Last month, Hannah Gay joined dermal therapist and business owner, Rose Bonasera for an intimate education event delivered not for beauty professionals, but for her clients. Hannah caught up with Rose to learn what motivates her to host her Elixir Skin Fitness events, and why other business owners should consider doing the same.
Rose, you recently held your fifth in-person event under the Elixir Skin Fitness umbrella. Explain your ‘why’ behind hosting these annual events?
“Elixir Education Events empower existing and new clients with knowledge and understanding on their connection to their inner health and their skin health, throughout all stages of life. A collaboration of industry-based guest speakers and myself present event-based knowledge and education for clients on an integrative approach to skin and body health. Elixir Education events reflect our ethos in the clinic and also build our incredible community of like-minded people, male and female.
We are the generation of prevention, our clients, new and existing, leave feeling inspired and educated to make more informed decisions when it comes to their skin and healthy ageing, developing a level of self confidence within themselves and in our integrative approach to skin and body health, unlike no other.
There is no superficial fix at Elixir Skin Fitness. We are about providing the fundamental education that impacts the choices we make in our daily life, impacting every relationship in our client’s life, the most important one is the relationship they have with themselves. Our unique approach to skin, body and intimate health is personalised and integrative. Each client has their own unique story and no two skins are alike. Elixir Skin Fitness steers away from a superficial approach, rather a deeper understanding towards each client, taking the thinking away from them, in a safe space without judgement.”
There appeared to be a mix of both Elixir Skin Fitness clients and other aesthetic professionals in the audience on the night. What are some of the advantages you see to connecting these groups together in one event, as opposed to running a client-only, or professionals-only event?
“Collaborating with industry-based professionals who are in alignment with our culture at Elixir Skin Fitness reinforces our multi-factorial approach to how we can age in the healthiest way possible. Holistic means addressing each area of our life, every avenue of our health, to improve our quality of life. This requires education from a diverse range of practitioners and evidence based education, including myself, to provide up-to-date information. Our mission statement of Change Integrate Educate reflects our approach with our clients and Education Events.
Our goal is always to support our clients through their journey, connecting and collaborating with aligned practitioners to provide the full service, education to ‘connect the dots’ for our community at Elixir Skin Fitness.”
This year, you opted to focus the conversation on women’s intimate health. Why is this topic of such importance to you and your clients in 2023?
“Women’s intimate health is a concern for many of my clients, however it is still a subject that remains taboo. Our recent Education Event ‘Lets Get Intimate’ provided a space for women to be able to open up and learn about topics around our intimate health that we are all experiencing but have previously thought ‘it was just normal’. Developing trust and relationships with my clients has enabled them to have personal conversations with me, without judgement, on how concerns with their intimate health has impacted their level of self confidence and relationships with their partners.
As a dermal therapist and business owner, there was a need for me to be able to provide treatments that were safe and predictable for clients with issues around their intimate health, without going down the road of surgery. After attending medical conferences and listening to surgeons present on vaginal reconstructive surgery for women, an alternative treatment for women without surgery could make an incredible change in quality of life without potential complications that come with surgical procedures Our intimate health treatments for women that we offer in the clinic have provided our clients with the full package and service, with regard to healthy ageing and overall self confidence, with an integrative approach.”
I understand you’ve recently introduced Empower RF, Oshot and Dermamalan Intimate to your in-clinic services menu. What gave you the reassurance that these were the right suppliers to work with, and the right services to offer your clients?
“The diversity we offer caters to a personalised approach to each client’s concerns with their intimate health, whether it may be aesthetically or functionally. Once again, approaching intimate health holistically.”
I also understand you opted for 20 per cent of ticket sales to go towards Ovarian Cancer Australia (OCA). Why did you feel aligning your event with a charity was important?
“Donating proceeds of ticket sales to Ovarian Cancer Australia compliments our ethos of women supporting women, I felt our ‘Let’s Get Intimate’ event aligned with Ovarian Cancer Australia as there is a need for more research in this disease, in particular women suffering with Ovarian Cancer, as there is no early detection. Elixir Skin Fitness donated $7000 to OCA from our recent Elixir Education Event ‘Lets Get Intimate’ which I was very proud of.”
In sum, we’ve seen more and more small business owners opt to run their own personal events. Can you provide us some insight into what the cost outlay typically looks like to host these, and how you see a ROI?
“I fully support my colleagues who are wanting to run events for their own business, do it with authenticity and integrity. My advice is to fully understand your core message that you would like to deliver to your clients; know your why! Events are a reflection of the values and fundamentals of your business. I don’t see my colleagues as competitors, we need to be able to support each other [in the] industry. At the end of the day we are all here for our clients and to provide the best possible outcome for them, within the scope of practice in your business. There is room for everyone and I enjoy supporting the growth of my colleagues.
The investment in running events is an individual one, depending on the budget you have allocated within your business, my advice is to plan ahead. For me, Elixir Education Events are not only an extension of the brand, they are also something I am personally very passionate about and love to create. I challenge myself as a business owner on how diverse and creative I can be to be able to get the Elixir message across to clients, with the right education, that will always align with the core values and fundamentals of my approach in business. Return on investment with education events presents itself in a steady and progressive way. The outcome reflects knowing your why!”
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