The Journey to becoming The Beauty Nurse
Myth: Success lands in our lap like a little butterfly
Fact: Success is the result of freaking hard work
Confucius once said that if you “choose a job you love, you will never have to work a day in your life.” I wonder if Confucius knew that your dream job does not land in your lap like a pretty little butterfly, and that the real world isn’t rainbows and ponies? I wonder, sometimes, if Confucius knew that choosing a career you love is a process that can take years? For me it did, and maybe for you it did too.
I am where I am today in my career because of three things: 1) shirts, 2) asshole counselors and 3) hard work.
1: Any individual deciding to enter a career where your sole purpose is to serve others to some particular extent must have the innate quality of caring. Maybe it is because I am the oldest sister of four girls, but I have always had an abundant amount of compassion bursting out of the seams of my scrubs. I’d give you the shirt off my back. My dad once told me that no good deed goes unpunished. I told him I believe in karma. I gave a lot. I got a lot.
2: I always was under the assumption that counselors were supposed to empower you to be your best self. Imagine my surprise when my high school counselor told me I didn’t have what it took to graduate a four-year college. Sitting in his small office all I could see were his lips moving and all I heard was you better lower your standards for yourself. My mouth stayed closed, but I remember thinking watch me. After endless nights of hard work, I was finally going to graduate from the nursing program at Carroll College in Helena, Montana. I sent my counselor an invite to my graduation and snuck a little note inside that said: “ No one but me gets to decide my future.”
3: Nothing good comes easy, and your first real job is never easy. After I graduated from Carroll College, I moved to Spokane, WA and started the night shift on the orthopedic-trauma unit at Sacred Heart Hospital. My compassion for others and my passion to prove others wrong remained, but my soul was slowly dying. Night shifts are the worst! After 7 years of a dying soul, I decided I needed to move on. I took a job working under a plastic surgeon, while also attending trainings and workshops across the nation. My desire to continue growing in my profession was becoming almost too much to bear. In order to keep growing, I knew I needed to continue moving on. After two years of working with the plastic surgeon, I moved into a medical spa. I worked here for two years in order to receive more hands-on experience in the aesthetic field. It wasn’t long before my desire to grow (yet again!) kept gnawing at my heart. I made the choice to take a job at a local Dermatology clinic.
On top of my career, I travel the country as a trainer for Allergan and Galderma and am the founder of Crafted Beauty. The details of those expeditions are endless and will be saved for later blogs my beauties!
I won’t lie, I was scared shitless every time I took a chance and moved somewhere new to grow in my experience and expertise. Sometimes I still get scared. Then I think about my first week injecting and laugh. I started with three clients a day, and now I see approximately thirty a day. My clients are my extended family. I love them all. I love you all.
Shine on beauties.
Shine on.