their body that they have a concern about or simply want to improve or enhance, we will listen to their concerns, present different options for treatment, and think about their satisfaction and safety at all times. Thank you.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

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Dr. Hector Salazar-Reyes: I would like to start a movement to promote, support, and communicate… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

You’re going to experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and you’ve got to just enjoy the journey and put one step in front of the other to fight to live another day. Just insert all of the clichés here, but that is who I am and what I know. I don’t think entrepreneurs are these amazing people, they just keep fighting every single day and keep going.

As a part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible,’’ I had the pleasure of interviewing Brock Blake.

Brock Blake is the CEO and founder of Lendio, the largest online marketplace of small business loans in the U.S.

Brock believes that access to capital should be simpler and quicker for small business owners, and he’s built a successful company around solving this problem. Brock leads the team that has helped business owners get access to more than $1B in funding. An Inc. 500 CEO, national keynote speaker, Forbes columnist, and Utah’s Emerging Executive of the Year, Brock’s dedication extends far beyond the boardroom. He has shaped a superior company culture with a humble and hungry team that is passionate about driving results and giving back. For every loan facilitated on Lendio’s marketplace platform, Lendio Gives, an employee contribution and employer matching program, donates a percentage of funds to low-income entrepreneurs around the world through Kiva.org. Brock’s most important accomplishments come from being a husband and a father of four.

Thank you so much for joining us Brock! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?

I am passionate about entrepreneurship and passionate about businesses. I’ve been an entrepreneur my whole life. My entrepreneurial spirit began to blossom when I took on a paper route as a young boy. From there, I moved into larger ventures like starting my own soccer camp business and purchasing scooters from China and selling them locally.

While studying at Brigham Young University, I found out about an entrepreneurial competition similar to the TV show The Apprentice (minus the cameras, drama and celebrity host). The competition, called Junto, challenged young, wannabe entrepreneurs to compete to win $50,000 to start a company. There were 100 applicants, 20 were selected to compete, and ultimately 5 winners were chosen. Fortunately, I was one of the 5!

With $50,000 in hand, I had the freedom to start any business venture I wanted. After considering a number of different business ideas, I kept coming back to a common pain point for entrepreneurs: access to capital. Every business owner I talked to needed capital to grow and expand their business, and it wasn’t easy to come by.

My co-founder and I took our $50,000 winnings to create FundingUniverse. It was a platform that connected small business owners to angel investors. After realizing that most of our customers didn’t need venture funding, we started working on a spinoff, Lendio, that provides small business owners with much-needed loans. Now after 8 years in business, Lendio has helped more than 70,000 small businesses get access to over $1.7B in loans to start and grow their businesses.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Yes we are. At Lendio, our main purpose is to help business owners get loans, and we’ve built this whole marketplace around it. Currently, what we do is we get the application data from the business owner and then we send it off to the lender. Now we’re to the point where we think we can be influential in changing the way people actually get loans. So, instead of the way it is today where you go, you fill out a 30-question application and you have to upload all these documents, we believe that we could streamline that application process to be a different experience.

For example, we recently launched our new cash-flow tool. It pulls the business owner’s bank data every single day and it monitors the cash trends as it goes up and down, as it inflows and outflows, when they get paid, when they need money, and things of that nature. By looking at that data on a regular basis, our system can be smart enough to determine when they qualify for a loan or when they will need a loan. It further streamlines the loan experience from needing a loan and filling out a bunch of big applications and instead proactively alerts business owners when they qualify. That’s a brief description of our most exciting project, but what we’re really trying to do is simplify our customers’ experiences so business owners can focus on running their businesses day-to-day rather than spend time filling out loan applications.

In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?

I mean, this is cliché to say, but it all starts with our team members and our people. We have a team that’s passionate about helping small business owners, that has this ‘humble-hungry’ attitude of rolling up their sleeves and getting things done. Every hire truly puts their best foot forward each day and recognizes each other’s’ high-five moments. The energy and the culture here amazes me, just the people that we have that are bought into the mission and are driven. In fact, Glassdoor recently named Lendio’s company culture as one of the top 50 cultures in the world for small businesses, and that’s based on anonymous employee reviews and ratings.That’s one of the things that really sets us apart. The culture here is just extremely unique, and we have a lot of fun with it. I believe if your team members are happy, then they will take care of your customers. It’s infectious. If you take care of your team, they’ll take care of you customers, your customers will be happy and it’s just this virtuous cycle. I really that sets us apart from the crowd.

Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?

You know, there have been a lot of those moments from the very beginning. My whole career of being an entrepreneur — and at each pivotal stage of this company — I have had to persevere and ignore naysayers’ doubts. We got into this business intent on helping business owners get financing, and from day one people told us that it wasn’t going to work, that we would fail and we shouldn’t move forward. We didn’t listen and we quickly built a profitable company.

Early on, we were connecting entrepreneurs to investors, and we grew that business to $10 million in revenue even when people said it wasn’t going to work. Then when we got to $10 million in revenue, I noticed some flaws in our business model and decided to pivot and focus instead on helping business owners get loans. I saw an opportunity there, I knew that businesses needed capital. We started going out and having conversations with people and they told us we wouldn’t be able to get banks on board to lend to businesses. They said that banks are slow, we won’t be able to get lenders on board, don’t change your business model. People told us that wasn’t going to work, so instead of listening and stopping there, we went to work and started figuring out how to make it work. We ended up getting both banks and lenders on board. Then people said, “Okay, well I guess that worked for you, but there’s no way you’ll get repeat customers. They’ll come to you, get a one-time loan and then they’ll be off.” We didn’t listen, and now 50% of our customers are repeats.

So, all along the way people have offered their doubts and concerns, and at every turn I had to decide whether to let those doubts pull me back or pursue my vision. Don’t get me wrong, this is a very challenging business and there have been tons of growing pains and highs and lows along the way, in fact the deeper you get inside of the business, the more you realize how challenging it is. However, I believe that if you have persistence and you just keep working at it, that challenge will create value in the end.

In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂

From that initial $50,000 in won in a college entrepreneurial competition, Lendio has grown into the nation’s largest marketplace for small business loans. To date, Lendio has facilitated over $1.7 in business loans. From a macroeconomics viewpoint, that represents over $11 billion of economic impact across the United States. The best part is listening to the first-hand experiences of our customers. Each week my funding managers share their experiences with me. They say, “I worked with a business owner in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and here was their challenge, and this is what I needed to help them accomplish their goal.” We talk about how getting that loan affected their lives, and I realize the company I helped build made an impact today. If I hadn’t ignored the naysayers, none of this would have been possible, so it just shows how you need to trust your own gut and ignore the naysayers along the way.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

The person that I immediately think of is my business partner Trent Miskin. Trent is absolutely brilliant. He is not afraid of any challenge, he knows how to roll up his sleeves and solve problems, and he’s extremely loyal and honest. He’d definitely put himself in the nerd category, but he is wickedly smart and has been a great leader and loyal business partner from day one. We certainly wouldn’t be where we are without what Trent has contributed to this business.

A while ago as we were growing our business, we faced a huge marketing dilemma. One of the most challenging aspects of this business is acquiring customers and doing it at scale. It’s both expensive and challenging because business owners need financing, but they don’t need it all the time, so you have to catch them with marketing messages when they actually need financing. We can’t target just any business owner either, we have certain criteria they have to meet. We have to find a business owner that has both revenue and a couple of years in business and some other things like that. Anyway, we had gone out and hired this VP of marketing from Florida who moved here with this incredibly successful resume. He spent 6–12 months trying to figure out how to acquire customers at scale and with the right cost. We experienced a lot of turnover in that team and he just couldn’t crack the code, so it became clear it wasn’t the right fit. He moved on and suddenly we had a missing marketing piece. Trent who had never stepped into marketing before — he was our CTO and computer science engineer — just said, “I’ll take over marketing.” With absolutely no marketing experience, no background, zero expertise in this sphere, he learned everything he could about it and reverse-engineered our marketing like an engineer would. He started looking at what types of customers we needed, where they came from, which channels worked and which channels didn’t work. He figured this out and put money and people into the ones that worked, and suddenly he completely overhauled the marketing department and helped our customer acquisition marketing team really perform. It’s a great story.

It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?

So, I’m the youngest of six. There are five boys and one girl. As you can imagine, growing up, we would just compete like no other. Whether it was soccer or football or basketball or chess or anything you could possibly think of, we would compete hard. I, being the youngest, was always trying to live up to my older siblings and tried to beat them. So I think it’s just been ingrained in me this persistence, this people telling me I can’t and just trying to prove them wrong, from being the youngest and my natural competitive nature.

I also think a lot of that comes from my mom. My grandmother was a single mother and she basically worked 24 hours a day, minimum-wage just to pay the rent. They were so poor and literally had nothing. My mom had to be extremely self-sufficient. She had to get herself to school, get herself ready, do everything by herself. When she was a teenager, she wanted to go to prom, but she didn’t have a prom dress, so she caught a bus to downtown Portland — which was 20 miles away — went window shopping, found a dress that she really liked, and then went and bought fabric and on her own learned how to make a dress so she could have a prom dress. It probably wasn’t the most amazing dress out there, but did it all on her own. In the end, she was student body officer and a cheerleader and super successful. She went to college and paid for it all on her own and is self-made and she just had this amazing story that’s kind of embedded into us and who we are. So, a combination of those two things — being the youngest boy and competitive, and my mom’s example.

Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)

1. Do you homework, study it out. These aren’t just fly-by-night ideas. When I jump into anything, any new thing that people are going to say it’s not going to work, I spend a ton of time doing research and figuring out who the players are and what’s not working and what is.

I shared a little bit about the process of changing our business model above, but what I didn’t share was the extreme pressure we were under. While our revenues were increasing, they hadn’t caught up with expenses yet, and we eventually realized our business model wasn’t scalable. Two weeks before Christmas, we had no cash in the bank and no way to make payroll, we had a choice to make: continue down this path, knowing it was a dead end, or re-invent the business and start over. We had plenty of naysayers in both directions, so we had to rely on our research. We saw more risk, but also more potential for growth by reinventing our business model, so it seemed like the better choice.

2. Once you’ve done your homework, you need to trust your gut. If you believe you’ve done all that data and research and you think there’s an opportunity over there, you’ve got to trust it and you’ve got to go with it.

Continuing with the example above, although the data told us that we could scale our business by changing our business model, we still had to trust our own guts. Our new plan would require buy-in from a team we couldn’t pay. There was no guarantee of success, and as I mentioned, legions of people telling us it wouldn’t work. We talked to our team, and in the end they all agreed to stick with us. Right after Christmas, we shut down FundingUniverse — going from $10 million in revenue to zero overnight, and launched Lendio.

3. Focus on customers and product-market fit. Revenue cures all ills and the best way to validate and overcome naysayers is to say, will this customer buy it? Will they use it? Will they pay me for it? Figuring out how to focus on customers and product-market fit is central to success.

4. Be persistent. You’re going to experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and you’ve got to just enjoy the journey and put one step in front of the other to fight to live another day. Just insert all of the clichés here, but that is who I am and what I know. I don’t think entrepreneurs are these amazing people, they just keep fighting every single day and keep going.

5. Learn from your mistakes and celebrate your wins. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Laugh when you make mistakes, fail fast, and when you fail, learn from it. Don’t beat yourself up, just do it again and again. Celebrate the high-five moments, and then you make progress, recognize that and celebrate that, but don’t get too high either.

What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?

I love that quote, there’s a quote out there and I don’t even remember who said it that says, ‘There’s the boxing ring. Those who are the critics are on the outside of the boxing ring and saying that you can’t do it. Then there are those who are actually inside of the ring that are doing it and don’t listen to the people outside the ring, just get in and go for it.’

It could also be “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I don’t know exactly how to articulate this, but I really believe in paying it forward. At Christmas, we gave each of our team members two $100 bills — one to have an experience with loved ones, and another $100 to go find someone in need that needs it more than you do. Then we asked them to come back and share those experiences. The experiences that have been written from that have been so awesome. And we do this Kiva thing where employees volunteer a portion of their salaries to donate to small business owners in struggling countries. We ask, can you sacrifice one lunch a month and give that to someone that needs that in a third-world country? We’ve seen $100 change lives and enable people to get a business off the ground and provide an income for their families. But it’s so small for us to give that. I just really believe in getting outside of ourselves. When you focus on people and on doing good for them, I believe one — you’ll be happier, and two — it comes back.

Can our readers follow you on social media?

Absolutely!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brockblake/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrockBlake?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Website Link: https://www.lendio.com/

Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!

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Brock Blake of Lendio: “They told me it was impossible and I did it anyway” was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Beauty starts from within. The first step to feel more beautiful about yourself is to try and eliminate negative emotions like anger, fear, envy, and self-doubt. If you are focused on replacing those emotions with peace, love, and gratitude, you will immediately look more attractive. It will move you into higher vibrations and frequencies which naturally bring your life more beauty.

As a part of our series about how technology will be changing the beauty industry over the next five years, I had the pleasure of interviewing Elina Fedotova.

Elina is the formulator and CEO of Elina Organics, an award-winning cosmetic chemist and celebrity esthetician. She hand makes her professional skin care line in her laboratory using holistic principles and organic ingredients from around the world. In 2007, she founded the Association of Holistic Skin Care Practitioners (AHSCP); a nonprofit organization that provides ongoing training and education for professionals. The Elina Organics product line is available in professional skin care salons and spas across the country. She continues to offer her unique, holistic skin care treatments to clients who come to her spas in Chicago and Kalamazoo, MI.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Growing up in Russia, I struggled with an oily and acne prone complexion. It was difficult to find solutions while avoiding antibiotics or oral antibiotics or other topical medications. Probiotics and compresses from herbal extracts of calendula, burdock root, and chamomile helped me to achieve the level of skin balance that I was satisfied with. Being able to improve my skin holistically was an incredible relief and gave me inspiration to learn more about herbs and Phytotherapy. At the age of 16, I had received a few facials from one of the salons in Moscow. The facials only consisted of steaming, extractions, massage, and applications of masks and lotions. A few years later, I ended up receiving a teaching degree and worked at a school and publishing house. At the same time, I was continuously studying chemistry, herbalism, and esthetics, learning how to make natural creams and homeopathic ointments. In 1991, I arrived in the United States with my husband Igor and our baby boy, Yuri. It took me several years to improve my English and receive my licensing in the United States. In 1998, I opened my first spa and I finally launched my own skin care line.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I have many stories during my two decades of work but today I would like to share one. I don’t know if it is interesting but it deeply touched me. Fifteen years ago, I was giving a facial to a client on the second floor of my spa. It was in the evening, all employees already left and we were alone in the building. Suddenly, we heard a very scary crashing glass noise. We both realized that someone broke in. I wanted to go downstairs to see what happened, but my client grabbed my hand, jumped from her treatment table barefoot in only a robe and said, “You can’t go alone. It is too dangerous and I am going with you.”

She refused to stay in the room and followed me barefoot downstairs. When we came to the lobby, we saw the large front window was broken. The criminals stole my purse and some money from the front desk. It was a cold Michigan day in January and freezing wind and snowflakes were floating into the spa. I asked my client to go home and she refused again. She stayed with me until the police arrived. It was too late to catch the criminals when the two policemen came to the spa. After completing their investigative report, they did not want to leave me alone with my problems. Instead, they went to the police station, brought plywood, hammers, and nails and covered my broken front window themselves. All of this time, I was in shock. And at that late of hours, it was not possible to get a professional technician to repair the window. The policemen comforted me with their kind words and made sure my spa would be warm and protected overnight. They did this out of the kindness of their hearts. My client could have asked for her money back and just went home but she didn’t. Because of people like this who are kind and loving, I think there is still good in this world. It was a deep and meaningful story for me which I am grateful for. The most interesting part about my career is learning about people and to be able to help them, not only on a skin level, but also on a soul connection level. This is part of the holistic approach to health and beauty.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

My business started to grow pretty quickly thanks to my clients. I did not try to market my products to other salons but estheticians were knocking on my door, asking to learn more about herbal facials. They wanted to start working with my products because they heard about my business from their clients and friends. I realized I needed to create a retail channel but also wholesale prices for my products so that salon professionals could start to work with my line. In 2007, I formulated one of my best-selling products, the Elina Organics Ambra Lift Elixir, and could finally afford to do independent genomic studies on it.

In a 48-hour period, Ambra Lift Elixir is scientifically proven to increase the expression of Sirtuin-1, a key anti-aging gene, promote anti-wrinkle effects, and activate the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory genes involved in protective cellular mechanisms, in a statistically significant way. It was quite shocking for people that a completely all natural and organic product could produce serious, clinical results.

In 2019, the same Ambra Lift Elixir won the Aestheticians’ Choice Awards through DERMASCOPE Magazine — our oldest trade show magazine for skincare professionals. When I started to distribute my products to other salons, I realized the need for holistic skin care education. I wanted to draw the line between conventional beauty treatments and clean beauty services, which benefit not only the skin, but also the entire body. This is why in 2007, I organized the Association of Holistic Skin Care Practitioners and this allowed me to be able to share this approach with other estheticians. Many holistically-minded people can feel isolated and I felt they needed a network to connect with likeminded estheticians. We believe a healthy body requires mental clarity, positive emotions, whole food and a clean environment. It is hard to achieve this alone. We need each other to make better choices individually and on a global scale. By taking a “whole-istic” approach to our health and lives, I feel we can deliver more peace to ourselves, care more about our resources, and help create a more harmonious life for all — practicing holistic skin care is a large part of making this happen. My tipping point happened around this time when I started to share my knowledge with other professionals and now my products are available in spas all around the country.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I do not have one particular person. But, to be able to be successful, you constantly have to do research. If you are only attending professional trade shows and conferences, that is not enough to be an industry leader. Instead of learning about what other people invent, I had to think out of the box and invent formulas myself. I was always guided by my intuition and gut feelings which led me to certain ingredients to study further. I would come up with new ideas and then brainstorm with my friends who are scientists, chemists, biologists, and progressively minded doctors to clarify some information. This helped me to create my formulas. Also, why I still do facials several times a month is because I get inspired to create new formulas by working with people directly. I can’t imagine creating new formulas without working with the skin and understanding a client’s needs. Working directly with my clients and understanding who I am exactly formulating for helps me incredibly.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. The beauty industry today has access to technology that was inconceivable only a short time ago. Can you tell us about the “cutting edge” (pardon the pun) technologies that you are working with or introducing? How do you think that will help people?

I was doing liposome encapsulated skin care products since 1998. I never purchased liposomes and literally developed my own using phospholipids from organically grown botanicals. I introduced peptides in my products over 10 years ago as well. I was really fascinated with the research done by the scientist, Dr. Khavinison from Saint Petersburg, Russia.

If we are talking about technology, I did a genomic study on my Ambra Lift Elixir which was very cutting edge and helped me to understand the performance of my product.

Being a spa owner, my goal was to create holistic and clinical spa services. This vs. a med spa which is sometimes associated with beauty treatments that are not necessarily healthy. I wanted to deliver the same results but by using holistic therapies. I have a medical doctor on staff because we perform serious clinical procedures like fat graphing which is injectables made with your own fat instead of synthetic, artificial substances. We also do PRP which uses your own blood to grow more collagen. Our latest procedure we do is systemic ozone therapy. This helps to detoxify the body, clean the blood, and oxygenate the blood. It will benefit inflamed and problem complexions. Ozone therapy can achieve skin improvement from the inside out. A lot of skin conditions can only be approached topically and in a med spa, they will be treated with a lot of medications which could have a lot of side effects. All of our procedures require a doctor but are still holistic alternatives to conventional med spa procedures.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

In 2007, I organized the Association of Holistic Skin Care Practitioners which I am a President of. I did this to collaborate with scientists and doctors, analyzing technology and choosing the best, safest and most effective ones from a holistic point of view. In other words, if some technologies may be able to really beautify some areas of the face or body, but it still has a potential of negative side effects, we will not recommend someone to use that machine. In my world, I have an advisory board of experts who can advise and analyze equipment or ingredients from many different perspectives. I love technology. I just want to make sure that it is the safest and most beneficial. I can see how a holistic practice can work with technology — holistic does not mean historical. I would like to offer the most benefits to my clients without side effects and risks — this is my understanding of holistic.

Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?

Being an organic spa owner and formulator, very often people ask me about all of my beauty machines. They are surprised by how much equipment I have being a holistic practitioner and organic formulator. My answer to those people is that when it comes to pathogens, I do not want to use toxic chemicals on their skin. I prefer to sanitize their skin with ozone therapy using the D’arsonval High Frequency Machine.

We all know that toxins can get into your blood stream through the skin. Beneficial vitamins and herbal extracts end up staying on the surface. Technology, which offers electrophoresis, helps to penetrate botanicals into the live skin cells and I think this is essential to achieve corrective results. If we are talking about botanical extracts or vitamins, our skin’s protective barrier may not allow them to go through and they need to be pushed in which can happen with the use of electrophoresis. Those practitioners who do not believe in equipment are technically just nourishing the dead surface of the skin. I absolutely love the combination of vacuum and tissue manipulation which is used on the new icoone® LASER machine. It literally works on so many levels to improve circulation. And, it helps to release excessive fluid and reduce cellulite — and at the same time is very pleasant and effective. It is also completely safe for people who cannot use electrical equipment. It is a very effective substitute for manual massage which gives you very intense results on the body and face.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

1. Level of education among skincare professionals — I wish licensed estheticians would have deeper knowledge of the ingredients they use on the skin of their clients and of the products they sell. Very often, estheticians only learn the key ingredients but do not know what base they are dissolved into. Sometimes, I notice when I teach classes, certain estheticians have less knowledge than many of our clients and that is very concerning. Some estheticians and business owners make the decision of choosing a product line for their spa without even understanding how to analyze the labels. Today, it is easier because you can research every ingredient online but many people don’t even consider doing that.

2. Every year cosmetic chemists have to introduce products with the latest fashionable ingredients. Because of that, some very beneficial and safe ingredients sometimes get forgotten about because everyone is racing for novelty. Sometimes, formulators do not have enough time to research and deeply understand what they are using. I think instead of trying to amuse consumers with new trends, we need to stay balanced and look for the most beneficial and clean formulas.

3. Quick fixes. Of course, we can inject people and paralyze their muscles to prevent wrinkles but is it necessarily the healthiest choice? I deeply believe that healthy skin is a part of a healthy body, mind and spirit as well. I do not think the quick fixes necessarily bring health to the skin as well as a long-term effect. I think people should focus on skin wellness vs. quick fixes. A surgical facelift leaves scars which do not allow proper blood, lymph, and energy flow through those areas. That is why after a while after surgery, the skin may not look lively.

You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Beauty starts from within. The first step to feel more beautiful about yourself is to try and eliminate negative emotions like anger, fear, envy, and self-doubt. If you are focused on replacing those emotions with peace, love, and gratitude, you will immediately look more attractive. It will move you into higher vibrations and frequencies which naturally bring your life more beauty.

2. Clean. No matter how many cosmetic products we use, if what we eat and apply on our face is toxic then it will lead to degradation of our look and entire health. This is why I encourage people to only use products on their skin that they can eat.

3. Try to analyze people you are spending time with. Identify those who bring you a positive energy vs. those who could be draining and negative. All of this can affect how you feel about yourself. If you have some people who never say anything kind and always criticize you and others, just try and spend less time with them and surround yourself with more positive people.

4. If you wake up in the morning and it is a rough morning, then definitely my suggestion is to wash your hair. When you go in the shower, you have to imagine all that you do not like — maybe aches and pains, exhaustion or disappointments, self-doubts and insecurity, maybe excessive weight or pimples. Imagine all of that going down the drain and energetically it will help to feel much better. After you take that cleansing, purifying shower, you can dry your body with towels and imagine yourself in a universal light that gives you beauty, health, success, and love. After that, come to the mirror and smile at yourself and tell yourself you are beautiful, happy, and talented. And then, proceed with your day.

5. I do not encourage people to go into denial thinking that they are absolutely gorgeous and movie-star-like when they are not — but at the same time beauty comes in all forms and shapes. Historically, in every century, beauty has been perceived differently. Understanding this perspective, you can maybe connect with a certain image where you can recognize yourself. Sometimes it is helpful to think of the positives in the body parts or areas you do not like. You may not like your short legs but these legs are the reason you can walk and run. Try and think of the people with disabilities who would do anything for your legs and it should make you feel grateful. As beauty professionals, we can make sure those legs look their best by offering you all kinds of body services which should make you feel completely confident!

6. I think we attract people with similar vibes as ourselves and if we stay positive then the people we attract will make us feel more beautiful. The key point is to stay positive, grateful, and loving.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I already inspired a movement in 2007 by organizing the Association of Holistic Skin Care Practitioners to draw the line between conventional beauty treatments and clean beauty. I started to formulate organic products a long time before they became trendy. I was not taken seriously by other cosmetic chemists during the professional meetings because I talked about sourcing clean, natural ingredients. I am very happy that it is a big movement and I played my part in making it happen.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Treat people exactly how you would like to be treated.

How can our readers follow you online?

https://elinaorganics.com/

https://www.instagram.com/elinaorganics/

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.

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The Future Of Beauty: “Skin Wellness VS. Quick Fixes” With Elina Fedotova of Elina Organics was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Be Humble! Your pride will blind you. Your pride will make dumb choices and poor investments. You must always ground yourself and be humble

As part of our series about “dreamers who ignored the naysayers and did what others said was impossible”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Crystal Frehner — Creator of Hottie Hair Salon & Extensions.

A powerful force in the industry, Crystal Frehner, has over 17 years of experience. Alongside husband, Mike, Crystal founded Hottie Hair Salon + Extensions in 2010 with the grand opening of their Summerlin (Las Vegas suburb) location. Just recently in 2017, due to high demand, Hottie Hair opened its second location, in Las Vegas, right outside of Henderson, NV. The dedicated duo’s vision for the brand has always been to provide clients with the hair they’ve always dreamed of. Crystal’s training includes Paul Mitchell Advanced Color and Cutting Pravana Color, Swarzkopf Color, Redken Color, Keratin Permanent Retexturizing System and Semi-Permanent Smoothing System. Crystal is often credited with creating TV personality, Farrah Abraham’s fiery-red “break up hair” which “broke the internet” in 2016 — following her highly publicized split with her ex-boyfriend. Her other celebrity clients include “Jersey Shore” star, Jenn Harley and model, Carmen Ortega.

Crystal Frehner and Hottie Hair are proud to offer high-quality hair extensions available in a variety of textures, lengths, grades, methods and colors so you can find a look that’s perfect for you!

When Crystal’s not hard at work she enjoys spending time with her husband and three precious children (twin boys and daughter), shopping, all things glitzy and glamorous, traveling and reading.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know you’ a bit better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’?

I grew up on the east side of Las Vegas in a very regular household. My dad worked a job with the county and my mother mostly stayed home. I wanted to go to school to be a Politician , my plan was to go to law school first. I always had a natural ability for all things beauty, especially hair. In 9th grade, I did my science fair project on the effects of different solutions on hair, whether for good or bad . My mom suggested I go to a vocational high school for Cosmetology. I could use my new career as a hair stylist to help pay for college. After 2 years of struggling to work full time and full time school I was burnt out . I made the scary decision to drop out of college and keep doing what worked for me, which was hair. After 10 years of working behind the chair and unable to accept new clientele I opened my first hair salon, Hottie Hair. Since 2010 I have opened a second location and now have my own line of hair extensions that are sold in stores and online.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? How do you think that will help people?

Currently we have a full human hair extension line and some basic hair tools such as brushes, hair clips, hair ties and combs. Currently I am designing more products that I want to keep top secret. I am super excited to grow the Hottie Hair line, I will give you a hint , you may see some items that aren’t used for hair. I believe this expansion will create more jobs both in and out of the salon.

In your opinion, what do you think makes your company or organization stand out from the crowd?

Ive been told Hottie Hair is the most diverse group of beautiful people you will see in a company. I believe the world is a symphony and you need all the instruments to make music! The word “Hottie” applies to everyone regardless of gender, age, nationality or sexuality. We are all gorgeous creations of God. I love all people and I find unique , beautiful, talented, and intelligent individuals to represent Hottie Hair. Clients feel very welcome and comfortable because we love and accept all . Our goal is to welcome our customers into our family and make them feel sexy and confident.

Ok, thank you for that. I’d like to jump to the main focus of this interview. Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us? What was your idea? What was the reaction of the naysayers? And how did you overcome that?

Being a stylist is usually publicly considered a labor of love. Not too many individuals have built an empire around this industry but those who do have passion for it . We all have big dreams but competition is tough. Becoming a lawyer is the less risky career choice . Choosing to follow my heart had many doubting my choices. Dropping out of college is always frowned upon. Long ago I made the decision to keep the naysayers out of my circles. If someone is not positive and supportive they are not part of my life. So I pursued my dreams of making a wonderful career out of making others feel beautiful. I can honestly say I made the right choice!

In the end, how were all the naysayers proven wrong? 🙂

Well as fate would have it , I met my forever partner my husband. Together we reached for the stars. We made the impossible possible. At the end of the day it takes a team to make the dream. Hottie Hair was born, and it grew. First came my online portfolio with 12 hours days and double booked with an assistant. Then our first salon baby was born in Summerlin in Las Vegas. Next we began our hair extension journey with a full line of options including tape ins, weft hair, itips, keratin bonded, clip ins, halo style, and my own invention the Clipo. Once our first salon was exploding at the seams we opened a second location in Green Valley. Currently I am growing our Hottie Hair line into different types of products to help all “Hotties” keep it sexy on the daily.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

When I first met my husband we only dated 3 and a half months, before getting married in Hawaii. The first time I cut his hair he said it was the best haircut he had ever had in his entire life. He said “you’re actually really good at this!” He believed that if other individuals knew my talent and ability they would want me to be their stylist. Using his tech background we created my first online portfolio, hottiehair.com . This website is still used to this day for our salons and extension lines. My husband is the most important person in my life and I attribute our collaboration to the success of Hottie Hair.

It must not have been easy to ignore all the naysayers. Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share the story with us?

Growing up I always had large aspirations . I wanted to be in leadership positions naturally . I ran for Student Council every grade year until I finally got in my Sophomore year of high school. My mom would make buttons and handouts for me every year lol. My sophomore year I also ran for class Vice President and won!! I couldn’t believe all my life and I finally won. I ran for Student Body president the next year and barely lost. Another dream of mine was to be a cheerleader . I also tried out for cheerleading every year starting in Junior High and never made it. After losing Student Body President I decided to try out for Cheerleading one last time. And guess what? I made varsity cheerleading for my senior year. I loved being a cheerleader so much .What I learned from these experiences is the key to success and overcoming naysayers is to NEVER GIVE UP!

Based on your experience, can you share 5 strategies that people can use to harness the sense of tenacity and do what naysayers think is impossible? (Please share a story or an example for each)

1. Never Give Up! As stated above, I was able to accomplish every dream of mine with enough time. If you’re in it for the long haul you will eventually succeed.
2. Trust your gut! You know what is best for your business and life if you are in tune. Be open to outside opinion and critique , however always put your instinct first. The worst feeling is failing and knowing it was gonna happen because you didn’t do what you knew was best .
3. Be Humble! Your pride will blind you. Your pride will make dumb choices and poor investments. You must always ground yourself and be humble
4. Do not allow the opinions of others to phase you! You don’t always know motives of others. Unfortunately they tend to be self serving. If you spend energy and time concerned over what everyone thinks of you , you will be miserable . Trust me I know!! I have spent years perfecting the art of “not caring.” If you can master this you will be so happy!! And success will come easier to you.
5. Be yourself !!! Please, please, please be the best version of you! No one likes a cheap knock off!! You are the only you! If you love yourself and work on being the best version of yourself , you will attract positive vibes, people, etc. Positive energy equals success. Stay away from the naysayers and the negative vibes.

What is your favorite quote or personal philosophy that relates to the concept of resilience?

“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” Margaret Thatcher This has been my experience. Life is about learning, therefore it’s almost impossible to get things perfect the first time. Enjoy the battles of life, they create your demeanor, your personality, your level of compassion and understanding . A great leader understands the hearts of their soldiers. You must taste the bitter to know the sweet.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

“Love the one you’re with”

This actually doesn’t mean be crazy in love with your partner, although this is very helpful in life as well. It means whoever you are with at any given point love them! Love is the greatest power in the galaxy. Your love will spread like a wild fire. You can buy the car behind you free Starbucks in line. You can hold the door for a stranger. You can let someone go in front of you in line. Smile and have a heart filled with love wherever you go. As simple as this concept is, it is the most powerful thing you can do. I hope all of you take a moment to ponder how you can love the one you are with.

Can our readers follow you on social media?

Yes my company is @hottieextensions
And personal @crystyle_frehner

Thank you for these great stories. We wish you only continued success!

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Crystal Frehner of Hottie Hair Salon: “They Told Me it Was Impossible And I Did It Anyway” was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.