Life and Work with Amie Martin

This experience brought me to the next level in my career. It brought me to the next level of passion for the aesthetic community. I had all of the support in the world from my team of coworkers and patients. It helped me understand the relationships I wanted to build with my patients and teammates. The hugs, laughs, tears, and conversations that I found myself building were more than just poking someone with some Botox to get rid of their frown lines or plumping someone’s pout. I was grateful. I was grateful to have a work environment where sitting down and having a laugh or a cry or just getting down to business and giving a client what they needed to feel refreshed and happy was all that was needed of me. My family can be put first because in the grand scheme of things Botox is never an emergency appointment!

This experience also brought me to the next branch of my aesthetic career; becoming a trainer and educator in the aesthetic community took years but the foundation was laid with a couple ladies we like to affectionately call the “OG BQ” (you know who you are). A few of my daughter’s cardiac ICU nurses were intrigued by my nursing career as a Certified Aesthetic Nurse Specialist. We spent months, collectively a year of our lives with these women. We had many discussions at Ava’s bedside about my career and how I got to where I was. We agreed that I would start training them after Ava was discharged post-transplant. And so January 2016, I officially started my first cohort of aesthetic apprentices. I truly love giving someone the time and knowledge that was given to me. My motivation for creating more than just a weekend crash course training program in aesthetics came from these ladies. I wanted to see them through not only the didactic of anatomy and safety and hands-on techniques, but really lay a foundation of the business and culture of aesthetics that would help them be successful.

And from this, Botox Queens was born! It’s really just a silly name we like to use to describe what we started. A group of registered nurses, saving the world one Botox treatment at a time! We believe in a culture of paying it forward. Always reaching out to help the next aesthetic provider trying to learn their way into aesthetic greatness. There is always enough to go around. No need to be cutthroat, selfish, or greedy. Fix one another’s crown if it is a little crooked and do the same for the patient’s that trust us with their beautiful faces. This group of women has changed my world in more ways than one. There have been many to follow after them, and I am grateful to be a mentor, coach, friend, and colleague to all of them… I haven’t kept track but I’m assuming there’s a 100 or more of us out their now.

Has it been a smooth road?
I think the struggles in my training career that I face is helping other women (and men but mostly women) understand that this career path is not an overnight transformation. I often say, “Don’t quit your day job.” This is a side hustle (although offensive to some for putting it in those terms). If you have a passion for aesthetics, then put in the time, invest monetarily in yourself, and know that it takes me years to mentor and breed a powerhouse aesthetic provider. I encourage new trainees to stop looking for someone to pay their way, invest your own money in your career and future. If you pay your own way, then no one owns you along the way. Non-competes and education paybacks are common in this field. Know how to negotiate an employment contract and if you don’t know then higher someone to help you. If you’re not supported by a prescribing provider or something doesn’t feel right in your gut regarding the business practice… then, run the opposite direction. There is a community of support amongst aesthetic providers and know that we are always just a text or phone call away.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I wear several hats and I enjoy each of them. I am the lead nurse injector for Images Medspa by Glazer Dermatology. We have three medspa centers, number four is underway, and five is already on the horizon. We are a boutique style Chicagoland medspa group that believes in a great customer experience and a culture that centers itself on teamwork and family.

I am the founder of Advancing Medical Esthetics, LLC, an aesthetics training company for doctors, PAs, NPs, and RNs. Our core focus is on anatomy, safety, artistry, and building relationships with our clients. AME, LLC has branches that extend to Botox Queens and a new ongoing training platform called Aesthetic Mentor.

I have the honor of being asked to train for Allergan as an Allergan medical faculty member, as well as, Galderma GAIN trainers network. I have also studied with Dr. Charles Runels and have the privilege of teaching health care professionals about the use of platelet-rich plasma PRP and how to incorporate this into their aesthetic practices.

I feel as though I’m in a Miss America pageant with my responses to your questions, but I think that my real, yet midwestern nice personality sets me apart from others. In an industry where fake is the middle name… you have to keep your roots planted deep and not allow the pressures of the industry to sway you from who you are and what you want to be. I have gladly passed up many proposals, distanced myself from providers that weren’t in this for the right reasons, and continue to hold on to a reality that comes running full speed at me and hugs my leg when I come in the door after work. Life is too short and too beautiful, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to take care of women on the inside and the outside every day.

Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
I think one of the biggest barriers is a lack of believing that we can. With some of the more recent movements in women empowering women, we can help push this barrier out of the way. A culture of women supporting another woman to stand up, believe in herself, her abilities, and continuing to provide that support along the way once she starts to roll that snowball down the hill, is what I love to see happening. Women are unbelievable and powerful forces. My industry is predominantly female on both sides of the coin, patient and provider. I think there’s room for a little testosterone to balance the table a bit, but not too much because then you’re faced with a little more hair, deeper voice, and thickening of the skin. But I get it if you’re supplementing hormone levels for libido, body trimming, and whatever else women think is desirable about having elevated testosterone levels!

Pricing:

• Consultations are always FREE
• Aesthetic Injectables start around $200 and go up from there
• Provides training start at $1500 per course

Contact Info:

• Address: Images Medspa by Glazer Dermatology
  (Mokena, Hinsdale, Wilmette, and Chicago)
  18 W. First St., Lower Level
  Hinsdale, IL 60521
• Website: www.botoxqueens.com
• Phone: 630-655-1221
• Email: amiem@imagesmedspa.com
• Instagram: @amiemartinrn
• Facebook: @botoxqueens