Q&A With Zara Jamal, Managing Director at Dermedica Laser & Spa

Dermedica Laser & Spa first opened its doors in 2005 in the Forest Hill neighbourhood in Toronto. It originally started with a full day spa upstairs and a medical spa downstairs.

As certified technician and managing director Zara Jamal explains, Dermedica Laser & Spa offers laser hair removal, photo rejuvenation, vein removal, pigment removal, oxygen treatments, chemical peels, acne clearing, skin tightening, Venus legacy body contouring treatments, Venus Viva treatments (for scar removal/stretch mark removal) weight loss, body skin tightening and injectable fillers. Dermedica takes pride in being able to treat all skin types.

Over the last couple of years, Dermedica has grown and replaced their upstairs day spa with a whole wellness team who offer chiropractic, acupuncture, reflexology, registered massage therapy, and naturopathy.

Where did the idea for the company come from?

As a medical professional myself, I came up with a vision for Dermedica. I studied skin care and cosmetology and became a certified technician, and the idea grew from there. After I became a director, I hired staff. Now I focus on just the business side as the director and managing my team.

What types of individuals are successful here?

My model is to create independent workers. They work independently and manage their own clientele and database of clients. I don’t like to micromanage, and I find that goes a long way. All of my staff are confident, and they are very experienced in their field or industry. We’ve had very little turnover in the last couple of years.

What’s your company culture like?

We’re more like a family unit here. Everybody works in collaboration with each other. There’s always open communication and open dialogue. We really care about our employees and we make sure that they’re taken care of, they’re happy, and they’re thriving in their environment. We’re always providing new educational tools for them to grow and advance in their field of study. Anytime new stuff comes into the industry, we’re always training our staff, getting them educated and getting them certified. I really believe in that type of education because this industry is always growing and changing, so it’s important for them to be ahead of the rest that way.

What is the single largest problem facing the organization today?

Dealing with different personalities all under one umbrella can sometimes be challenging when there are different voices of opinion. But we always have staff meetings and we vocalize and communicate with our staff. I think that’s an important key factor in any business model, to be able to have that open dialogue with your staff so there’s no miscommunication and everybody is working on the same page.

What has been the top accomplishments of the organization over the past year?

Some of our top accomplishments have been being featured on CHUM104.5 in Toronto, as well as having articles published about us being one of the top-leading spas.

We really take pride in being able to treat all skin types. Not a lot of places, especially medical spas, have access to be able to treat darker skin types or all skin types. We have four medical grade laser systems; the ND:Yag Lutronic clarity, Alexandrite, Venus Velocity diode and Sciton Laser Systems.

What can you tell me about your organization’s plans for new services, products, or plans for growth?

We are currently looking to possibly expand to other locations so we can provide more access to our clients in other parts of the GTA. In addition to that, we are always looking to bring in new equipment and technology with the growing times of our industry. We’re always looking at new things to bring into our roster of services for our clients.

What are the most important personal satisfactions working with the organization?

In any business, you require a lot of marketing and promotional advertising. The beauty behind ours is that we’ve reached the point where a lot of our business now comes from referrals and word-of-mouth. We have a lot of new clients and people being sent to us by other clients that have come in. It really makes a huge difference and it gives us pride to know that we are doing something great to make other people happy. We’re being rewarded by our clients recommending us to their friends and family and other outside referrals.

How does your company differ from your competitors?

At Dermedica, we can treat all different skin types. There aren’t many places that can treat darker skin types, and we take pride in being one of these few.

Another thing about our spa is we are very personable with our clients. We closely follow our client’s treatment plans and how their treatments are going. We’re very invested with our clients, which is very important for us because we don’t want people to come into our spa and feel like they’re a number or they’re just the next person in line. We take the time to give our clients that one-on-one personable experience, and we give them guidance and assurance all throughout the treatment process.

What types of volunteer work and community service does the organization encourage?

We’ve been involved with private auctions and local fundraisers in the past. Our goal is to encourage this kind of community involvement when it’s for a good cause. Be it for children’s charities or women’s awareness issues, we like to take initiative in helping our community and we will always continue to do so.

How is this industry affected by the economy?

In our industry, I find that certain services are almost a requirement for clients, so that they can feel good about themselves or that they are doing something for themselves. Even part of a medical spa service or a simple beauty treatment helps the client feel like it’s going a long way. So even if the economy enters a recession, there is still a need for something to help our clients feel good about themselves.

What is the ideal experience for a customer/client?

When clients come into our medical spa, it has a different feel to it than others. It’s not a medical facility where you expect cold walls or a doctor’s office. We do have a medical philosophy behind our treatments, but we’re very much about the ambiance, the experience, and the time the client spends with us. Plus, there is the client’s one-on-one interaction with our director and our management as well as with their esthetician.

Can you share some career advice to others?

I would say to any new esthetician or anyone interested that there is a lot of growth and potential for anyone wanting to embark on a career in medical aesthetics. There are always new developments and advancements in this field and it’s something that’s always progressively changing. It’s very rewarding when you’re doing a treatment on a client and you’re seeing them happy and satisfied with the results.

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