We recently connected with Angie Scott and have shared our conversation below.

Angie, appreciate you joining us today. How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

I started aesthetic school in 1998 hoping to work as a make-up artist in Hollywood. I was 19 years old and had loved make-up since I was a toddler. Literally in my baby book at 2-yrs. old it says “loves to play with make-up. I was a pee-wee cheerleader in elementary school and I would always meet all of the cheerleaders before games and competitions to do all of my friends’ hair and make-up – and I did this all the way up through elementary school, junior high, high school and college cheerleading. In third grade, I got kicked out of Brownies (I guess that can happen) because I would skip my brownie group meetings and go to the girls bathroom and put make-up on. In high school when all of my friends we lying in the sun and hitting the tanning beds, I would hit the department store cosmetic counters, adding to my ridiculously extensive make-up collection. At 19 yrs. old, I decided I wanted to work in the department store at one of the cosmetic counters. I was quite a bit younger than the majority of women who worked at these counters, but I was really good at doing make-up. I was lucky enough to score an interview, so I went out and I bought a very professional looking outfit and said some prayers that this would work out for me. I was struggling with college as I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do — and what I loved to do was not offered at the university of Toledo. I joked that my major was cheerleading — which my parents probably didn’t find very funny at the time. I thought I totally bombed the interview. I went home and cried because I was so sure that there was no way I was getting that job that I wanted so badly. But I was wrong. A few days later, I was offered the job at the Lancôme counter at Lion Store. I knew nothing about skincare – i mean nothing more than what was available at Rite-Aid and Foodtown as that was all I had been able to afford at that age.. This felt like the big league to me and I was loving every minute of teaching people – men and women alike to do their make=up. Then, I heard about this new profession called esthetics.. My crazy, artsy aunt came to town and was telling me all about this esthetics profession, and I knew that this was what I’d been looking for — this was for me. Within a week I was enrolled in the first and only esthetics program I could find, in Fremont, Ohio. This was a hike for me, about an our each way, every day, Monday-Saturday. I breezed through this program, everything came to me so naturally, I often was showing my classmates how to do things. While I was in school, a plastic surgeon from Toledo came to speak to our class about a new, and first of it’s kind in our area, MedSpa that was going to be opening in December of ‘99. I just knew that this was where I needed to be, especially since I was on track to graduate in December. One day at school, my instructor came in and told me about an open house that was happening that evening at this new Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons and their new MedSpa that was opening. I rushed home from school that night and told my boyfriend that we needed to get dressed for success and that I just had to go to this event and introduce myself to these docs and let them know that I really wanted to work at their new medspa. So we did. Once again, I put on my most professional outfit, as did he, and we headed off to the party. When we arrived, it was buzzing with the who’s who of people in toledo, an amazing spread of food and wine and there was even a grand piano and pianist. I was in awe, at 20 yrs old, I’d never seen anything so upscale or what seemed so “high society”. I began looking for the plastic surgeon who visited my school. When I spotted him, I walked straight up to him, shook his hand and said “Hi! My name is Angie Scott and I want to work here”. He was friendly and chatted with me for a few and told me to apply for the position and send in my resume. I received an invitation for an interview – which was the most intimidating interview of my life. It was a group interview, I was sitting on a roller stool while all of the other medspa employees stood around me and asked me questions. It was terrifying, but it was absolutely worth every second of the angst when I received the call that I had landed the job. Several months into my new career, I learned that the open house that I had attended that evening was actually an “invitation only open house” and everyone was wondering who I was.. I often think about how brave I was as such a young girl to really go after and pursue this job that I so desperately wanted.

Angie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I own Angie Scott Skin Health, a medspa in Lambertville, MI. We offer a full menu of physician-directed, medical grade, corrective skincare treatments and products. We specialize in treating significantly sun-damaged skin on the face and body, pre-cancerous conditions, hyperpigmentation, acne, laser hair removal, BBL, laser resurfacing and permanent makeup. We offer the top brands of medical skin care products such as ZO Skin Health products. I have followed world renowned, Dr. Zein Obagi’s philosophy and principals of treating damaged, unhealthy skin, most of my career — because they work and I always get results. Experience is what truly sets us apart from our competitors, as I have more than 24-yrs in the industry and I personally train all of my providers. I enjoy teaching and I have trained dozens of aestheticians throughout my career. I am known for my direct, no-nonsense approach to correcting damage skin.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Word of mouth referrals is without question, how I built my business. It is the most powerful referral and typically that new customer is excited and motivated because they’ve seen or heard about their friend’s results. I have had many of my clients for over 20 years and I’d like to believe that it’s because my patients trust me and are happy with their skin treatment and homecare. I definitely do some advertising and we have a good social media presence, but direct referrals—our raving fans —are the way most of our new patients find us. We also offer a referral rewards program so we are able to show our patients how much we appreciate them talking about us and sharing their experience with their friends and family.

Any advice for managing a team?

One of the most important things to me is that my staff is happy and that I don’t have a lot of turnover in employees. It takes a lot of time, effort and money to train an aesthetician to get them to the caliber that I would like them to be – so keeping morale up is key. Continuing education is definitely the favorite morale boost in my practice. Many of the companies that I work with are always offering education and seminars all over the country. Taking the girls to a weekend seminar is always fun, great team bonding and most importantly educational. I believe that education is one of the other areas that can set us apart from our competitors. We go to as much continuing education as we can. We actually just returned from beautiful Southern California where we did a 2-day, intensive, peer-to-peer symposium with Dr. Obagi at the ZO Skin Health Center, in Irvine. It was amazing and my staff was so appreciative of the opportunity.

Contact Info:

• Website: angiescottskinhealth.com
• Instagram: @angiescottskinhealth
• Facebook: @angiescottskinhealth
• Linkedin: @angiescott, @angiescottmedicalaesthetics