Stephanie Stewart- PA & Cosmetic Injector
In our latest interview with cosmetic injector Stephanie Stewart we spoke about her life changing car accident as a teenager and how that inspired her not only to start her career in medicine, but also to live each day with gratitude. After working for five years in trauma in the ER Stephanie became burnt out and knew she needed a change. We discussed burn out and how to set boundaries that work for you.
Stephanie is now one of the leaders of the female networking group Level Detroit. She talks about how she started her own business with no experience and how important it is to find your niche and develop a CEO mentality.
Read on for more great business (and esthetic!) tips from Stephanie.
I always start out asking about some of everyone's childhood. What were like you as a kid and where did you grow up?
My childhood was great for the most part. We lived in a subdivision in new Baltimore and so I was always friends with all the kids there. And we just played outside literally from the time we got up to the time we went to bed. We traveled a lot as kids. I was very lucky. My parents were both blue collar. They worked super, super hard to give us the best life possible.
That sounds pretty similar to mine. My parents didn't have a ton of money, but we always traveled in an RV and we thought it was cool. We had the best time.
It makes you so much more grateful for that because, as adults, you realize your parents are other people, they're not just mom and dad. When you realize how hard they work to give you that best life, it puts it into perspective.
How did you decide to go into medicine?
When I was 15, I was on my way to school in the back of my best friend's older brother's car. I was in the back middle and we turned left out of our subdivision. There was a blind spot and we actually hit head on with another car. I wasn't wearing my seatbelt and I always wear my seatbelt, but I just didn't that day. And I went through the windshield. I lost six teeth. I broke my jaw, I broke my nose. Car accidents are really slow motion when you're in them. And so I remember flying up, looking over, and then flying back.
My first instinct was to get out of the car before it exploded. I couldn't get out because all the doors were jammed. And I got out of the car and everybody was running towards us, get out of the car, get out of the car. They grabbed me and I was just sitting there and I was feeling my face. I was feeling my face and I was thinking ‘Hmm, this doesn't feel right.’ I went to the hospital, I had surgery, my jaw was wired shut. And then this started this super long healing process for me.
When I was in the hospital I remember being in the cat scan room and I remember how nice the CT techs were to me. And because I was a scared 15 year old, I remember they were being so nice. And I just remember thinking that I wanted to make people feel that.
Then I went into college pre med quickly realizing that I didn't want to be a doctor. So I went to PA school instead and went into trauma. I thought I wanted to do trauma surgery, but I actually ended up hating the OR. I did trauma and ER, for about five years before I decided to transition to aesthetics, which is what I do now because I was just so burnt out.
So people always hear the car accident story and they think, you know, ‘Oh my God, I can't believe you went through that.’ And honestly it was the best thing that ever happened to me because it shaped my life. And without that, I don't feel I would have appreciated all the things I do now and would have gone into that field and got where I am today.
It got tough because I was a 15 year old girl with a messed up face. But I had a great plastic surgeon and, you know, since then I've had probably 20 surgeries, but it's fine, I'm grateful for that experience and I'm glad that I'm okay because it could have been much worse.
Do you think the image of plastic surgery is slowly changing; that people are realizing that it's more than just this very superficial field?
Yeah, I do think it is. I also think that there's more people in my field that are offering natural appearing modifications that are reducing the stigma of it. I think if we keep chasing trends, big butts, big boobs, big lips, we're never going to be happy with ourselves. So I feel the more people that can offer natural modifications the better.
I think the more we put out there that this is okay to do and make this more mainstream. I think more people are going to go into this field. And I think we're going to keep reducing those stigmas.
Yesterday I was just browsing through Instagram and there was a local influencer who was talking about the work she’s had done and I feel we're seeing more of that openness now.
That's a great point - be honest that you do this. So when our young females get older, they know that they have these options, but they don't have to meet a certain quota of what they get done. You know, just do whatever makes them happy and get rid of trends, stop doing things because you know, the Kardashians have a big butt or because Kylie Jenner has big lips, do whatever's gonna make you happy. So hopefully we can change the world in that aspect and people can continue to go that route.
There's something that I've noticed with your work is that it's very conservative and a very light touch and what works good for someone's actual face. Unfortunately there are a lot of people who do cosmetic procedures and it's just about the money and convincing you that you should do more because obviously they can charge more; it's very slimy to me.
It's so horrible. I even feel bad posting right after I post before and after’s and right after the procedures, they look so big and it's only a half syringe of filler, you know, but they're just swollen. I try to keep it very natural.
Sometimes I have that feeling that with all of the photoshop and filtering happening now it can be a little unrealistic. Do you feel you have the same issue sometimes with people expecting unrealistic results?
Yes and no, not as much as I thought I would, to be honest with you. And I think the reason being is that my Instagram and how I market myself and my brand is it sets people up to know that I'm going to be on the more conservative side and what works for them.
So, you know, of course I always get those people. I think just setting proper expectations in the beginning you know.
Just explaining it to them and setting the right expectations totally changes the game. And I have to be honest, I don't have many people that come to me that say that; that they want unrealistic results. I think it's all because of what I've conveyed over social media. I love that people come to me because they just want to feel better about themselves. Not because they want to look unrealistic.
I think you touched on something really important in any business; find your niche.
If you're yourself and you convey the brand that really is true to you, you're going to make money. It might not be right away. When I first started my business, I had one client a week coming to me. Now I'm booked for six weeks out and that's working four days a week injecting for eight hours.
That didn't happen overnight though. I just paid myself for the first time, which was amazing, but it took a while to get there. I think you have to build it and then the money will come.
How do you recommend that someone goes about choosing a provider?
I honestly think word of mouth is the best way to find what you're looking for, but also look at the injector themselves. Do they look someone that you would want to look? And what I mean by that is I don't have huge cheeks. If you want huge cheeks, you probably shouldn't come to me.
If you want to look natural, you should go to an injector that also looks natural. And just research their work.
Also, it would not offend me by any means that people question, Hey, where'd you get your training? How'd you get your training? How many procedures have you done? I actually take that as a compliment. There's no harm in asking for referrals from your friends, looking at the injector, and then asking the injector questions.
What are some of the newest procedures or techniques that you're excited about?
So there's something called Russian lips. So what it is is that, so a lot of people have smaller lips this way. So if you just fill, fill, fill on naturally you're to get those duck shaped lips and the filler is going to migrate up. So the idea of Russian lips is to show more tissue and kind of expanded out without making them ducky.
A lot of people don't know this, but in the US the FDA is very, very, very selective on what fillers we can have on the market that are safe and FDA approved. So we have about 10 on the market from multiple different companies. Europe and Canada have hundreds of different fillers. I think down the line, we’ll get new fillers every year that Canada and Europe have had for several years. So I think that would be great to get those FDA approved and start using them in the US as well.
What do you think is the key to good skin?
A couple of things; find an esthetician. There are so many different products on the market, but you have to know what you're treating. So I think having a consultation with an esthetician or a dermatologist and saying, these are my concerns, what do you recommend? And then you can buy stuff, but just to go in, because you heard X, Y, and Z, and buy all of these skincare products is really wasteful of money and time.
The other thing is the sun is the devil. You should be wearing sunscreen 100% of the time, even in the winter.
Because the sun is so damaging. I can't tell you how many clients that come in and I'm ‘wow, your skin looks great. What’s your secret?’ And they tell me that they’ve put sunscreen on their whole life.
There's no harm in starting with injectables early on because it's preventative. I always use this analogy, but if you're doing bicep curls and you're building your bicep muscle, and then you stop doing those bicep curls, what's going to happen to your muscle? It's going to weaken and atrophying gets smaller. If you start Botox early on and you weaken those muscles, they're going to weaken over time and there’s not going to be a strong pulling on your skin to make those deep lines. So if you start early, it's a lot easier to correct as you age versus starting really late.
Just to pivot a little bit, so I know you mentioned that part of the reason you moved into aesthetic medicine and out of trauma in the ER was because of the burnout. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
I think that Grey's anatomy ruined it for me a little bit. I think that’s what I thought medicine was going to be and what it was in PA school is very different from reality. I think that we are in a society where people need answers, they need correct answers, and they need them right now. And unfortunately that’s not how medicine works.
There are so many things that we don't know about our human bodies about medicine. And so I think when you work in the emergency department or really any field of medicine, these patients are coming in, they want to know exactly what's wrong with them and that's not our job, the emergency department. We need to make sure that you're safe, that you're not having anything that's going to kill you and then have a plan in place for follow up.
And unfortunately our healthcare system has become where everybody goes to the ER and it's really, really tiring for ER providers because that's just not what we're there for. And so that burnout happens quickly and you want to help so many people because they don't have the means to follow up. They don't have a car. The only way they're going to get help is if they call 911 and come see you.
It's so frustrating, it's so sad that we can't help them, we can only make sure they're not going to die that day. And we can sometimes come up with social work and a follow up plan for them.
The healthcare system itself is broken in America and I think that has weighed greatly on burnout in emergency departments. The other thing is that it's no longer medicine, it's customer service. So when people come in and they don't get what they want in the ER it's your fault. And if you don't give them what you want your boss is going to hear about it. So I just think we need to be better about educating our youth about this is when you need a doctor, this is what you go to urgent care for, and here's what you can do to get help.
And in these other aspects, cause the ER is not going to fix your life. There's a lot of things we could keep going into that, but I think the biggest thing is just that you burn out quickly when you see all the problems and you can't fix them.
I remembered hearing that the US healthcare system is not healthcare - it's sick care because other developed countries focus on preventative measures and in the US unless you're wealthy that just doesn’t happen.
I think the two biggest things that we could change to fix this is one educating everybody as they're young, how to not get illnesses like type two diabetes and how to properly care for themselves.
Also, we really need to be paying primary care doctors more and psychiatrists more. We need to pay those people more because as you said, it's more preventative. And I think that would help the system because more people would want to go into those fields versus not.
You're not saying that an orthopedic surgeon isn't important, but you know, the guy who's helping someone after a gunshot wound is pretty essential to society.
Don't get me wrong doctors and everybody in the medical field, they've worked really hard to get there and they deserve to be paid. I just think shifting the pay so that inner cities and primary care givers can get paid more.
When did you first become interested in doing cosmetic procedures?
I was always really good with my hands. I should have gone into the OR and been a surgeon, but I hate the OR.
Once I started to get burnt out, I still had a ton of student loans; I want to use my PA degree. And what can I do that's with my hands?
I started taking classes and then practicing on my family and friends. And then realized that I was kinda good at this and that people would pay me to do this. And then it's kinda how my business started and I just Google how to start an LLC. And then it kind of just snowballed from there, but it really was two things that I just conveniently had. Since I was little, I was good with my hands and I was creative. And so it was kind of an outlet for both.
Where did you take classes? That’s an area I don't know anything about.
There are so many places to take classes. The drug companies offer classes. I actually teach for a class now called American Academy of Facial Aesthetics.
Only doctors, nurses, and physician assistants can inject in the state of Michigan. If someone is interested in going into this field the biggest thing would be calling their state’s legislation department and asking what they need to get certified for these courses. I'll be honest with you- Google was my best friend for the first two years of my business.
More people need to get comfortable with that. Sometimes you need to reach out and ask people for advice, but sometimes you need to avoid asking obvious questions.
I have so many people that messaged me about hi, I'm an ICU nurse and I want to get into esthetics. We went to school together and I want to get an esthetics- it's so blunt and it's such a turnoff to me when people don't invest in asking you that.
You worked so hard to get your business to where it is and these people just want an answer like that.
This took me two years to figure out. My advice to people who want to go into this field or really any field is to take the time and show someone you're invested in it. I had one girl that reached out to me and said, Hey, are you in the office on this day? I would love to bring you coffee and pick your brain about some things. And of course, I was happy to help. It was so refreshing to know that she had invested her time coming and showing that she was interested because people want instant gratification. And I'm sure it happens a lot in every field.
I don't think people understand that what we have now has taken us years to make. And so it doesn't seem fair to just pass all that information on to them. That was good advice that someone gave me- don't give up everything that you've worked hard for. Only give it to the people that want to invest in you. Just to approach it kindly.
They can't expect you to sit in your free time after a long day at work and write a novel about how you started your business and what you did, people just don't have time for it.. It's very demanding without really giving anything in return.. I’ve noticed that on your social media you're vocal about having boundaries in your time off. I really respect that about you because a lot of people feel really sucked into that 24/7 life. But I just don't think that's sustainable.
I will tell you that it hasn't always been that. And it kind of happened as a breaking point. I couldn't, I couldn't give more of myself and I was so tired and just mean.
I actually hired a business coach this year and I think everybody should hire a business coach once they can afford one. She has changed my business completely for the better. There was something that she said to me that has stuck. And she said, do you want to start paying a CEO to run your company?
And I said well, no. And she told me ‘then you have to start acting like one’.
if your glass isn't full, you can't offer it to anybody else. So I wasn't always like that, but it is so refreshing to finally get to that place.
I wanted to talk to you just a little bit about the networking group Level Detroit. What inspired you to take on the leadership position?
It just kinda fell into place. When I joined level as a member in January 2019 it was the first exposure I had to having any business background or education. I had never done business pre-reqs so when I started going to those meetings, I realized that there were so many other people in my shoes.
And it really did change my life and my business. So when the previous leaders had built this huge community and said that they were stepping down from it and I was like ‘this community just made me who I am and my business what it is, I can't let this end.’
I love offering other women the support that I was given. But also getting that support still. Even though I lead the group, I feel I'm just as vulnerable and just as determined to learn as every member that comes to those. So I love leading in Detroit because I just feel it's no other city in the world. it's just so cool.
You still have to work hard and hustle and everything, but I just feel there is something to be sad about not being in a massive metropolis where rent is 3000 a month. It's just a little bit easier here and that you can have space to kind of be creative and relax a little bit.
And I hate to say this, but New York City- they don't need us, Detroit needs small business and it feels good to be wanted and needed. And that's what we're, we're made of in Detroit, right?
How do you define success?
Being grateful. My secret is just being grateful for everything I have every single day I am so grateful for the life I live, for the health I have, for the opportunity to have the education that I've gotten for the opportunity to live in a city that needs me. So I think success is being grateful and success can be at any aspect of your life.
And it's a habit, right? ...I've been trying to work at it… it's a lot easier to fall back into being grateful than being stressed once it develops into a habit, you know?
What are your goals for this upcoming year?
I think just increasing sales to get to a point that I can survive on this. Cause I no longer work in the ER. The other goal is to incorporate my passion- I love rescuing dogs and we foster and I volunteer with the Humane Society. So incorporating that in using my platform, but not feeling bad about it, you know, I know dogs and Botox don't go together. I know there's no correlation.
But that's okay. I can still use the platform I've built and use proceeds. I started Wag Wednesday last week where I'm going to post an adoptable dog every week or a rescue that needs money. So just incorporating my passions is another goal this year.
I just think continuing to be grateful, you know, I think the more I can be grateful, the more good things I'm going to attract.
What is the best advice you've ever received?
I started seeing a therapist when I was in college… She gave me this advice. She said, you should never let anyone take away from your life. They should only add to it. And that should, that's in any aspect of your life, whether it's a husband, a spouse, whatever a parent even no one should ever take away for your light from your life because they don't deserve to be in it, then they should only add to it.
Something I've gotten so much better as I've gotten older, because when you're younger, you're kind of , I think most women are people pleasers. I need to be nice. I don't want them to think I'm rude. And that's honestly, my favorite part of getting older is just saying no and being less apologetic.
Yeah. That's such a good point - getting older is awesome because of that.
Between that and Botox, we're fine.
Botox and boundaries. Oh my God. I love it.
Where you can find her:
Instagram The Aesthetic Method
