The Future of Beauty: Indira Hodzic On How Image Spa MD’s Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Beauty Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Not to sound like a broken record, but the advancement of lasers is exciting. The treatments are becoming less painful, with less downtime, with better results and again, with so many new applications to help clients achieve results. Anything I incorporate into our practice is going to be because of the results.
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 Indira Hodzic.
Indira is the co-founder of ImageSpaMD, The Whole Wellness, the All Hands on Deck Foundation and FemMD (launching 2022). Indira consults for medical spa teams across the country and has built several successful businesses thanks to her results-driven approach and empathetic leadership style. Indira was born in Bosnia, and immigrated here with her family as Baltic War refugees. She currently lives in Encinitas, California.
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?
My very first job was working at a medical spa called Nuvo in Washington. I was just a teenager, but I realized quickly that I was good at it and working hard was rewarding. From interacting with clients to business operations, I ultimately put myself through college doing this kind of work. I learned skills that helped me become a business owner and industry leader, but honestly, what hooked me was helping people see results. That became my passion, and the driving force behind my team’s success.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
This might sound crazy, but Kimberlin Brown, a famous American soap opera actress, was a huge influence on my life from a young age. I grew up watching her on ‘The Young and the Restless’ and ‘The Bold and the Beautiful.’ First, we moved to Germany to escape war in Bosnia, then we came to the United States. Watching soap operas was one of the ways my family, including myself, learned to speak English. I always admired Kimberlin’s strong female characters, and of course, she was strikingly beautiful. I truly believe somehow, I manifested Kimberlin into my life, if that doesn’t sound ridiculous. When my partner Eddie Echegoyen and I started ImageSpaMD in Southern California, I met Kimberlin when she became a client. We’ve developed a wonderful friendship over the years. I now consider her a mentor and second mom. She’s a strong woman with a diverse business empire and a successful acting career.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success?
As I said, within the first few months of working in a medical spa, I knew I was good at it. I’d say the tipping point didn’t happen until I opened my own office. I realized how much it really took to get it going. Building my incredible team and creating an inclusive culture where everyone can thrive took probably 12 of my 16 years in this business to really get to that point. We’ve been so fortunate that we’ve always been successful, but we really rounded the corner when the right team came together. Any one of us can give a client good results, but as a team of professionals, we deliver even better.
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?
Dr. James Chao has been a phenomenal mentor as both a business leader and as a medical professional. He’s a plastic surgeon, and the partnership between us has allowed all aspects of our aesthetics practice to grow exponentially. Sharing his acumen shaped my entrepreneurial drive and helped me see opportunities for success when you chase passion over money, and remain focused on patient results.
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?
Aesthetics is always improving, whether it’s the technologies or the techniques. There is always room to learn, and to improve the results that can be obtained for a client. Here’s an example: I attended a dinner recently which included training on a product we’ve used for years. We learned the technique of shaking the bottle before injecting this product has changed, as has the manner of injecting it. No one taught that ten years ago, and the improvement in the results from such a simple change is astounding. Another example is lasers. They’re constantly getting better. You always want to have the latest and greatest, for patient comfort and to optimize results, both of which improve patient satisfaction and loyalty.
Researchers are also constantly finding that lasers, and other products, can have benefits for other ‘off-label’ conditions, which in some cases can be life-changing for patients.
I’m launching a new venture this year called FemMD, which will focus on broader aspects of women’s wellness. The treatments we offer include things like vaginal rejuvenation and bioidentical hormone therapies such as pellets. There are surgical and non-surgical procedures, even topical products to enhance libido, improve confidence and can treat difficult, even embarrassing symptoms such as incontinence. Many of these treatments are done with lasers that have evolved from being used strictly for the face and neck. The possibilities are exciting. We feel poised to help so many more women look and feel their best, navigating through some previously taboo topics that don’t scare us one bit.
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?
I tell everyone to do their own research and be sure they know the provider they’re going to. Bargain treatments can be anything but, and that’s not specific to laser technology, it’s true of any treatment that is done by the wrong hands. There are risks to any procedure, and it’s important to know what those are, and how the provider you’ve chosen handles those situations ahead of time.
Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the “beauty-tech” industry?
Not to sound like a broken record, but the advancement of lasers is exciting. The treatments are becoming less painful, with less downtime, with better results and again, with so many new applications to help clients achieve results. Anything I incorporate into our practice is going to be because of the results.
Another area that’s exciting is the education being offered to providers. It’s much more readily available than it ever has been. The pandemic has even helped with that, thanks to remote learning opportunities. You don’t need to travel to every conference to take advantage of the content and the education that is offered. That allows for more training, and more patient time, both of which are beneficial to everyone. Better education equals better client results.
I’m also pleased to see a greater emphasis on things like DNA tests for your skin and individualized treatment plans based on things like skin tests. Traditionally, across all of beauty and medicine, we’ve spent far too much time trying to fix problems and symptoms instead of tailoring treatments to maintain and improve health and beauty from the inside. We’re moving in a more holistic and more personal direction, and clients are responding.
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?
I would say overall, providers need more training and to remove ego from the equation when it comes to the client relationship. I’d like to see more providers create treatment plans tailored to each patient, both for safety and efficacy. We don’t always think first about a person’s medical history and overall health before beginning treatment. Considering things like hydration, performing skin tests to determine what products and services should be recommended. We also need to take gut health and hormonal health into account in creating these treatment plans. Follow-up is also critical to success and can easily be overlooked.
You are an expert about beauty. Can you share 5 ideas that anyone can use “to feel beautiful”?
Hydration — simple self-care that can improve every aspect of your health
Exfoliation — sloughing a little skin makes us all glow, whether achieved through a dry brush or a facial scrub
Treatment — create a plan for your skin and calendar it, for instance schedule a monthly facial
Product — your skincare plan should include a tailored, individualized regimen
Diet — eating the top 5 foods for your skin (in our practice we encourage clients to follow Dr. Mark Tager’s ‘Feed Your Skin Right’ protocols)
Vitamins — also from the protocols, taking collagen and vitamins C and D
Oh wait, that was 6.
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. 🙂
Our mission for the new FemMD clinic is to empower women through optimum pelvic health. That is the movement we want to create through this new aesthetics concept: to help women achieve optimum health in areas that are often difficult to even discuss, from a whole host of sexual intimacy problems to incontinence and dryness. By balancing their hormones, rebuilding collagen in intimate areas, and using products to help balance pH and gut health we’re allowing women to thrive in new ways. For too long, we’ve shied away from talking about these taboo or difficult subjects, which has left too many women feeling isolated and alone. We are ready to be part of the solution.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” -Lao Tzu
This quote is timeless, and it has always reminded me that self-awareness is the key to true happiness and inner strength. It reminds me that I am in control of my own destiny. When I want to connect with other people, which is so crucial to what I do, first I need to be sure my house is in order.
How can our readers follow you online?
I’d love to connect through Instagram, imagespamd.com and linkedin
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this!
The Future of Beauty: Indira Hodzic On How Image Spa MD’s Technological Innovation Will Shake Up… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.