We caught up with the brilliant and insightful SummerKai Lenz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

SummerKai, appreciate you joining us today. How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

I didn’t know that I always wanted to be in aesthetics. I was never that person, that knew from a young age what I wanted to do when I grew up. I started out in public safety as an emergency medical dispatcher. I loved being able to help people, and honestly, it was a great job for someone that didn’t know what they wanted to do with they’re life and only a high school diploma in hand. It offered good pay, benefits, retirement, and I could’ve made a 25 year career out of that, but something was missing.

After 5 years, I decided I’ve had enough, and I needed to find passion for a career. I had always loved makeup, and when I saw a Ulta cosmetics opening in the area, I applied and was hired. I wanted to learn all I could about the products we were selling, that thirst for never ending knowledge was stoking a flame inside me, although I didn’t know where that was going to lead me. The more I learned about skincare products, the more I wanted to invest in the industry. I wanted to make it my career. I went to esthetics school, and Ulta moved me from the sales floor into their salon as a licensed aesthetician. I was happy, but I also knew that the fire that had been lit inside me would take me farther than what Ulta could provide me. It was a wonderful starting place, a place to practice what I learned in school, but also a place to continue learning. During my time at Ulta I would carry around an ingredient dictionary with me in between clients because my passion for learning couldn’t be quenched.

SummerKai, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I began my career in skincare sales. I thrived in the fast-paced environment and found my passion for helping women see the beauty in themselves. Just as things were really taking off, I was dealt a major health blow—kidney cancer. It was a quick surgery with a long recovery. As I was still healing from the diagnosis and the new scars across my torso, I found out I was pregnant with my first son. I took some time off to stay home with him, as the miracle of his timing and his life was not lost on me. When I was ready to return to work, I got yet another surprise. I was pregnant with our second son. Two babies in two years after surviving cancer was crazy and amazing at the same time. I started to notice that this job that I loved didn’t support a healthy work-life balance. I knew I wanted more, I needed more, but finding a spa with the same vision for what patients should have in their life seemed to be non-existent. I considered quite a few but found that the goals for treatment were more about numbers and less about patient care. I have always believed that skincare should be health care; it’s self-care after all, not a perceived luxury. Feeling confident in your own skin, without feeling like you need to look like someone else, that’s truly aging gracefully.

My passion in skincare is helping women uncover the beauty in themselves. 80% of my career is helping my clients discover their natural beauty and the other 20% is modifying procedures to enhance it. I am a medical aesthetician who specializes in skin rejuvenation, age management, acne and skincare. Our mission at Velo Med Spa is providing treatments that yield high results with low risks. I love that my day-to-day never looks the same. Some days I’m just doing Hydrafacials and customizing at-home skin routines, other days, I’m doing SkinPen treatments (micro-needling), Vampire Facials (micro needing with PRP), Morpheus8 treatments or Laser Hair removal. Then there’s days where I’m taking classes in between patients to get ahead of what’s happening in the industry. This industry is so fluid, so to be able to speak to my patients about those things with integrity is of the utmost importance to me. This is especially true for those times when I meet someone who has not had a good experience somewhere else or who were treated like a sales goal achievement. This motivates me to keep working towards being the best version of myself so that I can show others how to do the same. I recently started a podcast to educate clients and potential clients on all things aesthetics from the difference between over the counter skincare and medical grade, to causes/treatment of acne, etc. I approach skincare as whole body wellness, and the more educated clients are, I find the more compliant, and clients should know the why.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Word of mouth, and reviews. I pride myself on honesty with my clients, setting real expectations and educating them. I feel like those three things are the most effective for not only growing clientele, but client retention. When you have satisfied clients, they tell their friends and then their friends come and so on. We also treat our current clients like VIPs, because they are important to us. People want to feel special, they want an experience, and we provide that in our atmosphere.

How’d you meet your business partner?

Devine intervention. I know that may sound crazy to some, but I know there was something bigger at work. I had a very clear vision of the type of place that I wanted to be a part of, and what type of person that I wanted to work with. I saw that I had a new follower on Instagram that was a med spa and after some research into the business I found it was exactly what I was looking for. Velo Med Spa is a place that married the relaxing spa environment and the innovation of the medical side of aesthetics together. I just knew I wanted to be a part of it, and once I met Jessica everything aligned. We both shared so many of the same thoughts on business practices, the type of experience that we wanted to provide our clients with, and even have core values in common. The last 3 years being with Velo hasn’t felt like “work”, it’s more of a home away from home.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.velomedspa.com
• Instagram: @velo_summerkai
• Other: Podcast: It’s Not Olive Oil… available on Apple and Spotify

Image Credits
Headshot: Livia DeBonet Photography All other images: Myself and my iPhone