We recently connected with Carla Jenkins and have shared our conversation below.

Carla, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

I was blessed enough to work with a neurosurgeon who trained me on how to do Botox injections for medical reasons. He encouraged me to continue to learn different techniques for aesthetic purposes. He was very supportive of studies and always allowed me to learn from him and gain hands on experience. From there I would work any health/beauty fairs, parties or work privately for that surgeon doing injectable procedures.

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 certified adult nurse practitioner. I have been a nurse for 24 years and a nurse practitioner for 12 years. I have worked in many different settings across the country. I gained a lot of experience from being a travel nurse for about 10 years. I was on a travel assignment when I met the neurosurgeon who introduced me to injectable services, for medical purposes. He then encouraged and assisted me in exploring the aesthetic side of the business.

My little family and I relocated here to Indianapolis in 2018 and I wanted to explore aesthetics on my own versus. I am always a fan of women owned businesses and wanted to join the ranks. Plus, with my background in education, I wanted to be able to educate the community on the types of services I provide and how beneficial they are on the aesthetic and medical side of wellness.

At my spa, Bella Body and Skin Studio, we offer skin care services, hormone optimization, weight loss services, hair restoration, restorative skin services, IV vitamin hydration, laser hair removal, women’s wellness, and body contouring services. While we do offer all these services, we are committed to and encourage our clients to consider underlying cause of the problems they are experiencing, as while these services are helpful, we want to encourage root cause analysis for long term success with any treatment.

What sets me apart is my ability to be completely transparent. I will speak to clients and tell them up front, good bad or ugly, the best treatment plan able to be provided by my ability. I do not treat people blindly for the dollar. I will be honest, refer elsewhere, or recommend treatment plans even if it is not a service I am able to offer from my practice. I just want to encourage best outcomes for people at all cost. And I am not afraid to educate or explain things to anyone, I talk alot! I want anyone who comes to my spa for service to have as much information as they need to not only feel comfortable, but confident in my ability to provide them successful services.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I opened my spa in February 2020. In March 2020, pandemic hit and we were closed. Being brand new to the area as well as new business owner, I was not sure that we would be able to reopen. Plus I was in an small studio suite, where if social distancing was required, it was not happening in this little room. And my services would not allow for social distancing anyway. We didn’t know what things would be like once the world would be “back open.” But we stuck it out and reopened in May 2020. This is where things may have shifted a little. While our treatments are considered somewhat of a luxury, people were having issues from being locked down during the pandemic. We launched weight loss services during that time, which took off well. I was able to add some simple contouring services as an added benefit of weight loss program. Also, I was certified to do COVID testing for, initially, my clients then opened up for others. I would COVID test for other businesses in the building where my suite was located. I did things to keep my face and presence known, especially in my building. I passed out masks with my business name on them and that’s how things started to pick up! Word of mouth spreads fast especially when its women and men at beauty shops.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

Honestly, I would not change a single thing about my path. I used to say I wished I discovered this business possibility when I was younger or took it more seriously. However, with age came wisdom that I may not have gained doing this younger. Every job I had as a nurse practitioner taught me something that I still use today in my practice.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bellabodyandskinstudio.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/bellabodyandskinstudio
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/bellabodyandskinstudio
• Other: TikTok @bellawellnessaesthetics