We recently connected with Karen Brown and have shared our conversation below.

Karen , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?

I’ve traded in my small business and house in to live on a sailboat. Oh and I have cancer. Talk about risky. Did I mention I dragged two cats and a toddler along? Fun times ahead!

I have been a practicing licensed aesthetician for 12 years and a business owner for 7 of those, giving 4-6 days per week with clients anywhere from 8-12 hours not including the side work. Did I mention that I have a major in aesthetics and a minor in laundry? I would set alarms throughout the night and change laundry over, then fold fold fold any chance I had. You drink coffee and read, I drink coffee and fold. We didn’t have space for machines back then and couldn’t afford a laundry service so…make it happen, ya know. The world must keep turning and no one waits for a beauty treatment. And often times Sundays are reserved for maintenance and cleaning because that’s the only real day we’re closed.

I offered full body waxing, customized peels and facials, and a variety of the latest and greatest skincare on demand. The specialty is tailoring the service to the client, because it’s not just a facial or wax, rather than much more. It’s about aging gracefully, taking proper care of oneself in the moment, preventative care, and teaching people to love themselves. Preserving age and cell turnover are one thing, but celebrating that new baby, job offer, crying over a death or receiving illness news is a completely different ballgame. Giving someone the power and tools to use at home is 80% while my monthly visit and care is 20%. Don’t forget the massage included within the treatments. Although they are great for a muscle workout and reducing inflammation, we are often times the only physical touch folks receive besides a friendly hug at church or family gathering. Not in a kinky gross way- get your mind out of the gutter. You can physically feel the stress melt away as their jaws unclench, shoulder tension releases, and they drift away in a peace for a few minutes. We are walking stress balls in autopilot. That 60-90 minutes during a skincare treatment is sacred.

Why do I go into all of this? I simply love what I do. It’s more than just a facial. It’s a meditative experience. Plus scraping multiple layers of dead skin off to find that glow up is rewarding to. I am a giver, a doer, a helper, a yes man. If you need me, I am there. If your kid needs a donation, I have your back. If a coworker is sick, I’ll move or take your clients. I show up and truly believe grit is a real thing and anything in life worth having is worth sweating for. So, for years I had it all. I was making a great amount of money, training for triathlons and any race I could find, and fitting in mastermind meetings to fuel my need and want for success. I was awarded “Best in Destin” which was a great honor and big deal, and our name was spreading like wildfire. There was no room for free time of just existing. I needed to win. I wanted to be on top. Looking back, I think I needed to fill a void or prove myself. Possibly seeking validation from anyone around me because it felt like imposter syndrome. I was delivering results and successful treatments but was it enough.

Needless to say, after all of these years of pouring my blood, sweat, and tears into clients and my 1000sqft spa I HIT A WALL. I had put my work in first place and everything else took the backburner. I had 4-6 UTI’s because I had zero time to stop and pee or take a sip of water. WHAT THE F! My marriage had failed, I burned myself out with exercise that I created injuries, and work became unbelievably stressful that I dreaded it. Although it was like a drug, because it’s a vice and the only thing you know to lean on when everything else is in flames. I was sinking into a pit, and it turns out rock bottom has a basement. I did somehow mostly keep my cool and not very many people (clients) knew any of this was happening. No one wants a sob story from their provider. Icing on the cake was covid. Can we just take a moment to acknowledge that spas are far cleaner than most establishments. We have no choice, a lady with a clipboard shows up every 6ish months to ream us out if something is out of place. By the way, we always score 100- you’re welcome. Wink wink. We’re lucky because we only suffered a few months where I know the rest of the world much longer and some didn’t revive at all. Oh, did I mention I lost both of my dogs to cancer at different times? Hence rock bottoms basement. They were my life considering I had given up on the chance of human babies. Plus, I honestly thought I was perimenopausal. My body was doing weird things but rightly so in such state of stress.

I digress. Just when I think I’ve hit bottom, life starts happening for me organically. I met an incredible man, we added solid teammates at work to help with the load (some of these people need their own story- thank you and you know who you are), and slowly things started looking up. Work was still nuts but enjoyable again, traveling bug returned, and somehow by the grace of God, I found out I was pregnant- SO MANY FEELINGS! I was also mid-deep in my yoga certification.

Let’s rewind a bit back to the man thing. Turns out he is military, but I won’t go into specifics because I don’t speak military, and I’ll probably screw it up and offend some higher up or end up on a list. kidding- kind of. After many years together, multiple deployments, baby news, we find out he is moving. I am pregnant, own a small business that I physically work in, and he is MOVING. Okay universe, what have I done now? We decided that once baby came, we’d spend a few months together then he’d move, and we’d commute. 12–14-hour commute by the way. My babes has been flying since she was 8 weeks old and she is 18months now, we can do hard things. What’s three years? We could do this no problem. Get the popcorn ready, I can’t make this up. Okay back on track.

The most magical moment in our lives came and baby girl Scotty joined our world with fireworks and joy. Unexplainable joy this free spirited, animal loving, chatterbox, non-sleeping, wild card has brought to our lives. She is a replica of me as a baby minus daddy’s piercing blue eyes. I fear for our future. I visualize myself cleaning shotguns, and dad hopes she is going to be a lesbian driving a Subaru. Time will tell. During our hospital stay we endured it all. The unfortunate nonsense of inducing labor and a disaster of a birth story. A nurse had me push before I was fully dilated- bye bye pelvic floor strength. I’ll save that for another day. During our first day they decided to draw extra blood out of concern. The kid that came through to draw it may as well take a gallon bag there were so many tubes. This striking my curiosity, I casually asked what type of test this is for. He didn’t know but thought it would be a good idea to google it and proceed to tell an expecting mom it’s a leukemia test. My inner Karen wanted to scream, but alas, I am a cool Karen and decided we had more important things on deck so that could wait. The point of this story and big kicker is that while in the hospital giving birth to my beautiful miracle baby of a blessing, I found out that I have cancer. Cancer. I hate that word. It can dry up all of your inner well-being and joy in the literal blink of an eye. I was told by a phone call that I mistook for the pediatrician’s office booking our first newborn appointment. It went like this:

Me: Hello
MD office: Hi is this Karen?
Me: This is she.
MD office: We are calling to setup an appointment for you on Friday. Could you all make it at 10am?
Me: Oh I’m sure we could, this is for Scotty’s pediatric visit, correct?
MD Office: No, this is your oncologist.
Me: Silence and tears building as I pass my better half the phone.

Needless to say, the first few months of motherhood came with much uncertainty, anxiety, and decisions. The warm cuddly feels were there, but it’s not the same. I feel robbed on some level and want a redo; however, we’ll see what my body has on deck. As it turns out, I have been diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and was told I would luckily never have to deal with it, and if I did it would be a pill daily. Typically found in older people. No big deal. Until it was. Do you remember how I told you military man was moving? Well he moved to his duty station and we proceeded to live and work in two separate places. He bought a sailboat and I kept our home afloat, no pun intended. My mother came to help for extended periods until I could get Scotty into daycare and then it went something like this. Eat, team no sleep because well, baby raves, work and daycare, repeat. A baby and I, along with two cats who always chose violence and brought dead and live animals inside, like I had extra time to help them build their squirrel and bird graveyard. We did this for a solid year!!! We are stupid, don’t be like us. With daycare comes the crud and it took us out on a rotating schedule. Meanwhile, I kept working because at this point we were no longer thriving, rather than surviving, and every three months I would go to the oncologist for bloodwork and follow ups. These appointments were supposed to be spaced out eventually putting me down for annual visits, but things didn’t change. My white cell count kept hovering or raising. I had suffered through tonsilitis, strep throat, sinus crud, and every other thing you can imagine and chocked it up as daycare crud. My oncologist kept saying I was just a busy mom and business owner and I needed a massage. I didn’t disagree but I was concerned at the swelling around my neck and continuous fatigue, night sweats, etc. I felt run down and for the longest time I convinced myself that this is what every mother does. We are keeping humans alive, we are naturally tired, until he (oncologist) referred me to an ENT for my ridiculously large tonsils. Oh the summer of fun. A pressing tonsillectomy and adenoid removal at 38 are zero fun, let me tell you. I’d rather someone stab me in the toe and bleed to death slowly, but things happen for a reason, plus I no longer snore like a freight train. They just found more cancer. Yep, more cancer. Remember how I said I can’t make this up? Seems to be my life motto. They did a needle biopsy on my lymph node and found a mass. Turns out I have Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma too. You want to know what I did the morning I found out and was an absolute snotty crying mess? I went to work and took my full day of clients. I am an idiot, but we’ve already figured that one out. Luckily there are a few people in my life that impart wisdom that I take in like a sponge. After careful consideration and too much thought I contacted MD Anderson and somehow, they got me in. I know how, there was an available appointment the day before a holiday, ha-ha thank you Independence Day!

After a half-ruined fourth of July vacation trip to Utah, we left our little one with family and went to MD Anderson for a second opinion. Vacations and leave time are sacred because of the whole we-live-and-work-in-two-separate-places thing plus we like to prepay for trips and this one definitely gutted our funds hence the saltiness. It was the best decision we made looking back. MD Anderson went very in depth in my bloodwork, testing, and all aspects of my health, and it seems that my white count had almost doubled in two months, I have a mass on my lymph node, a slightly swollen spleen among other things. But I feel informed, and we made a plan. My cancer can all be treated, and I am currently on a waiting list for the next clinical trial. The biggest decision was how to do proceed, in chaos or calm? Now I know I sound like a very hardheaded person after reading all of this, because I am. I am not a Forbes cabillionare (I like to make up words) or any hot shot on the map, but I take pride in my tiny little oasis that I’ve worked so hard to build and keep, and the last thing I want it to do is slide through the cracks or slip away. The spa is fine, and we have a solid little team that will allow it to keep flowing and thrive again. We’ve gotten rid of toxicity and made great changes, I just needed to let go of the reigns. I think I finally had enough shower meltdowns and an ah-ha moment that put life into perspective for me. Life is short and we need to LIVE it. And by we, I mean my tiny little family. So, in a months’ time, I packed my entire life, sold a bunch of junk, gave away all of our furniture, and moved myself, a toddler, and two cats to a 35 foot sailboat in Key West, FL. I’ve been here for all of three weeks and we’re finally getting sort of settled. Scotty is thriving and thinks she can swim, Eleanor and Birdie are eyeballing the chickens that roam, and I am existing. I am working on reviving my mental and physical health, creating some yoga flows, and assisting the spa virtually until I can return in person. Existing is hard, but we’re all a work in progress.

Grit or stupidity, life happens for you not to you. Sometimes we just have to adjust our sails and go with the wind. I’ll write a book one day, but for now here is a snippet, just a very long winded one.

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?

Some of this is repetitive from the previous question.

Hi all! I am the proud owner of Spa98 and a practicing licensed aesthetician with 12 plus years’ experience. I have dedicated my time within the industry to craft a skincare focused clinic with realistic treatments to promote internal wellness and maintain healthy skincare goals. At Spa98 you’ll find that we’ve built a team of reliable service providers that practice based on honesty and integrity, keeping the client our number one priority. While I’m currently taking clients on a limited basis, I’m behind the scenes facilitating the proper support to ensure you’ll be happy with our current offerings. I look forward to meeting you.

We as a whole offer full body waxing, customized peels and facials, and a variety of the latest and greatest skincare on demand. The specialty is tailoring the service to the client, because it’s not just a facial or wax, rather than much more. There is also not a cookie cutter treatment out there, so it has to be hand crafted and requires customization at each visit. It’s about aging gracefully, taking proper care of oneself in the moment, preventative care, and teaching people to love themselves. Preserving age and cell turnover are one thing, but celebrating that new baby, job offer, crying over a death or receiving illness news is a completely different ballgame. Giving someone the power and tools to use at home is 80% while my monthly visit and care is 20%. Don’t forget the massage included within the treatments. Although they are great for a muscle workout and reducing inflammation, we are often times the only physical touch folks receive besides a friendly hug at church or family gathering. Not in a kinky gross way- get your mind out of the gutter. You can physically feel the stress melt away as their jaws unclench, shoulder tension releases, and they drift away in a peace for a few minutes. We are walking stress balls in autopilot. That 60-90 minutes during a skincare treatment is sacred.

Why do I go into all of this? I simply love what I do. It’s more than just a facial. It’s a meditative experience.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Relatability and flexibility. There are thousands of service providers within the aesthetics industry and quite frankly one on every corner. It’s about what you as an individual bring to the table. How do you connect and relate to your client, are you listening to their needs? What Is the long-term goal and do we meet in the middle on this? It is also crucial to be a genuine human and a credible source behind your offerings. Not everyone needs a 300 dollar service or 100 dollar product. We offer a variety of different treatments and products that have a range of pricing according to what people need, not how much money you want to make. Also, if people have a successful homecare regimen prior to a visit, then why not just deliver an awesome facial. No need to clean the slate if it’s working.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Core values, consistency, and remaining teachable. There is always a situation that tugs at ethics, a treatment that needs routine to be successful, and you can never have all the knowledge or be an expert. Gurus are one-of-a-kind.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.spa98.com
• Instagram: spa98_skincare
• Facebook: spa98
• Other: Coming soon is my personal instagram for Sailing Scotty adventures. totalkaren85

Image Credits

@5alexshaw for professional work photos