We recently connected with Mercedes Hester, Rn, Cen, Cpen, Amb-bc and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mercedes, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.

I started out as an independent provider running my own business ‘The Mercedes of Botox’ under the Smiley Aesthetics umbrella. I was an RN of 12 years at this point with most of my experience in the ER. I was injecting in the evenings after work and on the weekends outside of my regular nursing job.

At the 9 month mark I had hit $100K in gross sales and thought to myself “I think I would like to do this full time”. So I reached out to the COO of Smiley, Carla Pierson, to see if she would give me a good idea if she thought this was a big mistake or something doable. She agreed she thought I could be successful and make it work if I continued along this same path. So I did it, I quit my other nursing job to pursue ‘The Mercedes of Botox’ full time.

I happened to make a poor choice and do this in the worst month for aesthetics which is July. So I got very nervous by the lack of new clients/reoccurring clients and reached out to Carla to see if I could offer my services as a consultant for Smiley Aesthetics creating policies and procedures as I have extensive experience with that in my other nursing jobs.

While working alongside the leadership team of Smiley to create policies and procedures I heard the CEO Mary Smiley Ford and her identical twin sister referenced above, Carla Pierson talking about needing a trainer for GA. I kind of spoke out of turn to let them know my extensive training background as a nurse and that education is my passion. It was at this point I started the journey of training to be a trainer which led to my current role with Smiley Aesthetics as the Directive of Training and Strategic Initiatives.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I graduated nursing school at 21. Honestly I wanted to work as a Labor and Delivery Nurse. I never had any intention of working with sick people. I wanted to help healthy moms have healthy babies. When I graduated nursing school I realized that the market was extremely saturated and finding a nursing job took me months. I eventually ended up taking my first position as an RN in a mens prison here in TN.

I really enjoyed my job there mainly because I had the opportunity to educate as the inmates for the most part really were interested in learning as much about their medical conditions as possible. I experienced an emergency with a patient one night when an inmate had a life threatening reaction to onions and it was then I realized I might be an adrenaline junkie, haha. I started working full time in the ER while staying PRN at the prison. The ER was terrifying but exhilarating all at the same time. I finally realized that was my home and I found myself studying after every shift to be the best nurse I could be. I eventually transitioned to charge nurse on night shift as well as preceptor and eventually over the orientation process in the ER for all new hires.

I attended ER nurse conferences across the nation participating in cadaver labs and soon I was double board certified in ER nursing. It was clear this was my passion and I loved everything about ER nursing. I could not imagine myself doing anything else. After about 5 years I developed something called POTS or Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. In short, my body is allergic to gravity and when I stand my body does the opposite of what it should do. For instance, a heart rate goes up to 200 just from standing which really is just one of many symptoms. It was clear that working in the ER was no longer a viable option for me as a nurse. This was heartbreaking as I felt I was losing my identity. I transitioned into a work from home job as a telephone triage nurse which truthfully was one of the most difficult jobs I have had to date. How often as nurses do we not have any of our senses except for hearing? We cannot see, touch or smell our clients. As nurses we rely on all of our senses and this was a challenging adjustment that I really enjoyed.

After a few years I jumped around between work from home jobs and as I gained control over my POTS symptoms I realized that I was bored and I missed patient contact. I wanted to be able to educate clients face to face again and just be involved in patient care. I started doing research for many months and after many ideas I finally landed on being an aesthetic injector.

For me this was the best of many worlds – getting to use my skills with needles, in person patient contact, lots of opportunity to educate my clients as well as being a part of “happy medicine”. I was a part of the worst day of peoples lives for so many years that the thought of helping others enhance their beauty seemed like a dream.

I love learning as much as possible and knowing that I am a responsible injector. While there are more wonderful, talented responsible injectors than I can count, sadly there are more irresponsible, uneducated injectors than I can count as well. Knowing that I work everyday on increasing my knowledge to continue to be a part of the responsible injectors is very important to me. Knowing that people trust me with their FACE is not something I take lightly. In fact the first 6 months or so of injecting I was so anxious that I could barely eat. That is not healthy, I understand, but I took the trust given to me by my clients as something so serious. Gradually, the more I studied and the more clients I treated this anxiety began to subside. In no way now do I treat patients without anxiety however, I like to think it is a much healthier level now reminding myself that by being the most educated I can reduce many common risks of aesthetic procedures.

I am a very detail oriented person and I strive for perfection which is not real nor something we expect to see on our clients faces, or anyones face for that matter. So I often remind myself that if my client is happy I should be too. I take extreme pride in my work and if I do not think you need a procedure I will tell you so. I also am the injector that will tell you NO. No to more filler, no to looking less and less like a natural version of yourself.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I genuinely believe it is my passion for education. If you read reviews on google they almost all have the same word in them, education. I think about in the hospital we would never give you a medication without telling you what it is or why we are giving it to you and any side effects you can expect.

Now please don’t confuse this with clients creating their own treatment plan. I strongly believe that as the educated healthcare provider you come to me for my recommendation based on your concerns. While I am more than happy to take things slow or focus on concerns as different times, I ultimately am in charge of the treatment plan. I will not perform unnecessary medical procedures on my clients that I know will either not benefit them or puts them at a greater risk based on their medical history.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Vulnerability. As a nurse, once we become an expert in our chosen specialty, changing that specialty is one of the scariest things out there. To go from one of the most experienced on your unit to brand new in a specialty requires a level of vulnerability to succeed.

Vulnerability requires self-awareness to identify areas where one may need growth or support. Nurses who are vulnerable can learn from their experiences, both positive and negative, to improve their practice.
Vulnerability allow nurses the ability to be open to feedback from colleagues, mentors, and patients can help nurses identify areas for improvement and develop new skills.
Vulnerability can help nurses develop resilience and the ability to bounce back from setbacks.
Vulnerability can help nurses build trust and empathy with patients by being open and honest about their own experiences and limitations.
By being vulnerable, nurses can create a safe and supportive environment for patients to share their own experiences and concerns.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://smileyaesthetics.com
• Instagram: @themercedesofbotox
• Facebook: The Mercedes of Botox
• Linkedin: Mercedes Hester, RN, CEN, CPEN, AMB-BC