How I Scaled My Aesthetic Clinic Miriam Shaviv

Dija Ayodele has made her name pushing the aesthetics and beauty industries to better serve people of color. She is founder of West Room Aesthetics in London, a clinic whose mission is to consistently elevate the skincare experience for women of color and to champion accessible skincare.
As well as being a Glamour Magazine columnist, she is also founder of the award-winning educational platform, Black Skin Directory, which connects people of color with expert skin care professionals.
 
And in 2021, she published Black Skin: The Definitive Skincare Guide, which not only gives essential insights to women of colour on how to care for their skin, but also examines how history has shaped how black women have expressed themselves in beauty and skincare and looks at the very concept of identity.
 
In this episode, we delved into some of the fascinating topics raised in her book; and discussed how clinic owners can create more inclusive practices, and how we can create a more inclusive aesthetic industry in general. 
 
Plus we discussed: 
 
>> Where the inclusion of women of color in the aesthetic industry has improved in recent years... and what’s still missing 
>> How skin therapists can build their confidence treating women of color, if necessary 
>> How diversity in aesthetics is different in the UK and US - and what British clinic owners can learn from their American peers 
>> Why she moved from a lucrative role in an investment bank to the aesthetics industry 
>> Why niching has not stopped women of all skin tones coming to her clinic - and what other clinic owners can learn from this 
>> How she markets with complete authenticity and keeps in touch with clients in unusual ways 
>> The unexpected impact that publishing a book has had on her clinic 
>> Dija’s biggest marketing challenge
 
...and more.
 
Resources mentioned in this podcast: 
 
>> Black Skin - The book 
>> Dija Ayodele’s website
 >> West Room Aesthetics - Dija’s clinic
 >> Black Skin Directory
 
Connect to Miriam:  >> On Instagram
 
>> On LinkedIn
 
>> Via email  

For 6 years, Dr Sofia Din served as medical director of a large nursing home in New York.

She came to believe that America had a problem aging well. Too many elderly people were battling age-related diseases with poor nutritional support, dwindling energy and lots of medication. And she became determined to do something about it.

How do you rebuild your practice, after a significant setback?

Dr Patrick Treacy is an unlikely person to answer that question.

He is one of the best-known aesthetic doctors in the world.

Dr Jonathan Kaplan is owner of Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery in San Francisco.

After completing his plastic surgery fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic - where he was trained by the team that performed the first face transplant in the US - he practiced in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for six years.

Every clinic owner wants to build the best possible team around them. Often this means recruiting great aestheticians and reliable doctors, while the clinic owner remains the star of the show.

Oculofacial plastic surgeon Dr Sean Paul went one step further, joining with other top surgeons to build what he calls a boutique, “super-specialist” practice in Austin, Texas.

The largest clinic groups in the world all manage their data in a way that gives them an advantage in the market.
So how can smaller aesthetic clinics keep up - and even use their own technology to compete?