We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dana McIntosh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Dana, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
My resilience comes from watching my mom get up early in the mornings to catch a train and bus to go to work, and do the same to come home.
She was divorced and had two daughters to raise. We went from living in a house to apartments then finally to her owning her own home. She was promised a promotion if she furthered her education. She received a 4.0, didn’t get the promotion.
I learned at a young age that women, especially single moms and people of color, always have to work harder, to get the basic minimum consideration as their counterparts; and there are no guarantees.
In esthetics, there aren’t many Estheticians, laser techs and spa owners who look like me that can successfully work on all skin tones. I wanted to be part of the change agents so that’s why I became a Master aesthetician, Instructor, CIDESCO International Beauty therapist and Laser technician. The goal is to market to clients that don’t typically get marketed to in this industry.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Esthetics is my second career. I started in corporate America as an Office Assistant then making my way to HR. I usually only saw people that look like me in assistant positions and not the ones with offices. That was the catalyst for me to network and make my way to HR.
Once I transitioned out of HR, I wanted my clients to receive similar services as those in well established spas but with more warmth. I realized that they would believe our recommendations for treatment and products if they could see what we see during the skin analysis. So I invested in a 3D skin imaging system that showed 8 skin condition categories that we could email to them. This was our “plan” for upcoming treatments and product suggestions.
Next, my clients wanted a more permanent hair removal option from waxing. I did my research, invested in my laser training and introduced a laser that could treat all skin tones.
Now, we’re moving more into the AI spa wellness area. People are constantly tracking their health stats with wearables or workout equipment. They want “at their service treatments” when they want them. I’m currently in discussions with two companies to bring this technology to our area and have an actual product for STEM students to learn how AI interacts with the human body.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Corporate America taught me accountability, keeping up with the latest technologies that serve our clients and working in teams.
Determination to succeed comes from within but being surrounded by like minded people pushes us farther.
Paying it forward to the next generation so they can take what we’ve done, enhance it and pay it forward again
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
The most impactful action from my parents was to send me to schools to learn a foreign language. This afforded me the opportunity to host a high school student from France and compelled me to study abroad in Paris, France my senior year of college. I’ve been able to travel and connect with clients about different food, places to visit and different cultures
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.urbaineoasisspa.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urbaine_oasis_spa/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urbaineoasisspa/videos/welcome-to-the-new-home-of-urbaine-oasis-spa-boutique/893418252798824/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-mcintosh
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
