We recently connected with Alexandra Mayer and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Alexandra thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?
One of my favorite people and biggest role models has always been my aunt. She was lively and fun, yet serious when it was necessary, self-motivated and curious, and had an itch to travel everywhere. I’m convinced she passed this travel bug onto me. She’s the blessing who showed me what skincare to use to care for my miserable acne-prone skin, and she once told me I needed to eat a damn steak or I might age badly. At the time, I had no idea how important protein was for your body to create and maintain healthy skin!
I was incredibly close to my aunt and have always admired that she was a self-taught business woman and the owner of her own spa. I remember being so excited to turn 13 so that I could finally visit her spa for a facial treatment. She truly transformed my skin from a pimple party to the clear, healthy, and balanced tone and texture it is today. She’s the reason why I wholeheartedly believe that using quality skincare ingredients and getting good, personalized advice on your skin can change your entire life. I’ve seen it for myself and my patients have seen amazing renewals in their own skin!
Throughout high school, the idea of owning my own business and growing something from the ground up really solidified. During this time, my aunt was battling an unexpected tumor, and I saw the many ways in which our current medical system could be better. My aunt’s experiences with limited alternatives to care, as well as cold and dismissive doctors, made me realize that there needs to be better education and better patient care. My aunt was very holistic in her view of things and strived to deliver exceptional patient experiences. She was trained on homeopathy and essential oils in England, and often had educators come to her spa to teach her team about integrative approaches to care. While homeopathy and oils aren’t my style of treatment, the idea of treating holistically (rather than band-aiding the problem) and taking good care of people came from watching her.
Over the years, my aunt’s small, local spa transformed into a multimillion dollar renowned resort in Niagara-on-the-Lake. I always felt really inspired visiting my aunt and leaving with an abundance of valuable information. Being around her environment definitely plays into the way I treat today. I am picky about the skincare we carry at my practice, and each product is tested by me before it gets the stamp of approval for the shelves. I simply won’t recommend a product or aesthetic treatment to a patient if I haven’t tried it. Because of my aunt, her years of advice, and expertise on treating the skin, I know that if you put in the work to establish healthy foundations for your skin, use quality skincare products, and treat the internal hormonal and inflammatory components, your skin will truly change for the better. And yes, I ate that damn steak.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a Naturopathic Physician with a specialty in Medical Aesthetics and Women’s Hormones, and I am the co-owner of Ethos Integrative Medicine! In 2015, I co-founded Ethos Integrative Medicine with my now husband, Dr. Matthew Hernandez. Our goal was to bring patients quality, integrative care that balances immediate improvement with long term results, and gets patients feeling great in their skin and in their overall health.
My biggest drive is to help my strong female patients show up as the best version of themselves. I believe the best treatment plan is one that’s tailored to help my patients achieve their aesthetic goals while getting their hormones balanced and energy back so they can confidently perform well at work, meet their personal goals, and level up in their life!
A lot of clinics are a one-trick pony, one-stop filler shop. Injectable treatments can be a great option for a lot of patients, but at Ethos, we are all about assessing the various factors that play a role in a patient’s skincare and health, and creating an integrative treatment plan. With a skin-first approach to aesthetics in mind, I provide my patients with medical aesthetic treatments for skin laxity, acne, hyperpigmentation, fine lines and wrinkles, rosacea, and hair loss and thinning. I know that hormones can play a big role in looking and feeling your best, so I also focus on treating hormonal concerns including low energy, hypothyroidism, menopause, hormonal imbalances, low libido, and weight changes.
Popular aesthetic treatments at Ethos Integrative Medicine: A little Botox can go a long way in erasing fine lines, correcting undesirable facial movement, and achieving smooth skin. For patients looking to lift, tone, and tackle the core of aging, RF Microneedling is a great option! It’s the ultimate skin-tightening treatment that boosts collagen and elastin production and targets skin laxity, deep wrinkles, and unwanted scarring. CoolPeel is currently our coolest treatment yet. We love to pair it with RF Microneedling, as it’s perfect for targeting dark spots, reducing pore size, and improving overall skin texture with no real downtime. Our patients have seen incredible, dramatic results in just a few weeks!
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
Our most effective strategy has been creating referral relationships via word of mouth. The trajectory of our entire business was really started by joining a BNI chapter and starting to network. When we were new in business, this allowed us to build trust within the community – and trust is a HUGE factor in what we do. Referral relationships, however, only go as far as how you take care of your people. That’s why we strive to go beyond that traditional doctor-patient relationship. We work hard to create an atmosphere where we really get to know our patients and take good care of them. Being good at what you do, being able to communicate expertise, constantly growing your level of expertise, and getting patients results are KEY for building reputation, inspiring people to trust you with their health, and building that referral relationship where they want you to care for the people they love and care for as well.
Any advice for managing a team?
Growing a team is really about allowing a level of autonomy to allow people to flourish in their roles and make their roles better, mixed with a level of high accountability. If you can get both of those things and create an atmosphere where employees feel listened to, valued, and heard, then you can really create a place where people are bought in to creating that experience and being a big part of that experience for your clients/patients. With every single employee that we’ve hired, we’ve never actually had their role “completely built out” and that’s such a blessing because instead of their role being plug and play, it allows for a level of engagement and constantly improving what we offer in each position, giving people that satisfaction that they are part of growing it.
We make our employees part of the growth. When it comes to hiring doctors, it really is about hiring people who want to be part of what we are growing. They’ve seen the practice, they genuinely are inspired by what we built with patients and want to be a part of it. Creating that opportunity with them. By having that high level of accountability, that shows up in our doctors as well because we’ve worked really hard to become experts in what we do and being good at what we do. Facilitating an environment of constantly learning, being very cutting edge in terms of area of expertise, and creating better processes (if there are things we see other practices are doing), creating constant level of collaboration – makes us a unique practice and very team-based practice.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ethosscottsdale.com
- Instagram: @dralexmayer
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/DrAlexandraMayer
Image Credits
Lauren Peachie