We were lucky to catch up with Anni Lee recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Anni thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Risks scare me. Im not a risk taker. I play it safe, by the book, and through a traditional lens. That’s what I thought until doing a deep dive and self evaluation of my life.

If I was playing it safe, I wouldn’t have traveled across the country from Southern California to Maine to go to college. I wouldn’t have moved and accepted my first nursing job in New Hampshire at a Level 1 Trauma Center. I wouldn’t have moved back to California, leaving my husband, home, cats, and old life behind to take care of my grandfather who was going through hospice. I wouldn’t have left my job as an ICU nurse after 6 years to work in marketing, to eventually feel like a failure for having to go back to bedside. All of these risks that I took since graduating high school, got me to where I am today.

I left bedside again. I am helping people realize their beauty and increase their self confidence from the outside-in as an Aesthetic Nurse Injector. I found my voice and have made myself completely vulnerable by telling my own stories and experiences on social media. I used the skills I learned from my short marketing experience to work with brands that I love, along with my role models and idols that I look up to and strive to be.

Life handed me so many lemons. Too many to count but enough to make me feel sour and resent myself and my life. I am honestly surprised that I am still here to talk about it. My mental health was terrible, my suicidal thoughts came back, my parents were getting divorced, my grandfather got diagnosed with cancer, my wedding got cancelled, and I was a Korean ICU nurse during a pandemic in one of the most non-diverse states in the country. I am at a point in my life now where I understand why all of those events happened. Whatever higher power you believe in, I truly think that you are never given things that you can’t handle. I came our stronger and a better person. I am confident in myself and love that I get to help people feel confident in themselves as well.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a registered nurse. I grew up in Southern California and moved to Maine after graduating high school. I attended the University of New England and received my Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I then moved to New Hampshire, where I worked at a Level I Trauma Center (Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center) as an ICU and Rapid Response nurse for six years. I met my husband at the hospital while taking care of a patient together, and we have three dogs (one of them being a paralyzed chow mix in a wheelchair who actually belonged to a patient of my husband’s that we adopted) and two cats. He is currently finishing up his residency to be a Neurosurgeon. I am currently living back California as a travel nurse and nurse injector.

I ended back out here because I wanted to take care of my grandfather, who has since then passed, while he was on hospice. By chance, I had looked at the travel rates for nurses and decided to pick up a travel assignment here. All nurses, including myself, were treated so poorly even before the covid pandemic by the hospitals. I took this as my opportunity to take advantage of the situation and actually get paid what I deserved. I even quit nursing for four months because I was so emotionally traumatized by the pandemic and worked as a videographer and social media lead for a well-known pottery company that was loved by people like Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart. Then with my grandpa declining, I became a nurse again, which was something I never wanted to do again.

During my travel assignment, I met a friend who was able to get my trained in aesthetic nursing. I have always loved cosmetic procedures ever since first getting botox six years ago. At first, it was a way to cover up all of my insecurities I had about being Korean (which was something I was ashamed of growing up). I then started talking about all of the procedures I got over the years on social media and gained a large following. Opportunities kept falling into my lap, and now I just helped open up a medical spa.

Everything I had been insecure or hated about my life, I now use those to my advantage. If I never had body dysmorphia or an eating disorder all throughout my life, I probably would have never looked into and received plastic surgery, botox, or fillers. If the pandemic never happened, I would have never left the hospital and learned how to make videos that millions of people have watched. I can now combine my nursing degree and my creative artistic side to become an aesthetic nurse and help people via social media to look and feel like their best selves.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Leaving bedside nursing after being an ICU RN for over 8 years saved my life.

I didn’t realize until I left how terrible it was for me. I am able to sleep now. My list of psych meds has decreased tremendously. I actually have relationships again with my friends and family.

I spent so many years helping other people, and didn’t even take care of myself. I have spent more hours in the hospital taking care of patients than I have spending time with my own family.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Being vulnerable, honest, and just being myself.

My audience fell in love with me, for being me. My quirks and imperfections

Whether I make someone feel comfortable or they like my personality and just want to learn more about me, I love that I am able to help others in a different way other than just in a hospital setting.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/annikimchi
• Youtube: youtube.com/annikimchi
• Other: tiktok.com/@annikimchi?