February 11, 2024 • 22 mins
Empower your leadership journey with Dr. Bimpe Ayeni, an Ivy League-educated plastic surgeon turned entrepreneur. Dr. Ayeni shares key strategies to cultivate confidence and achieve unshakeable self-worth. From leading in the operating room to founding the men's skincare line Blair & Jack, her story embodies confidence, bravery, resilience, and success. This episode offers actionable advice and inspiration for anyone looking to elevate their leadership skills and make a lasting impact.
Discover strategies for mastering confidence: Gain insights into how Dr. Ayeni cultivated a deep sense of self-confidence throughout her career, along with practical advice for viewers to apply in their own lives.
Explore the building of unshakeable self-worth: Learn about Dr. Ayeni's journey to develop a strong sense of self-worth, both professionally and as a mother.
Understand the importance of bravery and resilience: Learn valuable lessons on navigating challenges from the operating room to entrepreneurship and discover tips for overcoming daily uncertainties.
Impart values to the next generation: Find out how she shares the lessons she's learned and instills these values in her children, offering viewers insights into passing on lessons of confidence, bravery, and resilience to their kids.
Subscribe for more empowering insights, and share your thoughts and experiences. Connect with Dr. Ayeni and explore Blair & Jack further:
- Follow Dr. Bimpe Ayeni on Instagram:
- Learn more about Blair & Jack - Website
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today I welcome Dr Bimpay Ayani, an Ivy League
educated plastic surgeon, aninspiring mother of twins and
now founder and entrepreneur ofmen's skin care line Blair and
Jack.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What pushed me to go from just thinking about it and
maybe one day I'll get to it waswhat I was talking about before
, this whole notion of why not,why not?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
me.
Her journey from medicine toentrepreneurship offers
strategies for buildingconfidence and self-worth.
In this episode, we explore thelessons within these bold moves
and how they can reshape ourlives and impart invaluable
tools for our kids.
Let's dive in, bimpay, thankyou so much for coming and being
(00:46):
in studio with us.
Thanks for having me.
We have so much to dive into.
I want to just start with thecontext of who you are
professionally.
What brought you into the worldof medicine?
You've gone to Yale, youstudied at Oxford, mcmaster and
you did a fellowship at Harvard.
You've risen through the ranksthrough surgery and started a
(01:10):
venture as a recently as anentrepreneur.
Before we get into all of that,I feel that there is a family
lesson, a mentorship andentrepreneurship in your
backstory.
Remind me how many surgeons arein your family today?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
A ton, okay.
So, starting with my father, mydad's a general surgeon.
He retired recently.
Growing up, dad would say youknow what guys?
Do whatever you want, really,yeah, do whatever makes you
happy, just be a professional.
And lo and behold, one by one.
So I'm one of five children andfour of us are surgeons.
(01:47):
So medicine has sort of, overthe years, become the family
business.
So even though I was born inMontreal, I spent my childhood
in Nigeria.
Oh wow, I love just the unity,the togetherness, bonding with
relatives, so that was a veryimportant part of my childhood
growing up.
And then, for the medical partof things, my dad had this
(02:10):
amazing job.
So, even though he trained atMcGill in Montreal, he wanted to
go back home, back to Nigeria,to make the country healthier.
And my dad had many patientswho couldn't afford to go to the
main hospital, and so he openedup his own little sort of
private center and he would fixtheir hernias, remove their
(02:31):
lumps and bumps and cysts at nocost.
And so I always think back andsay you know what that is?
Such a wonderful skill and awonderful attribute that he
passed on to all of us andsomething that, as a mom now, I
kind of want to pass on to mykids, my twins.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Well, you touched upon something I think will be
important for listeners.
You know your father was veryopen about allowing you guys to
be curious and explore.
You have twins.
I do how old are they, they'refive, they're five, yes, so when
you think about your father'slegacy, what he taught you, and
how you're taking that andyou're making it your own, how
(03:09):
do you foster that curiosity inthe five year old today?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I think for me as a kid, I was a quiet kid.
Growing up I kind of stuck tomyself.
I was a middle child, numberthree out of five, and my
parents, my family, they alwaysgave me that space, so they
didn't say, oh, you know, bemore like X, it was just this is
who you are and that isabsolutely okay.
It's okay to be quiet, it'sokay to be nice and I'll get
(03:36):
back to that because for my dad,as a surgeon, you have this
role where you can walk into aroom and demand, you know, power
and spring for your instrumentsand whatnot, and my dad was
never like that, you know.
So he sort of taught usdirectly and indirectly that
it's okay to be a nice guy, it'sokay to be polite, it's okay to
(03:57):
be humble, and so those arereally important values and
virtues that I wanted to pass on.
But I think for me as a mom,what's really important is just
pushing kids to not feel boxedKids.
They're just like they're blankslates and they can do a lot
more than I think we give themcredit for.
(04:18):
You know your kid well, Watch,look for cues.
When you ask a kid a questionlike, oh, how was school today?
Oftentimes the answer that Iget On the drive home is it was
good and that's the end of theconversation.
One thing I noticed my dad haddone over the years was, no
matter how busy he was with hispractice, no matter how busy mom
(04:41):
was with all her differentactivities, we would always Come
home and sit down together fordinner every single day.
When you have an hour or evenhalf an hour to sit together,
you get a much fuller picture,yeah, of what their days are
like.
So when you kind of gather allthat information and data, you
(05:02):
can kind of apply that to whatthey do, to their activities,
and I think for my kids I reallyjust put them out there and
just tell them, like my you knowquestion when I choose your
activities and choose the thingsyou take part in this, why not?
Why not, I don't want to limityou because of the things that I
(05:22):
may not know how to do.
Oh, interesting, yes.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
You know you touched about something on your father's
leadership style.
What are the most importantqualities in your own leadership
as it relates to your medicalprofessional experience?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
so I came into medicine after.
So I finished my degree at Yale, then spent a year doing a
master's at Columbia in New YorkCity which was wonderful, yeah
and then moved to Ottawa formedical school and then McMaster
for residency and then Harvardfor the fellowship.
So I share all that sort ofshow.
The yeah, yeah, the timelines,yeah it's a long haul and I
(06:00):
think what I learned by that isjust this notion that you can do
hard things, and I think itreally made me more tenacious a
person, so that as a leader,things aren't gonna be easy.
You'll make tough calls andtough decisions, but you just
kind of keep on trucking thesame way you kept trucking along
(06:22):
the years when you were stillstudying and you know your
friends had all been settled intheir career for a couple of
years and you're still a student.
I think.
Also, leadership is Sometimesyou sort of define it as you
know being the one in controland calling all the shots.
My dad and his style In howhe's so respected by his peers,
(06:46):
seeing that interplay betweenwhen you lead and when you
follow, I think has been veryinteresting.
So you follow at times insteadof always being in the driver's
seat.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Along the way when you're in school, you're kind of
collecting these Moments whereyou're like, oh, I was able to
do that in this way here, andthen you applied it into another
Facet and I think sometimesthat's a bit of a lost art
because we we don't apply Onelesson in a different paradigm
(07:15):
sometimes, and I think beingable to go.
Hey, when I was a student, Iknew how to move past this place
of discomfort to get here.
Now I can do the same thing 20years later and I can apply the
knowledge from 20 years ago.
I don't always see people doingthat.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, I think being able to look back and just
reflect on lessons learned ittakes a lot of self-reflection
mistakes made and what youlearned from them.
It's not always comfortable,and what you're asking actually
makes me think back to the longdays or the rough days back in
medical school, where so, forexample, if you're on rotation,
(07:53):
that you're not enjoying at alland it takes everything out of
you to get up and get out of bedto go to this block in a
certain area of medicine thatyou know you're not going to
practice in, but it's requiredof you.
So it's just that notion ofshowing up.
I don't want to be here, butI'm still going to show up.
(08:14):
That's an important life skilland I do that as a mom, like my
kids will sometimes say, oh well, you know this thing, you know
swimming is so hard.
And I say, yep, it is.
So I tell myself we're stillgoing.
So, yeah, there's something tobe said for just pushing through
(08:36):
.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
What is your skill internally to not mistake the
resistance that comes up whenwe're on the quest for our next
evolution of ourselves with.
I'm in the wrong spot.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I think I'm of true mind.
Sometimes you are in the wrongspot, yes, and it takes just
really sitting with thediscomfort and trying to really
analyze at a deep level what isit about this scenario that is,
you know making me feel this wayand then just understanding,
having a really good sense ofself.
You know knowing your strengths, knowing your weaknesses and
(09:08):
saying honestly to yourself well, I feel uncomfortable, but
that's a me issue, yeah.
And then you know being able tosee the external factor, being
able to separate those I thinkis very important, but it takes
a lot of self reflection.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
You said something about the process of you know
how you move through discomfortand medical school.
You said you could see thelight at the end of the tunnel,
right, yes, there are manypeople who are can operate in
that framework because there's agiven, there's a known.
At the end, there's a knownentity when you get there.
Yeah, and that's the case inentrepreneurship.
(09:43):
And I am so fascinated by yourstory because you are operating
in both tracks highlysuccessfully.
What has the track of medicinetaught you that you can apply to
entrepreneurship and what hasbeen completely new terrain that
you've had to cultivate a skillon as you've kind of built this
(10:03):
business?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
for yourself.
So from medicine, I think Ihave the ability to synthesize a
lot of information, to be veryanalytical, I am my approach, to
be very good at managing mytime and being organized.
And then the entrepreneurshippiece.
I think the main difference isjust what you're saying is there
(10:27):
are no guarantees withentrepreneurship, there's no
real playbook and every day isjust another day of trying to
put things together and yousometimes have to stop and say
what am I doing and who do Ithink I am?
And I think it's thisfascinating industry where you
(10:48):
keep on showing up, yeah, evenwhen your knees tremble a little
bit because you're thinkinglike whoa, and I think what I
love about it is just that a lotof things that I do scare me.
You know, I'm picking up skillsand talking to different trades
and industries that I've neverworked with, which can be scary,
but I love that.
(11:09):
I love that just not being thepro or the expert and having to
rely on my gut feeling, myability to sort of think on the
spot.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Lots of troubleshooting, lots and lots
of that.
And you know what I do.
I'm being very purposeful inpassing that along to my kids,
okay, and every so often I get amoment or a glimpse of it and I
get very excited for them andfor their futures.
So my twins are five, blair isour daughter and Jackson's our
(11:48):
son, and it's just very funnywatching boy girl twins grow up
in you know, strengths andweaknesses and interests and
likes.
And one thing that I'd love tosee is Blair tends to be
cautious when approaching newactivities, whereas Jackson is
cautious in approaching newpeople.
So they have this thing wherethey.
(12:09):
You know they are just theperfect balance for each other.
So I remember when Blairstarted learning how to ride her
bike oh, she was terrified.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And so her father and I were watching her doing one
of her lessons, and when shefinally, you know that moment
when they finally are able to goon their own, and there she was
, peddling along and she'ssaying fear is not real Fear,
Like highlight oh yeah, fear isnot real.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
The thing I'm learning through this story is
that you're teaching your kidsof learning how to access
something from inside of them,absolutely All on their own, yes
, and draw on it exactly whenthey need it.
Absolutely so for you, buildingyour company.
A how did you know you had thepotential to do it?
But B what was the spark andthe genesis of you wanting to do
it?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So my husband had these shaving bumps and
irritations and he really wassort of the genesis of this
entire venture.
Okay, you know, he came to meand he said he had skin issues
and he felt that with mybackground as a plastic surgeon
I was well positioned to helphim out.
There are just so manydifferent elements that come
(13:21):
into play.
One is the network.
We all have a network.
Sometimes you forget how strongthat network is until you sit
down and you say, hey, wait aminute, he's asking me for help
with a skin issue.
I do this every day, you know,for a unique skin issue.
That is so whenever I havethese situations and challenges
(13:42):
with my own patients, what do Ido?
I look at the literature andreview it, and then I call
people in my network, ie mycolleague Miranda from Origins
Pharmacy, and I say, hey, listen, I've got this issue.
You know, what do you think?
Should we mix a little bit ofthis for the itchy part, that
for the pigment, this for that?
And you know, we try, justusing our different skills.
(14:05):
That's right.
I called a compoundingpharmacist.
She made a solution, he triedit.
And here's the thing about myhusband he's really honest,
sometimes too honest, and so Isort of, you know, made this
first, the very first concoction, thinking, ah, we'll see how it
(14:26):
goes, knowing fully well thatif it didn't work, he would tell
me sorry, this isn't it nicely,but he's not somebody who kind
of tells you what you want tohear just to make you feel, you
know, a certain way.
The moment I knew I was on tosomething was when this honest
man had tried the combination Igave to him from the pharmacist
(14:50):
and he, without me even askingor prompted and said this is
incredible.
Out the gate.
Out the gate, yeah.
And I thought, wait a minute.
You know, knowing him for whohe is and and how he
communicates, I thought, hmm,this is interesting.
And he kept saying it over andover.
So this consistent message ofthis is amazing.
(15:10):
You know, I'm a 40-somethingyear old man who has tried many
things over the years and thisactually really works for me.
And I think hearing that waswhen I thought, okay, how many
other men are like him who areout there, mm-hmm, who are
looking for something thatdoesn't exist yet?
And so I think that pushed meto say, okay, let me focus some
(15:32):
more energy and attention onseeing how I can take this from
a solution for one to a solutionfor many.
And I think what pushed me togo from, you know, just thinking
about it and maybe one day I'llget to it was what I was
talking about before this wholenotion of why not?
(15:55):
Why not me?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I love that line because we can all apply that
line.
Okay.
And then second thought afterwhy not me?
What happens?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
It's.
You know, looking At the otherquestions how, how am I gonna
make this happen?
What do I have to do to getthis to when I want it to be?
And that's involved a lot ofhelp from a lot of people.
Whether it was something likeLooking at how we initially we
just had, you know, goodold-fashioned medical grade
(16:25):
packaging, and then it gotthings really got elevated to a
different level.
And I was very fortunate alongthe way because what I found is,
whenever I would ask people forhelp, they were very generous
with their time, with theirideas, opinions and contacts.
Yeah, you know that alwaysStuck with me in this notion of
(16:46):
paying it forward, because I'dlove nothing more.
When all this is said and doneand I have more time, wish me
luck.
It'd be amazing to mentor thosewho are in beauty spaces
looking to do just this.
Right.
There been so many ups anddowns and trial and error, some
complete failures I'll neverforget, you know, during the
(17:08):
pandemic, waiting weeks andweeks and weeks for packaging to
arrive.
And then packaging did arriveand took it out of the boxes and
my husband and I were like thewhite bottle that we thought we
were getting is gray and and thelettering is a little askew.
It's not straight.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
What do you do with that?
You send it back or you goforward with it.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Well, you know a little bit of both yeah, yeah,
went forward and then justreally thinking outside the box,
right, you know, and saying,well, I guess we're gonna revert
to plan.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
B.
I am so curious on why youdidn't give up because one could
say, hey, I have this greatother thing going over here I
mean medicine, yes, why do Ineed all the hassle?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I guess quitting isn't my thing.
I'm one of those who just youknow and my, my parents all that
early on they would say I mean,she's just relentless.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
I think this is a big skill of people, but goes back
to know thyself right and whenare my strengths.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
What is trying to?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
emerge.
How do I move into this nextversion and chapter of life and
have the courage and bravery todo it?
Mm-hmm, how do you hold all ofthis together with a level of
balance, being a mom, twinsYou're still in your medical
practice and you're launchingthis business.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
What is your secret here to the balance of this
multifaceted life you live?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Balance is an interesting word, yeah, and I
think for me, balance meansKeeping it together in spite of
all the various challenges.
Yeah, so for me, on like adaily or a weekly level, that
means what did I do well thisweek, because I know for a fact
(18:51):
that I'm not going to be able toget every single thing done at
a very high level.
There are some weeks where I amon top of things when it comes
to all the facts that's cominginto my office for my practice
and I say, wow, that wasincredible.
And then there are some weekswhere you just look and you say,
well, well, well and that'sokay.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Being okay and not holding a level of guilt or a
standard to yourself that youobviously do right, Like you
have a very high standard ofexcellence, but there's some
level of personal empathy thatyou give yourself along the way.
Here I think humor helps.
Yeah, to be honest, you have tolaugh at yourself I hope that
women listening can givethemselves a bit of this release
(19:38):
valve.
There's a lot of pressure andstress and high ambitions and
wanting it to be perfect.
I see a lot of high performingwomen in leadership.
You know holding thisimpossible standard and not
necessarily learning to navigatethat.
(19:58):
I think that's kind of thechapter I see a lot of women in
right now Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
There's just so much to do in any given day.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
So, like the world needs to give us grace to do
that and to be vulnerable and tofail at times and not then.
You know, brush this, you knowstroke of.
Oh well, see, that's theproblem with you trying to
accomplish so much, becausethat's not fair.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I have one more kind of leadership skill that I'm
curious to get your perspectiveon bravery.
I'm thinking like what does ittake to be a surgeon?
You embody some bravery, andhow have you had to lean on it
and how has it evolved over time?
Speaker 2 (20:41):
for you, it takes being brave to meet strangers
yeah, strangers on some of theirtoughest days and being able to
have them trust you, trust thatyou're going to put their best
interest in mind.
In many ways it goes both ways.
They're pretty brave as well,you know fear is real.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
It's real for everybody.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yes, and I don't think there's anyone who doesn't
feel it.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Exactly and embracing it and saying you know what?
I'm coming into this very goodintentions.
It's the most important thing.
Like you know, you're trying tohelp people and you, just you,
push through, you persevere Inspite of you know what you think
, what the world thinks, howpeople have defined you, your
(21:31):
own limitations, you set onyourself.
You have to put all that asideand just say no, no, no.
Here is the mission and I'mgoing to get it done.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
There's nothing more important than people feeling
comfortable in their bodies andwith their skin, and you know I
suffered with eczema and acnegrowing up, so I know what it
feels like to not feel fullyable to show up and be
comfortable in your skin.
And so thank you for beingbrave in your pursuits, thank
(21:59):
you, thank you.
I appreciate that, yeah, andyou're doing wonderful work in
the world.
Thank you, if people do want tokind of follow along on your,
where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Blair and Jack.
B-l-a-i-r and Jack, and then onmy professional page at Dr
Bimpay, so D-R-B-I-M-P-E Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Thank you so much for coming into the studio.
Thank you, this was great.
Thank you for joining us.
Don't forget to follow us onInstagram and LinkedIn, where we
transform the wisdom from ourpodcast into practical tips,
tools and takeaways for yourleadership journey.
Find us at gritgracepodcast.
See you next week.
Today I welcome Dr Bimpay Ayani, an Ivy League
educated plastic surgeon, aninspiring mother of twins and
now founder and entrepreneur ofmen's skin care line Blair and
Jack.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
What pushed me to go from just thinking about it and
maybe one day I'll get to it waswhat I was talking about before
, this whole notion of why not,why not?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
me.
Her journey from medicine toentrepreneurship offers
strategies for buildingconfidence and self-worth.
In this episode, we explore thelessons within these bold moves
and how they can reshape ourlives and impart invaluable
tools for our kids.
Let's dive in, bimpay, thankyou so much for coming and being
(00:46):
in studio with us.
Thanks for having me.
We have so much to dive into.
I want to just start with thecontext of who you are
professionally.
What brought you into the worldof medicine?
You've gone to Yale, youstudied at Oxford, mcmaster and
you did a fellowship at Harvard.
You've risen through the ranksthrough surgery and started a
(01:10):
venture as a recently as anentrepreneur.
Before we get into all of that,I feel that there is a family
lesson, a mentorship andentrepreneurship in your
backstory.
Remind me how many surgeons arein your family today?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
A ton, okay.
So, starting with my father, mydad's a general surgeon.
He retired recently.
Growing up, dad would say youknow what guys?
Do whatever you want, really,yeah, do whatever makes you
happy, just be a professional.
And lo and behold, one by one.
So I'm one of five children andfour of us are surgeons.
(01:47):
So medicine has sort of, overthe years, become the family
business.
So even though I was born inMontreal, I spent my childhood
in Nigeria.
Oh wow, I love just the unity,the togetherness, bonding with
relatives, so that was a veryimportant part of my childhood
growing up.
And then, for the medical partof things, my dad had this
(02:10):
amazing job.
So, even though he trained atMcGill in Montreal, he wanted to
go back home, back to Nigeria,to make the country healthier.
And my dad had many patientswho couldn't afford to go to the
main hospital, and so he openedup his own little sort of
private center and he would fixtheir hernias, remove their
(02:31):
lumps and bumps and cysts at nocost.
And so I always think back andsay you know what that is?
Such a wonderful skill and awonderful attribute that he
passed on to all of us andsomething that, as a mom now, I
kind of want to pass on to mykids, my twins.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Well, you touched upon something I think will be
important for listeners.
You know your father was veryopen about allowing you guys to
be curious and explore.
You have twins.
I do how old are they, they'refive, they're five, yes, so when
you think about your father'slegacy, what he taught you, and
how you're taking that andyou're making it your own, how
(03:09):
do you foster that curiosity inthe five year old today?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I think for me as a kid, I was a quiet kid.
Growing up I kind of stuck tomyself.
I was a middle child, numberthree out of five, and my
parents, my family, they alwaysgave me that space, so they
didn't say, oh, you know, bemore like X, it was just this is
who you are and that isabsolutely okay.
It's okay to be quiet, it'sokay to be nice and I'll get
(03:36):
back to that because for my dad,as a surgeon, you have this
role where you can walk into aroom and demand, you know, power
and spring for your instrumentsand whatnot, and my dad was
never like that, you know.
So he sort of taught usdirectly and indirectly that
it's okay to be a nice guy, it'sokay to be polite, it's okay to
(03:57):
be humble, and so those arereally important values and
virtues that I wanted to pass on.
But I think for me as a mom,what's really important is just
pushing kids to not feel boxedKids.
They're just like they're blankslates and they can do a lot
more than I think we give themcredit for.
(04:18):
You know your kid well, Watch,look for cues.
When you ask a kid a questionlike, oh, how was school today?
Oftentimes the answer that Iget On the drive home is it was
good and that's the end of theconversation.
One thing I noticed my dad haddone over the years was, no
matter how busy he was with hispractice, no matter how busy mom
(04:41):
was with all her differentactivities, we would always Come
home and sit down together fordinner every single day.
When you have an hour or evenhalf an hour to sit together,
you get a much fuller picture,yeah, of what their days are
like.
So when you kind of gather allthat information and data, you
(05:02):
can kind of apply that to whatthey do, to their activities,
and I think for my kids I reallyjust put them out there and
just tell them, like my you knowquestion when I choose your
activities and choose the thingsyou take part in this, why not?
Why not, I don't want to limityou because of the things that I
(05:22):
may not know how to do.
Oh, interesting, yes.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
You know you touched about something on your father's
leadership style.
What are the most importantqualities in your own leadership
as it relates to your medicalprofessional experience?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
so I came into medicine after.
So I finished my degree at Yale, then spent a year doing a
master's at Columbia in New YorkCity which was wonderful, yeah
and then moved to Ottawa formedical school and then McMaster
for residency and then Harvardfor the fellowship.
So I share all that sort ofshow.
The yeah, yeah, the timelines,yeah it's a long haul and I
(06:00):
think what I learned by that isjust this notion that you can do
hard things, and I think itreally made me more tenacious a
person, so that as a leader,things aren't gonna be easy.
You'll make tough calls andtough decisions, but you just
kind of keep on trucking thesame way you kept trucking along
(06:22):
the years when you were stillstudying and you know your
friends had all been settled intheir career for a couple of
years and you're still a student.
I think.
Also, leadership is Sometimesyou sort of define it as you
know being the one in controland calling all the shots.
My dad and his style In howhe's so respected by his peers,
(06:46):
seeing that interplay betweenwhen you lead and when you
follow, I think has been veryinteresting.
So you follow at times insteadof always being in the driver's
seat.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Along the way when you're in school, you're kind of
collecting these Moments whereyou're like, oh, I was able to
do that in this way here, andthen you applied it into another
Facet and I think sometimesthat's a bit of a lost art
because we we don't apply Onelesson in a different paradigm
(07:15):
sometimes, and I think beingable to go.
Hey, when I was a student, Iknew how to move past this place
of discomfort to get here.
Now I can do the same thing 20years later and I can apply the
knowledge from 20 years ago.
I don't always see people doingthat.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, I think being able to look back and just
reflect on lessons learned ittakes a lot of self-reflection
mistakes made and what youlearned from them.
It's not always comfortable,and what you're asking actually
makes me think back to the longdays or the rough days back in
medical school, where so, forexample, if you're on rotation,
(07:53):
that you're not enjoying at alland it takes everything out of
you to get up and get out of bedto go to this block in a
certain area of medicine thatyou know you're not going to
practice in, but it's requiredof you.
So it's just that notion ofshowing up.
I don't want to be here, butI'm still going to show up.
(08:14):
That's an important life skilland I do that as a mom, like my
kids will sometimes say, oh well, you know this thing, you know
swimming is so hard.
And I say, yep, it is.
So I tell myself we're stillgoing.
So, yeah, there's something tobe said for just pushing through
(08:36):
.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
What is your skill internally to not mistake the
resistance that comes up whenwe're on the quest for our next
evolution of ourselves with.
I'm in the wrong spot.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I think I'm of true mind.
Sometimes you are in the wrongspot, yes, and it takes just
really sitting with thediscomfort and trying to really
analyze at a deep level what isit about this scenario that is,
you know making me feel this wayand then just understanding,
having a really good sense ofself.
You know knowing your strengths, knowing your weaknesses and
(09:08):
saying honestly to yourself well, I feel uncomfortable, but
that's a me issue, yeah.
And then you know being able tosee the external factor, being
able to separate those I thinkis very important, but it takes
a lot of self reflection.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
You said something about the process of you know
how you move through discomfortand medical school.
You said you could see thelight at the end of the tunnel,
right, yes, there are manypeople who are can operate in
that framework because there's agiven, there's a known.
At the end, there's a knownentity when you get there.
Yeah, and that's the case inentrepreneurship.
(09:43):
And I am so fascinated by yourstory because you are operating
in both tracks highlysuccessfully.
What has the track of medicinetaught you that you can apply to
entrepreneurship and what hasbeen completely new terrain that
you've had to cultivate a skillon as you've kind of built this
(10:03):
business?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
for yourself.
So from medicine, I think Ihave the ability to synthesize a
lot of information, to be veryanalytical, I am my approach, to
be very good at managing mytime and being organized.
And then the entrepreneurshippiece.
I think the main difference isjust what you're saying is there
(10:27):
are no guarantees withentrepreneurship, there's no
real playbook and every day isjust another day of trying to
put things together and yousometimes have to stop and say
what am I doing and who do Ithink I am?
And I think it's thisfascinating industry where you
(10:48):
keep on showing up, yeah, evenwhen your knees tremble a little
bit because you're thinkinglike whoa, and I think what I
love about it is just that a lotof things that I do scare me.
You know, I'm picking up skillsand talking to different trades
and industries that I've neverworked with, which can be scary,
but I love that.
(11:09):
I love that just not being thepro or the expert and having to
rely on my gut feeling, myability to sort of think on the
spot.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Lots of troubleshooting, lots and lots
of that.
And you know what I do.
I'm being very purposeful inpassing that along to my kids,
okay, and every so often I get amoment or a glimpse of it and I
get very excited for them andfor their futures.
So my twins are five, blair isour daughter and Jackson's our
(11:48):
son, and it's just very funnywatching boy girl twins grow up
in you know, strengths andweaknesses and interests and
likes.
And one thing that I'd love tosee is Blair tends to be
cautious when approaching newactivities, whereas Jackson is
cautious in approaching newpeople.
So they have this thing wherethey.
(12:09):
You know they are just theperfect balance for each other.
So I remember when Blairstarted learning how to ride her
bike oh, she was terrified.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
And so her father and I were watching her doing one
of her lessons, and when shefinally, you know that moment
when they finally are able to goon their own, and there she was
, peddling along and she'ssaying fear is not real Fear,
Like highlight oh yeah, fear isnot real.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
The thing I'm learning through this story is
that you're teaching your kidsof learning how to access
something from inside of them,absolutely All on their own, yes
, and draw on it exactly whenthey need it.
Absolutely so for you, buildingyour company.
A how did you know you had thepotential to do it?
But B what was the spark andthe genesis of you wanting to do
it?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So my husband had these shaving bumps and
irritations and he really wassort of the genesis of this
entire venture.
Okay, you know, he came to meand he said he had skin issues
and he felt that with mybackground as a plastic surgeon
I was well positioned to helphim out.
There are just so manydifferent elements that come
(13:21):
into play.
One is the network.
We all have a network.
Sometimes you forget how strongthat network is until you sit
down and you say, hey, wait aminute, he's asking me for help
with a skin issue.
I do this every day, you know,for a unique skin issue.
That is so whenever I havethese situations and challenges
(13:42):
with my own patients, what do Ido?
I look at the literature andreview it, and then I call
people in my network, ie mycolleague Miranda from Origins
Pharmacy, and I say, hey, listen, I've got this issue.
You know, what do you think?
Should we mix a little bit ofthis for the itchy part, that
for the pigment, this for that?
And you know, we try, justusing our different skills.
(14:05):
That's right.
I called a compoundingpharmacist.
She made a solution, he triedit.
And here's the thing about myhusband he's really honest,
sometimes too honest, and so Isort of, you know, made this
first, the very first concoction, thinking, ah, we'll see how it
(14:26):
goes, knowing fully well thatif it didn't work, he would tell
me sorry, this isn't it nicely,but he's not somebody who kind
of tells you what you want tohear just to make you feel, you
know, a certain way.
The moment I knew I was on tosomething was when this honest
man had tried the combination Igave to him from the pharmacist
(14:50):
and he, without me even askingor prompted and said this is
incredible.
Out the gate.
Out the gate, yeah.
And I thought, wait a minute.
You know, knowing him for whohe is and and how he
communicates, I thought, hmm,this is interesting.
And he kept saying it over andover.
So this consistent message ofthis is amazing.
(15:10):
You know, I'm a 40-somethingyear old man who has tried many
things over the years and thisactually really works for me.
And I think hearing that waswhen I thought, okay, how many
other men are like him who areout there, mm-hmm, who are
looking for something thatdoesn't exist yet?
And so I think that pushed meto say, okay, let me focus some
(15:32):
more energy and attention onseeing how I can take this from
a solution for one to a solutionfor many.
And I think what pushed me togo from, you know, just thinking
about it and maybe one day I'llget to it was what I was
talking about before this wholenotion of why not?
(15:55):
Why not me?
Speaker 1 (15:57):
I love that line because we can all apply that
line.
Okay.
And then second thought afterwhy not me?
What happens?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
It's.
You know, looking At the otherquestions how, how am I gonna
make this happen?
What do I have to do to getthis to when I want it to be?
And that's involved a lot ofhelp from a lot of people.
Whether it was something likeLooking at how we initially we
just had, you know, goodold-fashioned medical grade
(16:25):
packaging, and then it gotthings really got elevated to a
different level.
And I was very fortunate alongthe way because what I found is,
whenever I would ask people forhelp, they were very generous
with their time, with theirideas, opinions and contacts.
Yeah, you know that alwaysStuck with me in this notion of
(16:46):
paying it forward, because I'dlove nothing more.
When all this is said and doneand I have more time, wish me
luck.
It'd be amazing to mentor thosewho are in beauty spaces
looking to do just this.
Right.
There been so many ups anddowns and trial and error, some
complete failures I'll neverforget, you know, during the
(17:08):
pandemic, waiting weeks andweeks and weeks for packaging to
arrive.
And then packaging did arriveand took it out of the boxes and
my husband and I were like thewhite bottle that we thought we
were getting is gray and and thelettering is a little askew.
It's not straight.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
What do you do with that?
You send it back or you goforward with it.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Well, you know a little bit of both yeah, yeah,
went forward and then justreally thinking outside the box,
right, you know, and saying,well, I guess we're gonna revert
to plan.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
B.
I am so curious on why youdidn't give up because one could
say, hey, I have this greatother thing going over here I
mean medicine, yes, why do Ineed all the hassle?
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I guess quitting isn't my thing.
I'm one of those who just youknow and my, my parents all that
early on they would say I mean,she's just relentless.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
I think this is a big skill of people, but goes back
to know thyself right and whenare my strengths.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
What is trying to?
Speaker 1 (18:06):
emerge.
How do I move into this nextversion and chapter of life and
have the courage and bravery todo it?
Mm-hmm, how do you hold all ofthis together with a level of
balance, being a mom, twinsYou're still in your medical
practice and you're launchingthis business.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
What is your secret here to the balance of this
multifaceted life you live?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Balance is an interesting word, yeah, and I
think for me, balance meansKeeping it together in spite of
all the various challenges.
Yeah, so for me, on like adaily or a weekly level, that
means what did I do well thisweek, because I know for a fact
(18:51):
that I'm not going to be able toget every single thing done at
a very high level.
There are some weeks where I amon top of things when it comes
to all the facts that's cominginto my office for my practice
and I say, wow, that wasincredible.
And then there are some weekswhere you just look and you say,
well, well, well and that'sokay.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Being okay and not holding a level of guilt or a
standard to yourself that youobviously do right, Like you
have a very high standard ofexcellence, but there's some
level of personal empathy thatyou give yourself along the way.
Here I think humor helps.
Yeah, to be honest, you have tolaugh at yourself I hope that
women listening can givethemselves a bit of this release
(19:38):
valve.
There's a lot of pressure andstress and high ambitions and
wanting it to be perfect.
I see a lot of high performingwomen in leadership.
You know holding thisimpossible standard and not
necessarily learning to navigatethat.
(19:58):
I think that's kind of thechapter I see a lot of women in
right now Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
There's just so much to do in any given day.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
So, like the world needs to give us grace to do
that and to be vulnerable and tofail at times and not then.
You know, brush this, you knowstroke of.
Oh well, see, that's theproblem with you trying to
accomplish so much, becausethat's not fair.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
I have one more kind of leadership skill that I'm
curious to get your perspectiveon bravery.
I'm thinking like what does ittake to be a surgeon?
You embody some bravery, andhow have you had to lean on it
and how has it evolved over time?
Speaker 2 (20:41):
for you, it takes being brave to meet strangers
yeah, strangers on some of theirtoughest days and being able to
have them trust you, trust thatyou're going to put their best
interest in mind.
In many ways it goes both ways.
They're pretty brave as well,you know fear is real.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
It's real for everybody.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yes, and I don't think there's anyone who doesn't
feel it.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Exactly and embracing it and saying you know what?
I'm coming into this very goodintentions.
It's the most important thing.
Like you know, you're trying tohelp people and you, just you,
push through, you persevere Inspite of you know what you think
, what the world thinks, howpeople have defined you, your
(21:31):
own limitations, you set onyourself.
You have to put all that asideand just say no, no, no.
Here is the mission and I'mgoing to get it done.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
There's nothing more important than people feeling
comfortable in their bodies andwith their skin, and you know I
suffered with eczema and acnegrowing up, so I know what it
feels like to not feel fullyable to show up and be
comfortable in your skin.
And so thank you for beingbrave in your pursuits, thank
(21:59):
you, thank you.
I appreciate that, yeah, andyou're doing wonderful work in
the world.
Thank you, if people do want tokind of follow along on your,
where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Blair and Jack.
B-l-a-i-r and Jack, and then onmy professional page at Dr
Bimpay, so D-R-B-I-M-P-E Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Thank you so much for coming into the studio.
Thank you, this was great.
Thank you for joining us.
Don't forget to follow us onInstagram and LinkedIn, where we
transform the wisdom from ourpodcast into practical tips,
tools and takeaways for yourleadership journey.
Find us at gritgracepodcast.
See you next week.
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