We recently connected with Theresa Cramer and have shared our conversation below.

Theresa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?

I will never forget sitting in the basement of my aunt’s house, I had just turned 31, just gotten a divorce, just survived the worse bout of depression in my life, and was actually living with my aunt – in her basement, and thinking: what in the hell am I going to do with my life.

A couple weeks after that floundering moment, I decided to try Botox for the first time. On the surface, I probably looked like every other woman who enters her thirties and starts worrying about getting older, but there was so much more to my story. I was a woman, in her thirties, that for the first time in her adult life had complete autonomy over her body because she divorced a man that robbed her of that autonomy for over a decade. My decision to try Botox was me exercising my new found rights.

And that decision changed my life, because when I got Botox for the first time, I fell in love with the artistry of aesthetic medicine. Always creative and artistic in my personal life, I had never had an outlet for that within my career. My very beloved career of being an oncology nurse. But a career where I could care for people and be an artist, I knew instantly I had to pursue it. I had to switch from oncology to aesthetic medicine.

Back in my aunt’s basement, I made a five year plan: break into the medical aesthetic industry, work my ass off to become highly educated and skilled in the field, go back to graduate school to become a nurse practitioner, open my own medical aesthetic practice.

Five years later, I opened the doors of Theresa Carrie Aesthetics.

Theresa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve held true to the belief from the moment I first tried Botox that it truly doesn’t matter how you look, but it definitely matters how you feel about how you look, especially for women. When a woman feels good about her appearance, she shows up differently in her life, there is power in it. I discovered the power of this firsthand after receiving aesthetic treatments. Did it matter how I looked after those treatments? No, not really. But did it matter that when I looked in the mirror, I felt rejuvenated, vibrant, and happy with my appearance? Hell yeah it did, after feeling like an exhausted depressed divorcee for over a year, you better believe it mattered. It mattered because I started believing I was rejuvenated, vibrant, and happy, and even better – I started acting like it.

Now before you go judging me for putting needles in my face to make myself feel and act more joyful, consider this: we all do it, in some form, we all do it. Some women wear red lipstick and feel powerful, some women put on overalls and red shoes (this is totally my mother by the way) and feel playful, some women dye their hair gray and feel unstoppable. In some way, shape, or form, all women have discovered this little phenomenon.

I knew when I decided to make the switch from oncology to aesthetics that I wanted to help women feel amazing about their appearance so they could show up as the amazing badass women in their lives that they are. I knew that was how I would care for this new population of patients I was about to have.

Now, having worked in aesthetic medicine for 4 years, I can confidently say that I help amazing badass women show up in their lives as amazing badass women. I can also say that I have discovered in process of doing that, I have been weaved into the stories of these women’s lives. Which is an incredible honor. Every patient I have has a story, a reason for why they are in my chair and a bigger picture that reason fits into. Sometimes that story looks like: My son has cancer, I look exhausted, I look like a mom that has a son that has cancer. I don’t want to look like I have a son that has cancer. Sometimes that story looks like: I just had my first baby this year, and I am just trying to find my way back to myself. Sometimes it’s: I’m young, I hate how dark my under eyes are, it makes me feel like I look tired or sad, and that’s not me.

I offer services that many would consider “anti-aging”. I hate that term. I’m not anti-aging, I’m very much pro-aging. I believe aging is a privilege. A belief that was firmly cemented into me over 9 years taking care of patients dying of cancer. So I don’t consider my services “anti-aging”, I consider them: “age how ever the fuck you want” services. Botox to reduce and/or prevent the appearance of wrinkles, filler to help enhance your facial features, PRF under eye injections to keep the skin under your eyes looking bright and tight, Sculptra to build collagen – those are some of the services I offer.

And let’s be clear about these services: I always keep patients looking natural – no overfilled lips or faces so frozen they can’t smile. I tell patients all the time: I’m not trying to make you look like someone else, I’m not trying to make you look like you’re in your twenties when you’re actually 55, I am just trying to make you look like the very best version of you!

I think there are several things that set me apart in this industry:

My thoroughness and attention to detail – new patients are always shocked at how much time I spend talking with them, educating them, explaining things to them. I often hear: I have never had a consultation that is this thorough. I think my thoroughness and attention to detail really helps build trust between me and the patient. The patients feel empowered with knowledge and choice. They have a clear treatment plan to meet their goals. I make the process of treatment very seamless in that way.

I’m deeply compassionate and caring. I love people and I love connecting with people. I love talking with my patients about the services I provide, but even more so, I love talking to them about their lives and getting to know them for the human they are. I honestly think this helps me provide even better care. For example: I know my patients that have kids and need an appointment time before their kids get off school, I know my patients that are going through a divorce and just need to listen to sad music while I’m doing their filler because it’s cathartic, I know my patients transitioning from male to female and how important my work is to their journey feeling themselves in their own skin.

I’m conservative with treatments and I say no. You have the right to do whatever you want to with your face, but I have the right to practice my artistry. Natural is my aesthetic, that is my artistry. I have no problem telling patients I’m not a good fit for them as provider if they want to have a more dramatic change in appearance. My patients trust me to tell them they don’t need a treatment, to save their money. Heck, sometimes I shoot my own business in the foot I say no so often or I refer people to other options that I think will be better for them, like surgery.

I have a big personality. I’m goofy and a bit of a firecracker. I love to make patients laugh. I am very knowledge and professional, but my goofy, spicy personality is welcoming and puts people at ease. I can tell you every single ligament, muscle, and artery in your face and I can also tell you a story full of expletives that will make you pee your pants laughing.

I think the thing I am most proud of is, well it’s two things: 1. I do a damn good job delivering incredible results. 2. I have a community of patients that are all badass women!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Just because someone appears a certain way on social media, it doesn’t necessarily mean that is who they are in real life.

I learned to not be awe of someone because they have tens of thousands of Instagram followers or have a page filled with beautiful posts, but to instead take every personal image I see curated online with a grain of salt.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

The documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. This man, Jiro, placed a heavy focus on the planning, prepping, and execution of creating sushi. He would place his knife in the exact same spot every time when he was cooking, he would time out exactly how many minutes and seconds his patrons would need between being served each piece of sushi so they could enjoy each bite to the absolute fullest, he had precise methods for everything he created. He said he did this because it meant that when his customers came in to his restaurant, he could enjoy connecting with them more and enhancing their experience.

I adopted similar practices: always setting out Botox syringes a certain way, prepping my charts the same way before work, systematically assessing the face. All of those practices being so honed in, so precise and thought out, it allows me to more quality time with the patient.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @theresacarrieaesthetics

Image Credits
Image of me with the yellow surgical cap on looking down at a table, credit to: CORE Aesthetics