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Shine On Success
Shine on Success is a dynamic, story-driven podcast where extraordinary entrepreneurs, visionary leaders, and resilient change-makers share their journeys to success, revealing both the challenges and the strategies that led to their breakthroughs. Each episode offers a unique blend of inspiring personal stories, practical business insights, and actionable advice, allowing our guests to connect with an engaged, growth-oriented audience ready to be motivated and uplifted. By joining us, you’ll not only have the opportunity to showcase your expertise and inspire listeners but also to be part of a powerful platform that celebrates ambition, innovation, and the courage to turn dreams into reality.
Shine On Success
From Emergency Medicine to Holistic Beauty: A Doctor's Transformative Journey
Discover the inspiring journey of Dr. Deepa Macha, a double board-certified physician who transitioned from emergency medicine to becoming a leading figure in regenerative aesthetics at Cosmetic Laser MD. With a focus on holistic treatments, Dr. Macha shares how addressing core issues like urinary incontinence can dramatically improve her clients' lives. Gain insights into her approach to medicine that blends cutting-edge technology with genuine compassion and personal growth.
Ever wondered how to make the leap from a traditional career to successful entrepreneurship? Dr. Macha opens up about the personal and professional challenges she faced, including navigating financial risks and acquiring new business acumen. She also emphasizes the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance, continuous self-improvement, and a positive mindset. Dr. Macha's story is a treasure trove of advice for aspiring physicians and entrepreneurs looking to make an impactful change.
Building an authentic personal brand is no easy feat, but Dr. Macha has managed to connect genuinely with her audience through transparency and empathy. From addressing specific cosmetic concerns like under-eye bags to highlighting ethical practices in aesthetic medicine, she shows that true beauty is both inside and out. Follow her journey and glean valuable tips for achieving holistic beauty on her website and Instagram, and don't forget to like, subscribe, and share "Shine on Success" to inspire others to navigate life's adversities and shine brightly.
Connect with Dionne Malush
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- Website: www.dionnemalush.com
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Have you ever wondered how the world of aesthetic medicine can not only transform appearances but also boost overall well-being and confidence? Stay tuned as we uncover these secrets. Hello everybody, and welcome back to Shine on Success. This is Dionne Malish, your host for today. We're diving into a world where beauty meets innovation with our esteemed guest, dr Deepa Macha. Dr Macha isa, double board certified physician and a pioneer in regenerative aesthetics at her clinic, cosmetic Laser MD. Join us as we explore how she uses cutting edge treatments to empower individuals to achieve their best selves. Welcome, I'm so excited to have you on here. I feel like I've been waiting for months.
Dr Deepa Macha:How are you? I am so excited. So when we first scheduled this podcast, we were more acquaintances, I'll say. And now we are such good friends. We look forward to seeing each other, spending time with each other, getting to know each other more deeply. We've shared our vulnerabilities, so, just in the time waiting for this to come on, things have changed between us, haven't?
Dionne Malush:they, they surely have, and you know, I want you to share a little bit of your story because it's very interesting, and I want you to share with our listeners about you.
Dr Deepa Macha:So I am Deepa Macha. I am a double board certified physician, and I started my journey in New York and I did things in a very traditional way. I grew up there, had a wonderful family, went to undergrad, went to medical school. I was in a combined medical program from the time I was in high school and I think that I was mainly trying to fit the mold, do what was expected of me, and that's why I probably became a doctor. Somewhere along the way I found that I did love medicine and I could do something in medicine that was very satisfying, and not just to please someone else, like my parents. And I'm a very strong person and you know. So it's very interesting to see that someone who is excuse me, I'm going to just turn it off Someone who is strong, can really be still trying to please someone else. Fast forward I got married, left New York and traveled around the country in my husband's training, and I lived in Pittsburgh too training, and I lived in Pittsburgh too.
Dionne Malush:Now you mentioned that because I know you then I can't turn off this phone.
Dr Deepa Macha:I'm so sorry. After 25 years, um uh train. After I trained, I trained in emergency medicine and emergency medicine I uh decided that the emergency department was my stomping grounds. And after 25 years doing that, I found myself with a lot of discontent. I didn't feel like my core values were being met in my position, with the people I worked for, with the group I was with, and I felt, you know, I would go home and be looking forward to that glass of wine and I needed something. I needed to exit. And somehow I came back to a passion that was mine forever ago, which was skin and beauty. And you know, transformation I'm all about transformation and reinventing oneself. And I found aesthetic medicine it's so obvious, but yet it was so accidental and at the age of 50, reinvented myself and I uh borrowed half a million dollars to do a build out and start this journey. That was honestly the hardest thing I've ever done to be an entrepreneur, because it's a whole different skill set.
Dr Deepa Macha:You know when you are. You know you're following a structure. When you're a doctor, You're following other people's processes. You're in a structured residency. You learn how to take care of patients Very good at taking care of patients and what that means in terms of a thought process, but it took years to develop that Suddenly, I'm using different muscles, I'm using different skill set and, you know, on the one side, I'm building out a place, I'm trying to bring technologies to my new patients, who are now also clients. I don't like the word customers because it sounds transactional. I have to learn things about profit and loss, a balance sheet and I'm still learning that and what it is to run a business, and so when I'm working in the business, I'm a doctor or I'm an injector. When I'm working on the business, I'm learning about marketing. I'm learning about mindset. I'm learning about the business aspect, which includes, you know, making money, top line revenue, EBITDA these are things that are, you know, that brought so much anxiety to my world. Yeah, you know what I mean.
Dionne Malush:Yeah, it's totally different. It feels different. It's not as fun. Marketing and mindset is way more fun, for sure, and we love to learn right, and we're there this weekend spending time together learning about our mindset and marketing, and you have to be a jack of many trades when you are an entrepreneur so many. Yeah, let's talk about how. So you talked about trans transforming lives. Tell, give us a scenario how you transform someone's life.
Dr Deepa Macha:I think that when I meet people and this is probably not unique to my industry, it's the same with any industry I look at people. You know whether within the emergency department before, what was their complaint? What was their pain point? What is the thing that brought them in? The same thing is what I space, the exact same thing here in my office, my clinic. You know, when people come to me in the clinic, often I love to start with the consultations and they'll be sometimes very specific. Sometimes they'll say I don't like these bags under my eyes, or I don't like these jowls, or I need to lose weight because I specialize in weight loss also. Or, you know, I struggle with urinary incontinence. The complaints are all over the place, but essentially what I need to decipher during that time is what is your pain point right? So I, you know, say it's urinary incontinence, right? Is it shame? Are they struggling with shame because they can't work out and they may pee on themselves and the urine will smell? Is it because you know, every time they cough, they they may wet, wet their pants? I mean, these are real problems For sure, absolutely. Or is it that during COVID we all ended up on zoom and suddenly we used we see that, like you know our oh, look at this or this, or you know, did I look like that? Or, you know, is it that they just came back from because they were overweight or they can't run with their child? So that's the thing that I need to get to when I'm talking to someone why is it they're not able to show up in their, in their world in the way that they wish, right? So that's the practice that I've tried to tell, tried to figure out, like, what is it that's preventing this person from really doing better?
Dr Deepa Macha:Today, for example, I was with a lovely patient. I mean, she's beautiful. When I first met her, I knew that she was beautiful, she was, she's strong, she has a high level job in C-suite, which I recently learned, means that, you know, you're like a CEO type of person she didn't feel confident in herself. And today and she's here, she's here for me, right? And when I saw her today, she showed up with her hair down and really, really pretty. She was wearing a gorgeous dress and I was like, wow, there she is, there she is. And she's like, oh my God, my confidence is coming back. I definitely feel different, and so you see that, as something is holding someone back, how they're transforming in front of your eyes. You know what I mean.
Dionne Malush:Right, so I would just would never think of it like that. Do you think that's normal for your industry, that research and they get to the pain point, or they just do the work?
Dionne Malush:So to ask that again, again, what you do by talking to them and having consultation with them. Do all doctors do that in your industry or they just do the work, like if I came in and said I want you to do something which would most doctors talk to me about that in your field, or would they would just say, okay, what do you want done? And then do it, because I feel like what you're doing is unique, but I don't know.
Dr Deepa Macha:So I think that's my differentiator. I can't speak for other people. I really can't, but I have, and probably that's why my ability to scale is sometimes restrained, because I do feel and this is something I need to work on right Scaling means that I'm not one-on-one with everyone. It should be. Someone else can also create revenue in my practice, so that what that means is I need to create. What that means is I need to create, and I am doing that, creating that culture and bringing other people on who are like me, and that's where I'm slower to learn. But that is my differentiator. My differentiator is that I have all the time in the world for everybody who comes in, but it's also why I am very particular about a membership program and having recurring clients inside of that, because I don't want a tourist.
Dr Deepa Macha:I want to build a relationship. I want to learn what your pain point is. I want to learn what you're struggling with. I want to ask you the next time. You know why. You know, uh, not why. I want to ask you the next time like how was your vacation? Or, uh, um, you know, are you better? You, you know, because that last time we cried together, you know, and you were vulnerable and I want to be able to follow up on that. So, yes, that is, that is my differentiator, because I'm a relationship builder and that is unique. I'm not, you know, trying to book out 10 minute appointments back to back to back to back to back. I'm not trying to plow out revenue. I mean, I need to figure out how I can, how I can do that.
Dionne Malush:Right, how you can still keep your model the same and do both. Because what you said, a couple of things you said to me about the Zoom. So for many years we didn't, we didn't have, we didn't use Zoom right, so we weren't staring at ourself all day long. Until you just said that right now. It made me think about that and that's why people struggle so much with turning the camera on, and I always ask everyone put your camera on just for a couple of minutes. I want to see your face. I'll be on a call.
Dionne Malush:The other night I was on a call with an extremely successful person. There's 30 people on the call and five people had their camera on. But maybe it's because of what you said, maybe it's painful, maybe when they look at themselves, because they're not, we're not used to constantly looking at ourselves all day long, and so when our even when our company, when our agents are struggling with getting taking videos and they're like well, I don't're like, well, I don't like this, I don't like that, and I'm like but that's what we see, like that's who we see. We see you all the time. You just don't see yourself until you look in the zoom right or until you look in the camera, so you're gonna make me have a different perspective going forward about why they're actually not getting on on the zoom all the time. So one thing I want to ask you is I think it's important to our show.
Dr Deepa Macha:Just to add to that, you know, you and I both do a lot of zooms. We do a lot of zooms and the how you connect with people who are not on camera is very different. They basically are creating a barrier Correct, they create a barrier and um, but they feel like, well, I'm in my pajamas, or they feel like I don't like the way I look on camera. I don't know what they're thinking, but the their level of engagement is just perceived as different, because when you look at someone, eye contact matters matters.
Dr Deepa Macha:Yeah, so just so, that's also not only how people perceive you, but how other you perceive other people you know, because engagement has to be mutual.
Dionne Malush:I'm with you and I always have my camera on all the time and I, unless I have to run to the restroom or something, you know I have to actually go do something else and I come right back. But I think it's important for me to connect because I wouldn't be able to feel the energy that we have together because we're not standing by each other. When we're together, we can hug and talk and, you know, laugh and do all of that.
Dionne Malush:But yeah, so I, if you're going to pick your nose, turn the camera off you got to do it and get come back so in your career, because you went from being and now you own your own practice. It's amazing, but you had to have some obstacles. So can you share an obstacle that you encountered and how you overcame it? And I know your field is demanding so it has to be difficult.
Dr Deepa Macha:I think, on the heels of opening my practice I had, I had a lot of obstacles. It's perspective, though I did not expect that within months, you know, the person I thought I would spend my whole life with would tell me that he doesn't love me anymore, that that was very hard, and that was probably the first time I experienced grief like that. It was definitely the same type of grief as if someone had died, and you know, and there were a lot more, there were a lot more emotions beyond grief, and you know, I think that that was one challenge. Another challenge was the death of my brother, who was very successful and although he was younger, he was still a mentor for me, and then finally bringing my elderly parents to live with me, and my father passed away, and now my mother she lives with me without him, and I'm the primary caregiver. Those are personal ones. Yeah, they're, um, I went from a full-time mom to empty nester.
Dr Deepa Macha:Um, I think the other struggle I, uh, I a major struggle is feeling competent and having confidence. You know, as I'm trying to develop different muscle memory, which is not familiar to me. I am not, I would never was accustomed to being a business owner or someone who would generate revenue set in a different way, or learning about things that are so foreign you know about. You know things like marketing, and when you're doing something because you have to do something, it's not always fun. Things I find that are really fun are is is learning in general, but there's only so many hours in the day you know and work-life balance. Those are big ones.
Dionne Malush:Definitely big ones. So what advice would you give to aspiring physicians who want to venture into entrepreneurship, especially women, in the medical field?
Dr Deepa Macha:I think that, um, and I see this a lot, I see it a lot and I love to mentor young. I love to mentor students now, or college students or younger people who are looking to go into medicine or looking to go into business. Right, because I did both, especially with the business side. Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes, mistakes, what I should have done, advice I and I'm still learning. I would say mindset matters. I would say that you always have to work on yourself, that while you're building your empire, make sure you're also working on yourself.
Dr Deepa Macha:I wish that I had started a meditative practice long ago. I am very, very, very fiercely passionate about how it's changed my life now, when before I thought that I could never do it. My mind doesn't rest, so it's a difficult task, but I think the one thing that, even when I'm doing it wrong, it's still helping me and it's helping me feel better. It helps me with forgiveness, it helps me with hope, it helps me with happiness, it helps me with the belief in my own future. It helps me remember that this life was just this much out of something, an existence that is far more than while we're walking this earth, and it was very helpful. I've also learned that and I try to tell people to be more open minded and more compassionate in their own process, because, because you know, we're our worst critics. But if I were to tell someone who, for example, wanted to go into medicine, I would tell them to really think about work-life balance okay, and work-life balance and, honestly, if possible, to do something that can bring you the revenue that where you can live the life you want to live.
Dr Deepa Macha:You know, uh, financial freedom is so important and as physicians we are, we are very unsavvy about, um, escaping that clash flow quadrant. We're constantly, you know, trading our time for money, trading our time for money, trading our time for money, trading our time for money and the idea that just by including that in the process, how can I earn money even when I'm not actually doing something is important thing to start thinking about when you're, when you're young, because if you can do that and you can start learning how to generate income, you know generate income, whatever, however it is, you know whether it's rental, you know, you know about this, rental properties. Or you know e-commerce, or you know speaking, you know. You know, as physicians, we, we have a lot of knowledge. You know we can do you know.
Dr Deepa Macha:But that type of brainstorming at a young age, I think would really ease the burnout at a later age. At a later age in, you know, 40s and 50s, like, oh my God, how am I ever going to do something different? I'm just stuck, stuck, stuck. Do I have to go to work and hate my job every day?
Dionne Malush:I love that idea of doing something on the side making money while you're sleeping is what I always call it, but for the speaking side it makes so much sense because you do have a lot of knowledge. So if a young person could get into medical school, get out, get a job and then start doing that on the side and build that up and use social media as the platform to share. So that's what I want to ask you about. Next is social media. So how do you leverage social media to educate, inspire people about wellness and aesthetic medicine? Because I know that's a platform that we are. You know we're using it a lot and we have to. Is it the same for you and your industry?
Dr Deepa Macha:Yes, it is, and um I uh, it takes up so much of my time because I perseverate about this. You know, I, you know the number of followers on social media. Why does it matter? Okay, it matters for two reasons. Okay, followers, you know, followers don't matter in terms of revenue in a way. You know, do you care about followers or do you care about revenue? You know, but the number of followers that you have on a social platform do give you credibility. You know, credibility is really very important, very important.
Dr Deepa Macha:I have my own gifts. They're not the same as someone else's, but someone who has, you know, a million followers versus someone who has 200 will be perceived differently. For sure, because of that, I have made a real effort to build my brand. So I'm a cosmetic laser MD. That's my business. But I decided to put some effort into showing content on Deepa Maka MD, which is my personal brand, because I'm not just a medical spa, I'm also a human being who has multiple other interests.
Dr Deepa Macha:Maybe one day I'm going to want to be a speaker. Maybe one day I'm going to want to write a book. Maybe I want to have an e-commerce business. These are all true facts, but the most important is that I want to share inspiration, I want to share stories, and so what if someone resonates with me and my brand and what I represent? Right, because I'm not I'm not a salesperson. I'm going to be someone who hears what you have to say and can read between those lines to hear what you're struggling with. And therefore, you know, people can, people can sense that. People can tell if you're authentic or not authentic. So that's why I'm trying to grow my brand.
Dr Deepa Macha:You can't fake authenticity. You know there there's when you're talking to someone and they're already out the door because they're like I, you know, I want, I have something else to do. You know, uh, when someone leans in and they ask you questions and they care about you, uh, and they, you know that's how they are perceived and that's where authenticity comes from. So the only way that we can really show people who we are is to be seen. You and I have an inside scoop on how important that is. But being seen is how other people can get to know us and that's how we can touch. You know, even if you touch, one life matters. You know. Content is a struggle, it's a bad hair day, it's about. You know the necklines. You can see mine right now my jowls are a little bit better because I realized this morning on the call oh, they look better because I did. You know, I do it as a special technique of Botox and I did it on myself and I'm like, ooh, that looks better than it did a few weeks ago.
Dionne Malush:I have a question because I think this is important and I can't see it. But bags Can you seriously get rid of bags under your eyes?
Dr Deepa Macha:So a few years ago I would have said that's challenging and that's surgical. So, because I have such a passion for learning, I definitely have non-surgical options. However, a very, very, very good friend of mine, who happens to be 21, because she's my son's friend, who I've been, you know, seeing in my clinic for facials and hair removal over the years, brought her mom in who is, you know, my age or younger, and she has bags. Okay, but there are many people who have bags. They're not that eye bags are not the same. So I think, and people come in and they say you know, my eyes look sad or they're not the same, they're different.
Dr Deepa Macha:And for her, I knew that she needed a surgical evaluation. Sure, she would have spent money with me and a lot of money with me, but doing the right thing matters. And she has what we call malar mounds. And you have malar mounds it's lymphatic drainage and swelling. So if you were to treat that with filler, um, if you were to treat that with filler, it could get worse. And um, and it can, and it could get worse. And you can't camouflage it. You cannot camouflage it. And right away I knew that. I mean, she has heaviness here, but she also had lower eye bags, but on top of that she has issues with lymphatic drainage. So it comes, goes away, comes, goes, goes away. So the only treatment for her is excision, but a lot of people. Which means removal, a surgical removal by a surgical specialist who specializes in oculoplastics.
Dr Deepa Macha:But there are many people who have a defect that can be corrected with filler placed medially and supporting the tear trough. There are some people that have a defect that can be corrected by filler placed above the ligament. I'm telling you technical stuff because I want people to know it's not one size fits all and sometimes it requires rejuvenation that require that's an energy device or a machine, and sometimes it's um, you know, uh, uh, pigment. There's so many different things.
Dionne Malush:So it is a lot, but I always heard that you couldn't get rid of them. You know that once you have bags in your eyes, they're there and we're talking about you.
Dr Deepa Macha:Next time I see you up close, I'll uh, I'll tell you what. I all right that's good.
Dionne Malush:I saw you get a nice little consultation because because I'm nice and that's what nice people do they help each other and you're right. I mean that's kindness we are always. You know, that's what I love about you that from the minute I met you we felt this connected, because my father had just passed a couple of weeks prior to the first time I met you, and you had the same. You knew how I felt and you could feel it inside of. I was so sad that I was putting on a big front for everybody.
Dr Deepa Macha:You weren't putting up that much of a front. You were um honestly destroyed and that um relationship with um that you had with your have with your father, had with your father, I could feel it viscerally and I had that relationship as well. But you're just now starting to emerge. I mean, you were just sad, you were just deeply sad and still are sad, but you were just in deep, deep, deep, deep, deep grief and I remember it because it was just so, you know, reminiscent and I probably have my own work to do because I can't revisit that when my dad passed, I just did not want to go to that same grief when my marriage died or that grief when my brother died.
Dionne Malush:It just the differences is that that I try to tell myself is my dad had a very, very our dads had very full lives. They were not young Because your brother was young.
Dr Deepa Macha:Right, my brother was young, he was 51. And his children are young and his wife is young, so none of that. Yeah, so that was probably the biggest tragedy, not just for me but for my extended family and certainly for his nuclear family. But I but you know you can't tell people how to feel or how to grieve or how long it will take your yes, but that was the very first time that we met and we became sisters after that, we did and it's been.
Dionne Malush:I love it so much, and you know I want to ask you one more question before we go. So, on a personal note, because you've had some personal tragedy too right, we all go through stuff, but what keeps you motivated and passionate to keep going every day? Because a lot of people don't. They can't get up again and pick up the pieces. But we did and we are. So what is it?
Dr Deepa Macha:Uh, so I think it's my why, my why, like why? Why am I doing this? Why am I trudging forward? Why am I putting one foot in front of the other? And I really thought my why was um, to help people, to people, to make people show up in their lives with more confidence, something I need as well every day. But you know, when I have recently been able to digest that further, I think the why is my family, and it's one of my most important core values. My family, but family in general and relationships. The reason that keeps me going is my kids. It's my sister-in-law, it's my brother-in-law, it's their kids. I see us all as one unit and every relationship is one that I bring in as family. I think that's really my why, my why is my family? My why is family? It's family, that's beyond blood. That's my why.
Dr Deepa Macha:And there's a good one, by the way, by Simon Sinek. You know Right? Yeah, what's it called? It's called Something why. I mean, I bought 10 books of it. Maybe you can Google it while we're on here, but Start With the why. I think that's the book, that's it.
Dionne Malush:Start With the why. Yeah, so everything that I study and learn is you know, without having a definite purpose or a why. I don't know how you can. You can't pick up the pieces and a lot of people don't, so we're going to tell you that you can. You can pick up the pieces. You can move forward from tragedy, from sadness, from grief. Everyone goes through stuff, no matter who we are, and we just you know. I appreciate you being on here and I you're. You're amazing. I love talking to you. It's so clear to me that your work not only enhances beauty but truly transforms people's lives, and I love you.
Dionne Malush:I just want to tell you that I love you so if our listeners want to get a hold of you or reach out to you, how can they do that?
Dr Deepa Macha:um. My website is www. cosmedic with a D C-O-S-M-E-D-I-C laser, l-a-s-e-r, lasermd. com, and I'm also on Instagram under that handle, www. cosmediclasermd. com, or cosmediclasermd with a D, as well as deepa D-E-E-P-A-M-A-C-H-A-M-D. com. I would love for you to follow me. I am doing great things, I will do great things and I want to continue to inspire myself and everyone around me. I'm striving to be a better human every single day and because of what I do, I have the unique perspective of seeing almost as a third person. You know that it's not enough to beautify on the outside. You have to beautify on the inside. It's an inside job. What we're doing is an inside job. We have to do it. We have to move forward in both directions. There's nothing wrong with taking care of yourself, but you have to build your mind and body at the same time as you're doing all of this superficial stuff.
Dionne Malush:Amazing. Thank you. So for everyone, please don't forget to like, subscribe and share Shine On Success with anyone you know who's navigating through adversity. If we just help one person, the podcast is a success. So thank you for listening and keep shining.
