Dr. Joelle Lieman & Elite Esthetics — Career Pivoting to Your Purpose

How she Career Pivoted to her PURPOSE!

Combining her medical and total wellness passion to create an ultimate sanctuary to serve your mind, body and soul (and how not to compare yourself to others while being KIND to yourself.) #selflove

Dr. Joelle defines herself in no particular order.

I am a woman.  I am a businesswoman.  I am a mother of three gorgeous teenage boys.  I am a Physician – surgeon and all.  I am a wife.  I am a forever student of dance.  I love to workout.  I am a true and trusted friend. These are all of the things that define me most. Oh and I am Canadian, something at my core.

As a #BossBabe, CEO, M.D. powerhouse, what brought you to create Elite Aesthetics? 

I am a Board Certified OB/GYN and have over 20 years of experience in the Boston area. 

While many people don’t understand how an Obstetrician/Gynecologist transitions into the field of aesthetic medicine, it seemed like a natural transition for me. 

After 20 years of delivering babies, doing surgery on women and seeing them for routine exams, the same discussion transpired daily; basically how we all change, our bodies, our hormones, our skin and our faces and approximately 8 years ago I decided to do something about it and train in the fields of physical wellness and rejuvenation. 

I began with the art of injectables soon adding body contouring and once I provided my patients with these treatments I realized my dream of opening a state of the art, luxury medical environment where these procedures could be performed (what is now commonly referred to as a Medical Spa) – Elite Aesthetics was conceived.

For the last 5 plus years I have provided many different services including but not limited to facials, injectables, body treatments, PRP hair/ body and face enhancement, laser resurfacing, thread lifting and my most favorite – sexual wellness, to name a few.  It provides me with endless satisfaction- being able to constantly learn in the ever changing world of aesthetic medicine and ultimately assist in helping people feel good about themselves.  

With so much competition out there in the  “Wellness/Beauty” space, what do you think sets you apart and makes you different?

What initially set me apart from other Med Spas was they were mostly run by nurses and Physician owned Med spas didn’t exist, but now that is different. 

I think when it comes to Wellness/Beauty spaces, there are many to choose from and while we need to be cognoscente of competition from a business standpoint, we do what we do and we do it well.  We are an incredible team at Elite. We are especially connected to our patients. 

Our team collectively knows every patients’ story – through their triumphs, periods of joy and sometimes sadness. 

We connect with all of them. 

We are approachable and take time with each individual because we truly care.  I find myself often telling the “girls” to not be concerned with what every other spa is doing, we are successful and therefore, should just “stay in our lane”. 

I try not to focus on competing with others, but focus on being the best we can be- that combined with our consistent investment with staying ahead of the technology curve together with a beautiful luxurious environment  -I think that is what sets us apart at Elite.

What is your favorite offering at Elite?

Hands down my favorite offering is the sexual wellness piece. 

I have spent my entire professional life struggling with patients’ complaints of, “orgasm issues, decreased libido, vaginal laxity, mild incontinence, dryness…etc” with little I could offer them except for hormone replacement or surgery. 

It has been incredibly fulfilling to offer services to help with all of the above with the addition of erectile dysfunction.  For example, the Viveve radio frequency device helps with incontinence, dryness and vaginal laxity and the O-shot and Priapus Shot improves orgasmic dysfunction and erectile dysfunction respectively.  Bringing my two worlds of aesthetics, gynecology and medicine together is incredibly satisfying for me.

I know you are such a supporter of a healthy lifestyle through working out, being mindful of our bodies and embracing our “imperfections”.   What would you tell someone right now who may be dealing with negative self-talk, how to embrace a better mindset around self-love?

I believe doing ANYTHING for ourselves is self-love. 

Whether it be taking a minute to breathe, getting a massage, manicure, pedicure, facial etc.  Taking time for oneself IS taking care of oneself.

I honestly don’t believe in imperfections, I am not one to point them out in others.  In fact, I have been criticized as being too nice to my patients and talking them out of the filler they thought they needed when they came in for a consultation. Less is always more. When I hand someone a mirror in my treatment room, the first words I utter are “be kind”.  I want to remove the feeling of picking ourselves apart and start from my patients’ favorite feature. 

My goals are always to enhance what is already beautiful. I believe it is an art to do what I do, but really I love every face and body I see, my hope is only to highlight the beauty that already exists in ourselves.

You have such a beautiful family with very active schedules (3 Teenage Boys), how do you balance it all and prioritize family running your own business?

This is a fantastic question and believe it or not, it seems so much easier now that I run a business. 

As an OB/GYN, I worked an average of 60-70 hours a week, a lot of which was overnight when I took call in the hospital – running a business seems easy in comparison.  I involved my family with everything, they have been there every step of the way – Max, one of my now 16 year old twins helped me plan 5 treatment rooms out of 1000 sq feet as my mini architect 5 years ago. Sam (the other twin) hooked up and continues to be my go to IT-GUY, and Gabriel my now 13 year old was paramount in all of the intricacies of finances. 

Any one would tell you my family is a priority.  I make sure I am consistently there for my boys, their school, social and hockey needs, but really I could never do it without an incredibly helpful and supportive mathematician husband (thank you Daniel).

What advice would you give someone looking to pivot into jobs in the beauty, spa, wellness industry?

It’s wonderful!  Amazing!  There is so much to learn and technology changes incredibly quickly. 

As a trainer for Galderma , I train other professionals in the field for injection. 

I am also a speaker for Ulthera,Viveve and CoolSculpting having been very successful with all treatments. I am constantly asked by new grads about Elite, it’s success and “secret formula” and find myself often refusing calls to sell our practice to larger “chains”.  When I was asked by medical students as an Attending Physician, “how do you decide what medical field to choose” my answer was simply, “find what you enjoy and you are good at” and the same applies to this field.  It is important to find your niche and create your beauty, spa, wellness space around what works for you in particular.  But the old adage always holds true:  If you love your job you won’t work a day in your life.

What can we expect from Elite in the future?

Elite is expanding or rather evolving, yes, you heard it here first!

Like any successful business, sometimes you outgrow your space.

The team has grown, the services have expanded and it became glaringly evident that we needed to move. Much like the first time we built Elite, I worked closely with our branding firm and one of my closest friends, Heather Gilet, owner of Snakebite, Inc. Her role was essential in leading the design aspect of the build out as well as developing our brand image.

After many brainstorming sessions, our creative minds merged (as usual) and Elite EXP. was born.

When you combine 20 years of medical experience with 20 years of branding experience, the synergy is inevitable. It was a natural progression into the Wellness space that we believe my patients want and need. The future of Elite can simply be defined as science-led beauty (Elite Aesthetics) paired with nature-based wellness(Elite EXP) – outer and inner beauty merged under one 4,000 sq. ft roof (ELITE). My patients already expect and receive the highest level of results-driven service in aesthetics. Elite EXP. will be offering the same concierge, personalized, self-care services. Our Experiences are curated to heal and relax your inner-being. The Salt Room Experience combines healing with meditation, the Massage Experiences will detoxify and relax and our new EXP. retail shop gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “retail therapy”.

Self-care is at the core of our Wellness Center.

In addition,  I have learned so much from the skin care lines I have sold and used and have worked alongside chemists to curate our own Elite line of skincare for both medical aesthetics and body wellness.  Our Elite Aesthetics services will expand from the trusted cutting-edge technology to add wellness and beauty experiences.  

My aim is to bridge the gap between inner and outer beauty in our new 4000 sq ft Zen-inspired sanctuary spa space designed as a space to unwind, reflect, relax and heal in our new Wellness Center.

Biggest lesson learned from 2020 as a business owner you are carrying into the New Year and beyond?

2020 was a learning lesson for us all.  I can’t say I learned one lesson over another. 

I have always been someone that easily adjusted to adversity as I have had my fair share over the years and this was just another one. 

What I value the most from 2020 is the loyalty and trust I have seen in my patients who reached out to help us stay afloat, our staff that worked tirelessly from home to find ways to stay engaged and the resilience of our community. 

As I tell my boys, there is always a silver lining to every adversity, even if we don’t know it at the time it is presented to us – my particular silver lining is this. This past year  has allowed me space to see what is important to us all, to evolve into what will be the “new Elite” opening this spring.  It is clear to me that the lines of aesthetics and wellness are blurred and in fact, interchangeable – we all need to feel beautiful both inside and out.

 How can someone find you to connect and stay in touch?

I am available by email at  jlieman@eliteaestheticsmd.com. You can also text or call us at 1-781-559-3433.

Follow us on IG, Facebook and YouTube:

@eliteaestheticsmd

@drjoellelieman

Check out our website at www.eliteaestheticsmd.com.