We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tiffany Moon, MD. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tiffany below.

Tiffany, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Earlier this year, I was looking for a conference to attend where women from diverse professional backgrounds could unite to share their knowledge and expertise while uplifting one another. I couldn’t find anything that fit that description. As the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention.” After some introspection, I decided to plan my own women’s leadership and empowerment summit in Dallas.

My first step was to come up with a name for the summit. A lot of the ones I jotted down were taken already but one day I came up with LeadHer Summit and when I typed it in, I was surprised to find that the domain wasn’t taken so I purchased it immediately and sent my lawyer an email to start working on the Trademark application. The reason I chose LeadHer Summit is because I wanted to highlight the importance of female leadership, thus changing the word Leader to LeadHER, making it clear that this summit was created to support and inspire women leaders.
The next thing I did was to write down my vision for what the Summit would look like. I wanted an in-person event to capture the dynamic energy that comes from gathering powerful women in one room—something that virtual meetings can’t quite replicate. Given the breadth of speakers and topics I had in mind, a single-day event wouldn’t suffice. I envisioned a three-day retreat, almost like a camp for adults, but with a focus on luxury, self-care, and fun.

From there, I called my friends who are LeadHers in their respective fields and invited them to come to speak at my Summit. Almost everyone said yes, and I was overwhelmed with gratitude that my incredible network of friends were willing to carve out time from their busy schedules to support me. Over the following months, I dedicated myself to bringing this vision to life from scratch. This involved creating a website, spreading the word to attract attendees, and collaborating with my event planner to ensure every detail was perfect.

The key lesson here is sometimes you may have big ideas but the execution seems daunting. As with anything in life, take one step at a time and know that with persistent effort, your dreams are achievable. Start by crafting a detailed plan with the ideal outcome and start chipping away each day at the tasks until it all comes together.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a board-certified anesthesiologist and still practice medicine. However, I realized a few years ago that many of the challenges my colleagues and I faced were not related to practicing medicine but were all leadership-related. This included topics such as communication, negotiation, leading a team, and business development. This led me to immerse myself in books, podcasts, and social media to learn more about female leadership.

This journey inspired me to become a women’s leadership coach. Many intelligent and successful women struggle in these critical areas of leadership, and I wanted to share the insights and practical knowledge I gained from my research and hands-on experience. While we spend years in school, we often don’t learn the core skills necessary for leading teams and building brands. That’s why I became a women’s leadership coach.

The culmination of all of these things lead to the creation of LeadHer Summit, which is a 3-day in-person conference that I’m hosting in Dallas this November! We have over 20 speakers who are all leaders in their respective fields teaching us how to level up in our personal and professional lives. The Summit also includes a ticket to the Glam Gala on Saturday night, which will be a luxurious and fun experience that culminates with me giving away a Birkin from my personal collection.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

As an anesthesiologist, perfection is crucial—after all, that’s what you want when you’re being put to sleep! However, when I became an entrepreneur in my mid-30s, I discovered that the same principles that made me an excellent anesthesiologist didn’t necessarily translate to business.
I often got bogged down in details, striving for everything to be perfect. This made it hard for me to let go of control and delegate tasks to my team. I found myself micromanaging everything big and small —marketing, finances, the website, social media—essentially overseeing while still being in the weeds. This consumed a lot of my mental bandwidth when I already had none to spare.

Over time, I’ve learned with trial and error that everything doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, perfection can be the enemy of progress. The key to running a successful company is to hire capable people who embody your company’s mission and values. From there, delegate responsibilities to your team and trust their expertise. Avoid micromanaging, give them creative autonomy, and check-in when needed. The bottom line is to hire great people and give them the platform to excel in their roles.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2020, I decided to turn my candle-making hobby into a business. I have severe allergies and noticed that burning certain candles would aggravate them. Being the science nerd that I am, I did a deep dive into the ingredients of candles and discovered that many are made with paraffin wax—a byproduct of petroleum that emits toxic fumes when burned. I also was appalled to learn that some candles contain lead and other ingredients that release volatile compounds when lit. With that in mind, I started making my own candles using premium organic soy and coconut wax with 100% cotton wicks.

When I gifted these candles to friends, I received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback. They appreciated that my candles were hand poured in Dallas and made with premium ingredients. They remarked on how amazing they smelled and how strong they were, since each candle is triple-scented. One of my friends encouraged me to turn this hobby into a business. Without a background in marketing or branding, I named the company “Aromasthesia,” a blend of aromatherapy and anesthesia (a nod to my medical background). I added humor to the mix by naming each candle after anesthetic medications (ketamine, lidocaine, oxytocin) and giving them a cheeky tagline. For example, “Propofol” is for those who need a nap, and “Xanax” is for those feeling anxious – just like me.

The demand for my candles was overwhelming, and in the first year, we hit six figures and continue to grow. I knew I wanted to position my candles as a gateway to self-care—something to enjoy after a long day of work and taking care of the family. However, I faced challenges when advertising my candles online since they are named after drugs. Our ads were routinely taken down by algorithms that immediately assumed we were selling drugs despite each candle having clear disclaimers that no drugs were actually inside the candles. But try explaining that to a computer bot!

When I first encountered these issues, I was very frustrated and blamed myself for not foreseeing them. A friend reminded me that entrepreneurship always involves making mistakes, and you often learn more from those mistakes than from successes. She encouraged me not to be too hard on myself, so I began to pivot. After all, the process of fixing what isn’t working is what makes a successful entrepreneur. Every successful entrepreneur has faced challenges, and how they persevere and overcome those challenges is what builds them into strong business leaders.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tiffanymoonmd.com/ & https://www.leadhersummit.com/ & https://aromasthesia.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiffanymoonmd/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tiffanymoonmd/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-moon-md-fasa-06938455 &
• Twitter: https://x.com/tiffanymoonmd?lang=en&mx=2
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TiffanyMoonMDOfficial
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tiffanymoonmd?lang=en

Image Credits

Jonny Ngo (https://www.instagram.com/iamjonnyngo/?hl=en)