Unveiling the Brilliant Co-Host: Trina Renea - Let's Get Acquainted!

Unveiling the Brilliant Co-Host... Renea - Let's Get Acquainted!

Trina Renea  0:07  

Hey everyone, welcome to Facially Conscious. I'm Trina Renea – a Medically Trained Master Esthetician here in Los Angeles, and I'm sitting with my rockstar co-host, Dr. Vicki Rapaport – a Board-Certified Dermatologist with practices in Beverly Hills and Culver City, Rebecca Gadberry – our resident skincare scientists and regulatory and marketing expert, and Julie Falls – our educated consumer who is here to represent you. We are here to help you navigate the sometimes confusing and competitive world of skincare. Our mission is to provide you with insider knowledge on everything from product ingredients to medical procedures, lasers, fillers and ever-changing trends. With our expert interviews with chemists, doctors, laser refs and estheticians you'll be equipped to make informative decisions before investing in potentially expensive treatments. It's the wild-west out there, so let's make it easier for you, one episode at a time. Are you ready to discover the latest and greatest skincare secrets? Tune in and let us be your go-to girls for all things facially conscious. Let's dive in.

Rebecca Gadberry  1:26  

Hello, everybody. Today we have a special Podcast. I'm Rebecca Gadberry. I'm here with?

Trina Renea  1:35  

I'm Trina Renee, the Esthetician.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  1:38  

And I'm Dr. Vicki Rapaport, Dermatologist.

Rebecca Gadberry  1:41  

And I guess I should say I'm Rebecca Gadberry, Cosmetic Chemist, Marketing Person in industry etc., etc. Today we're going to be talking about Trina Renee and she is a magnificent person. I truly love her. 

Trina Renea  1:56  

This isn't embarrassing. Is this embarrassing for you? 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  2:00  

You are going to be great, Trina. You're going to do this. 

Rebecca Gadberry  2:02  

We’re going to dig into it. We're just going to talk all about you. She has a wonderful dog, a cat that likes to get in on the podcast, things like that. I think these are all relevant for the audience to know.

Trina Renea  2:16  

Yep, that's it. That's it. That's all, that wraps it up.

Rebecca Gadberry  2:20  

You had asked me to do the introductions. I am going to do that. When Trina Renae became an Esthetician she realized the key to success was life-long learning. And if I had a takeaway for this, that would be it. The key to success is lifelong learning. A goal that sets her apart from most skincare practitioners and having trained in this industry for almost 50 years. I have to give you a testimony to that because you are one of the few Estheticians I mean, there's a lot out there. But when you look at all the Estheticians out there, lifelong learning is not high on most Estheticians scale, and I know it is with you. I know, I know. For over 30 years, she has explored the fields of Cosmetic Chemistry, Medical Esthetics, Dermatology and Plastic Surgery, becoming an expert in a vast expanse of professional skincare brands, equipment and treatments. She is a member of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists. I think I sponsored you to that. And she also has three certifications in Cosmetic Sciences from UCLA, which I signed.

Trina Renea  3:40  

Yes, my mentor is on the show.

Rebecca Gadberry  3:43  

I’m so excited, and continues to attend Spa Medical Aesthetic and Scientific Conferences worldwide. I know you do, you do a great job at keeping up. 

Trina Renea  3:52  

Why not travel and learn. 

Rebecca Gadberry  3:55  

That's right. That's one of the really nice things about our industry is there's spas everywhere. You're always working. Now considered a skin master due to her broad expertise. Trina is a Consultant to the Southern California beauty industry and medical esthetics community, selecting and trading staff developing treatments guiding product selection and helping professionals best serve their clients. In 2004, she founded the Facial Bungalow, a clinical spa offering advanced skincare technologies, where she continues to work one on one with clients to this day. In 2008, She created Trina Renea Skincare. So, Trina, I already told you what my first question was going to be. Who's your favorite cosmetic chemistry teacher?

Trina Renea  4:46  

Would be Rebecca Gadberry who is coming back out of retirement and I'm so excited because she is teaching my cosmetic chemistry class again at UCLA and of course I'm going, I've already had friends that have signed up. Dr. Vicki, are you coming?

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  5:03  

I'm totally going to go. 

Rebecca Gadberry  5:06  

We’re going to have Facially Conscious section just in the class. 

Trina Renea  5:10  

And we have a VIP section with a sign.

Rebecca Gadberry  5:17  

With a sign “Do not talk to the Stars”, yes. Actually, this will be your fourth certificate from UCLA.

Trina Renea  5:23  

Well, you know, I've taken more than that. I think I've been to that class eight times. But I think my four of them I had to leave early for… remember I had emergency. I don't remember what they were. But like one of them it was with, I don't know. I don't remember when I got sick, one my daughter something.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  5:39  

I remember, you had an emergency zit that you had to do facial on? 

Trina Renea  5:43  

I don't remember. But I did get four, I'm getting four certificates. But I have attended that class multiple times.

Rebecca Gadberry  5:50  

Multiple times. Absolutely. So let me ask you a serious question here. Before you were an Esthetician. You were a singer in a punk rock band on Interscope. It was called it was on Interscope Records. Okay. Can you tell us how that came about and your favorite moment in your band? 

Trina Renea  6:12  

Oh, my God. Well, my first chapter in my life is being a singer. I was not always wanting to be an Esthetician. But, you know, it's very hard to make it in the singing industry, and I just got lucky, you know, I auditioned for a band that was signed already to Interscope, all girl punk rock band called Lo-Ball. And their singer ran off tour. And they had a big tour set up to like a two-year tour. And so, I was among 50 singers at least. And I got it. And I went right away on tour. So, we had to, like quickly do a quick demo of like three songs that we could take with us and sell, we had merch and in between a touring, we would come back record a video or some more songs, and then go back out on the road because we were promoting an album. But my favorite moment in that band was one week after I signed the contract. And we were like – okay, tours coming up in a week, we're going to the Middle East on a USO tour. This is my first tour of was the USO tour. And I had blown up all the lyrics as big as I could in my computer. And then each song took like five pages. And I laminated them and I taped them all over the stage because I had to learn the songs and I had to learn so much. But anyways, so it's a week away from leaving for tour, and 911 happened.

Rebecca Gadberry  8:01  

I was going to ask you what year, I think everybody knows that year.

Trina Renea  8:04  

September 2001. And 911 happened and I'm like, oh my god, the tours going to be canceled. And I was like, this can't happen because our band's going to get dropped. Because if we don't go on tour, you know, it was like the fear. And I'm like, this is my big moment, I just got signed to a record label, this can't happen. So, the girls, everybody, all the bands, you know, backed out and I told the girls in the band selfishly, I said, ‘You guys, we have to go. they need our support over there. The morale of these soldiers who are going to be going off to war and like, what a safer place to be than in the Middle East on a military base. I mean, we don't know if they're going to bomb, California next. We don't know if they're going to bomb LA. They just bombed New York, what are they going to do? Like the safest place to be is with military behind…’

Rebecca Gadberry  8:55  

Maybe in the Middle East.

Trina Renea  8:57  

So, I convinced all of them to go except for our bass player who was like no, how hell no. So, we had to quickly hire girl bass player, which we took from another band we knew who also had to learn everything very quickly. And we left to the Middle East. And it was crazy. Because we you know, we were supposed to fly by Blackhawk helicopter from base to base and with our equipment, you know, but we couldn't because of the war, because we were in code orange or whatever, and you can't travel by air unless you're in the military. So, they had to get a big old tour of us. And we had military with guns on our bus that would drive us from base to base across Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, all these countries. They had a Humvee in front of us loaded and a Humvee behind us loaded. That would take us from base to base. It was really scary, but it was really cool and super fun. But all the guys had to wear their guns on their backs at all times because of the state of the country. And so, they weren't even allowed to take off their guns to go in eat and, or to see our concert. And we were punk rock. So, you know, they wanted to slam dance and stage dive, and they had to wear their rifles on their back, and they did. And they did stage dive, and they did slam dance, and I was on stage. This is my first show. And I'm like, oh, my God, what's happening? They're all like slamming into each other like they were bleeding. Yes. And they were going to get stitches, and then coming back to the show. I mean, they were so pumped and so excited. And afterwards, when we're signing autographs, he's like, look what happened to me. And I'd be like, we have another bleeder over here and everyone ready to cheer, I mean it was insane, but a great intro into the world. But that was like my favorite tour. My favorite moment, the General gave us a gold honor metal, that you only get a medal of honor. And he said, because we were the only band that didn't cancel on them. And they were like, you guys really boosted the morale of all these guys going out and they gave it in front of one of the bases and like it was really amazing. 

Rebecca Gadberry  10:20  

Do you still have it? 

Trina Renea  11:24  

Yeah, somewhere in my garage buried and I can't find it. But Patrick is looking for it.

Rebecca Gadberry  11:28  

Did you meet Patrick on tour?

Trina Renea  11:30  

I met Patrick, he is my husband. I met him three months before this. And then I got the gig and I was like, ‘hey – bye’ for three-two years. But I was so like in that fascination love period, that no matter how many times it was said on tour, like “Whatever happens on tour, stays on tour”, you know, I was like, but I'm in love. So, I stay very loyal, and we got married, and we've been together for 20 years. So, it was good. And he was so supportive. He wrote me this amazing poem before I left, that was so incredible. I have it framed in my room about like me going out on tour. And he made me dog tags and it said “If lost, returned to Patrick Pilton.”

Rebecca Gadberry  12:21  

How can you not love a man like that. And I know he's been supportive of you, regardless of what you're doing. I mean, when you went into becoming an esthetician, he was totally there, when you started Facially Conscious, he was totally there.

Trina Renea  12:38  

He's so supportive. I really got lucky. Thank God.

Rebecca Gadberry  12:41  

He's a really good guy. So, if somebody wanted to see Trina Renea as the rock star, could we find you if we Googled you?

Trina Renea  12:55  

I mean, if you dug deep, you definitely can.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  12:58  

Lo-Ball?

Trina Renea  13:01  

Yeah. But you'll see a lot of the old singer too, because her stuff is still up there, but I'm up there. But you know, I have hidden it in my website. And so, people dig deep, they can find it. I'll tell you where it is. It's on the ‘About’ page. And the first paragraph, it says I used to be a singer in a punk rock band, if you click on that, punk rock is a link. So, if you click on it, you'll see my video or my EP K or something. And then I say a singer of something and it's another link so you can see like one video and our EP K which is our electronic press kit. And you can see us in the military and like you can see them slam dancing with their guns on their back. 

Rebecca Gadberry  13:43  

I’d like to post that on our Insta page. That would be great. Really, that would be wonderful. 

Trina Renea  13:50  

I mean it was definitely a fantastic experience and I dreamed of it. You know I think a lot of people dream of being a celebrity and I wasn't like a superstar by any means but I definitely went on tour. I signed autographs, a lots of them, and I recorded in a recording studio and I played the role of this you know, in my own world of famous singer in a punk rock band on Interscope Records which was great. But when you're actually in it, it's so hard. I mean so hard, just so much work, so much work like unexpected amounts of work the pressure that the record label puts on you to always be on all the time and you always have to look good and you have to be wearing your, you know, you have to look the part at all times, you have to do interviews all the time, and you have to be at parties and you have to represent, represent and you have to tour, tour, tour and then when you come back to town, you have to be in the recording studio all day, you have to be recording, you have to make a video, you have to go and perform at the whiskey and the Roxy and the Viper and I mean your constantly going, so I was like, oh my god, I'm going to die young. I just felt it. I was like living this lifestyle is so intense. This is why artists die young because they either take drugs and can't handle it, or they go crazy, or they overdo themselves and they end up hurting their health. And so even though it was like super exciting, it was so hard. I remember laying in my coffin one night, in the tour bus, on the Warped Tour with a bunch of punk rock dudes on the bus, there's like three bands, 18 of us. And I was laying in my coffin. And like, these guys came in some of the punk rocker, you know, from another band came in and they like jumped in their coffins, threw off their shoes and their stinky feet. And I was like, they never showered. And I was like, - Ahh, this is so gross. And I had incense in my coffin, and I would light it and stick it out in the hallway to just get rid of the smell. And I was like - Dear God, if this is the life you want for me, I will totally do it, and I know I can do it, and I know I'll be good at it. But if there's anything else you'd want me to do, I'm totally happy to let this dream go. And I understand it now. And I'm okay to do something else.

Rebecca Gadberry  16:21  

So, between that, and I was going to make a silly remark. But seriously, how long after that? Did you decide to become an Esthetician and why? Oh, God,

Trina Renea  16:31  

Well, my band broke up. So that ended that, like three years later to the girls in the band, couldn't stop fighting. We found out our manager was stealing money from us. The record label didn't like our producer who was making our songs and he wanted us to be more pop punk. And we wanted to be more regular punk. And it just became this like overload of crap. And the girls quit. And I tried to keep it going, but it wasn't feasible. So, at that point, I was lying and saying I was 26 but I was really 31, No, sorry, I wasn't 31, that's when I started lying and saying I was 26. I was 33 when the band broke up, and I was almost 34. And I was like realistically, like my career's over. There's a you can't just start becoming a singer and being signed to a label when you're 35, which, realistically, it would take me at least 35 years 36 to be make something again. And I'm like, I lived it, I got to accept the fact that it's over. I have to let it go. And I have to find a new career. And I spent two a couple years going, what am I going to do with my life and everyone I met up with, I'd be like – what do you do for a living? You are a cosmetic chemist? Could I be a cosmetic chemist? What does that look like? How long did you have to go to school? How much money do you make? Oh, you're a doctor? I mean, I tried, like to dive into everyone's life because I only ever wanted to be a singer. So, I didn't know what else to do. And it actually happened because one night, I mean, prior to being a singer, I was a manicurist which is so weird. But my dad when I was in high school, put me in beauty school and like you're going to be a manicurist, I'm like, what's that? And I had to pick people's toes. And I was like, this is so gross. But I did it for like six years. And so, I had been in the beauty business prior to singing and I've worked in salons and I had been front desk reception and I had been in that world and I was my own business person. I traveled around, did acrylic nails to ladies. I mean my friends used to tell me that, you make the most money out of any high schooler I know because I was making like $3,000 a month and I was in 12th grade. Yeah, that's a long time. Yeah, you know, so I dabbled in it. But I was picking my husband's blackheads off of his face, which I like to do. And he's like, you should do this for a living. I was like, oh, I never thought of that. And so, coming out of being a punk rocker, and touring and being in gross situations and dirty all the time, to going into a school and looking at the esthetician room. Everyone's wearing white coats. They're soft music. It was dark. It was like one on one with a client. And I was like, oh my God, it was such a drastic change. And I was like; this is what I want. This is amazing. Like I can see myself loving this. And it literally like, I had a passion for it from the moment it started. Our teacher at school was horrendous and she quit like two months in, I mean she quit, but she didn't quit. She just sat in her office and didn't teach us. And so, we had to sign something in the office. This was Marianella. So, I can talk about it because it's no in existence. But they said, you can either quit and start over at another school, but you'll probably lose your hours. Or you can sign the thing that says you won't complain about it and go through the course without her being involved. And I was like – Well, I don't want to lose my hours, right? It’s been two months; I only have two months to go. So, I was like, I signed it. And so, we had to take it on, like, we're going to read the book, and we're going to figure this out. And we're going to do flashcards and we're going to go in there and we're going to practice for the state board. And I ended up becoming a teacher, I made all the flashcards, I would test everybody, I made it the whole thing, like how you pass state board, all the points they're looking for when you're doing the hands on practical and all that. And I would watch people and I'd mark off what they missed. And we practice again. And I mean, I just made it happen. 

Rebecca Gadberry  21:01  

I was going to say, you are a natural leader, sweety. Well, we knew that.

Trina Renea  21:04  

Everyone was like, you should become a teacher. I'm like – not enough money. There is not enough money in teaching, unfortunately, because I feel like teachers deserve a way higher salary than they get for teaching all the people that come out, especially in elementary and high school.

Rebecca Gadberry  21:20  

They create the society and culture in humans, and everything, yeah.

Trina Renea  21:26  

They do. I mean, they should be paid way more. But anyways, that's kind of how I got into it. And I just love all of the knowledge and so many different aspects, Estheticians, I coach them individually. And especially when they're coming out of school, and I'm like, you know, you don't have to just run your own business. Like, there's so many different jobs you can have as an Esthetician. A lot of people give it up so quickly, after they get their license and can't get a job in a salon or spa. I tell them; you know, there's so many other ways you can work, you can work at a retail store, you can work for a doctor, you can work for a cosmetic chemist, you can answer phones, in a lab, like a product line developer, I mean, there's 1000 jobs you could take as an Esthetician, it doesn't have to be like glued to… 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  22:19  

rightm it's a door opener. When you say an esthetician can work in a retail store. Are you talking like a Sephora? What are you talking about? Like a beauty supply, cosmetics?

Trina Renea  22:24  

Yeah, like let's say Nordstroms has their beauty counters where like, you know, Neiman Marcus or something. And so, there's a product line that's in the store. And so, a lot of times they'll hire an Esthetician to do a little facials on people to be like – this is what you can do at home. Play makeup, yes, because Estheticians are also makeup artists, they get their license for that as well. But they can also be the person at the counter who's talking about the ingredients that are in the products. And so, a lot of these people hire Estheticians, instead of just hiring a normal salesperson.

Rebecca Gadberry  23:05  

And you became your own boss, did you become your own boss right out of school? Or did you work for somebody else?

Trina Renea  23:12  

Yes, because I had taken business management to go into the music industry. That's what I went to college for. Because I decided that it would be best to know the business side of the music industry. So that I don't get screwed financially, even though our band did get screwed. But one thing I remember, a friend of mine, Tom Morello, from Rage Against the Machine told me when I got in this band, he said, ‘Whatever you do, do not let your business manager sign your checks without you seeing them first, make sure that you also sign them. It's fine, but make sure you sign them because you want to see everything that comes out because business managers are known for stealing your money.’ And so, it wasn't the business manager who stole our money. It was a different manager. But you know, the business manager was actually quit on us, and wouldn't tell us why he quit. And we had to figure it out on our own, which I wish he would have just told us, but it was because we were being screwed on the inside. And he didn't want to have anything to do with it. So, he quit. Anyway, so that's another side point. But anyway, so I learned management and business and so I was very business savvy before going into aesthetics and I didn't really want to work for anyone and I had enough I knew to open your own business. You have to know marketing you have to know how to do business and but I mean you really should not start a business if you don't have any business sense because it's really-really hard, and you don't want to put all this money into something and fail. So, I had that business sense, but I also had friends and if you've done don't have friends, you shouldn't serve business either as an Esthetician, if you don't have any buddy to pull from, like, I had all my music industry. 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  25:09  

Right, I was going to ask if they came along?

Trina Renea  25:10  

Well, I knew so many people in the music industry I could reach out to and be like – Hey, I'm doing facials, come get a facial, you know, my husband, he was an actor. So, he had all his actor friends. He was a DJ at all those friends. So there's so many people we had in our circle of friends, my best friend, she was a director so we could pull from actors and from artists and stuff. So, I was like, I have enough friend pool to be able to go on my own. And just figure it out, which I did.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  25:40  

And you didn't have the internet to help you back then?

Trina Renea  25:42  

No, there was literally nothing. I made some flyers and realized that's not the way to go.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  25:48  

Like, if you pin them on.

Trina Renea  25:53  

Like postcards. Yeah. And hand them out to people, I put them in stores. Like, I realized that that is not the way to go. That does not work. I tried some online ads or advertising somehow that also did not work. And then I just realized is really word of mouth for my industry is really, really, really word of mouth, it's your friends telling their friends. And so, I would give my friends a discount. So, I put my price when I started really high, as high as my mentors. And I then would discount down. So, as my facial was $200, I'd be like for my friends, I'll give it to you for $100. 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  26:30  

Which was your actual price that you needed? 

Trina Renea  26:37  

That was probably like, I should probably only charge $50. I don't know, I'm new. But you know, I was like, told that this is the way I should do it. And then I would say if you refer a friend, I'll give you a free facial. That was like my first start of how I did it. 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  26:50  

Did that work well? 

Trina Renea  26:53  

It did. I built it pretty good. And then I just happened to get a little bit lucky. Because through my career, I've had three estheticians that had full clienteles retire and pass her clients to me, which is super nice. But then I did realize like in the beginning of the first year in business, I was like, Oh my God, I need a dermatologist to refer people to I don't know, like, a lot of people I'd see need dermatology and I didn't know how to do that. So, I started asking clients, like, who's your dermatologist? Do you like them? If they had one. And then I would go and meet the dermatologist. I just pushed my way in like, ‘Can I have five minutes of your time?’ 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  27:40  

That's what you have to do, though? 

Trina Renea  27:42  

Yeah, you have to just say, can I just make an appointment? I have clients, I want to refer to the dermatologist. Can I meet with them to see if we're on the same page, I would ask them some questions and blah, blah. And that's how I met Dr. Vicki and then I loved her. I was like, oh my god, I'm totally referring all my clients. And you were like, do you need a job? I was like, well, I'll totally work for you a couple of days a week, if you'll let me watch everything you do when there's no clients in the room. And you let me come in the room.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  28:16  

I also remember, you had your own place as well. And you would be in my office a couple of days a week and then you would go to your place. And then her place changed addresses a couple of times. I said, Trina, like what's happening? You know, you were here last month or there this month. She always made to her places beautiful, but I was like it's a lot of effort. Like why do you move a lot? In LA people really like it when you move a lot. They just love it when you go to new places. I thought, really? Is that true? Okay. But I totally believe her and maybe she's right, maybe she's wrong. I don't know. But in my experience…

Trina Renea  28:56  

I don’t know, people are always moving around trying to find the next best thing and the next cool thing and like they move around. Not with the doctor offices obviously but for like me and my job, I feel like they're always looking for the next best product and the next best restaurant and the next best store. Yeah, so I just kept them always moving. I was like, guess what, I'm moving over here now. Guess what?

Rebecca Gadberry  29:24  

Trina Renea – the Nomad esthetician.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  29:28  

She looks Nomady right now with her long dress. 

Rebecca Gadberry  29:31  

She has got a long Kaftan on. For those of you who are listening, we can't use the air conditioning when we're recording. So, it gets really hot in here because all the doors… we're all taking our own advice about using sweatproof sunscreen.

Trina Renea  29:53  

One thing I did learn as an early Esthetician is the fear that they put in you in school is unbelievable. And so, you really have to like, go out and get outside experience afterwards and outside training and get post training and lots and lots of training, I would take every single class, I could take it with any product line that was offering free classes, I would take it because all of them have basically the same ingredients minus a few things here and there, they all have a bass cake batter, basically. And so, you could learn from each of them. So, I would just learn as much as I could. But also, I learned from Dr. Vicki right away when, because I had to give lots and lots and lots of extractions. And in California, they teach you to wrap tissue around your fingers. And squeeze. And that is not the way to do proper extractions.

Rebecca Gadberry  30:46  

[Inaudible] in a heartbeat. 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  30:49  

What do you mean, ‘They instill fear in you’ exactly. What does that mean? 

Trina Renea  30:54  

Like you can't touch any pimples, unless they're like a black head. And then you're supposed to squeeze that black head out with your fingers. And like you can't make anyone's skin red. And like, I mean, they scared you so much in school that you could damage someone's skin so easily. And so, when I came to your office, and I'd be like, ‘You want me to extract that giant pustule?’ and you're like, ‘Yes, extract it’. And you I'm like ‘How?’, and I’m like ‘I can take out milia.’ You're like, ‘Oh, of course’ and you want to know your Milia patients, you taught me how to do it. And I was like, oh my god, it's so satisfying.

Rebecca Gadberry  31:32  

That's what makes you a true esthetician. Do you like to clean out a pore or not? If you don't, you're not an esthetician. 

Trina Renea  31:39  

Well, yeah, just like being a doctor, can you cut into someone's skin and see blood and stitch someone up like I went into Dr. Vicki's room one time. I couldn't. It was a Mohs surgery, you hired a Mohs surgeon. I was like, ‘Oh, can I go into watch’? They're like, ‘Are you sure you want to?’ I'm like, ‘Yeah.’ And I walked in and what I saw I was like…I got to go.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  32:04  

Well, you should see Mohs to know what you need to explain to your patients. But yeah, you don't need to like actually be in the room more than once. 

Rebecca Gadberry  32:13  

But what I'm saying is Estheticians love to clean out pores. I don't think dermatologists love to cut into people. Right? It's two different types. 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  32:22  

Oh, no dermatologists love to cut.

Rebecca Gadberry  32:24  

They do. Really? Absolutely. So, you'd be like a Jack the Ripper if you go to Derm?

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  32:30  

No, but we really enjoy. I mean, I enjoy surgeries. And when you're cutting out a skin cancer, you're doing the right thing for the patient. And I do, the act of surgery is very pleasing. It's like, I don't know. I like to use my hands, I get in that flow state. So yeah, I don't want to hurt anybody. I certainly don't want to scar anybody unnecessarily. But if it's removing something like a melanoma, so satisfying.

Rebecca Gadberry  32:57  

I never thought of it that way. 

Trina Renea  32:59  

I watched her cut out a melanoma on somebody's head which bled so much and they kept cauterizing it and I was like, oh my gosh, this also is something I need to walk away. But do you like to extract pores, Dr. Vicki? 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  33:12  

I'll do it if I think I'm improving something for the patient. But the truth is dermatologist, we don't really have time. It takes time. And although like I said, I really want to see if it's extractable so that I know that the retne is going to work. I know that a facial is going to work but truly when I see tons of blackheads, I'll start people on something that will exfoliate chemically. And I'll tell them you need an extracting facial in a month. And then there is where you guys come in because the partnership between a Dermatologist and an Esthetician is really powerful. You need an Esthetician. So, did you know like the medical side of the business that you're really interested in and how you do your consulting with other offices. Can you tell us a little bit how you got into that?

Trina Renea  33:59  

It was mostly referrals and it either came from a doctor referring me to another doctor but a lot of times it came from patients that I saw like clients who had a dermatologist, that is like in need. She talking to that her dermatologist would be like, you know he needs help with his product line. He's trying to like bring it down to a few items and or like they're opening at this plastic surgery office and esthetician office and they need help like developing it and like what do they need in the rooms, like they don't know the doctors. They don't know how to hire a good esthetician like that's really hard. I help a lot of doctors with that part because they have no idea what they're looking for in an esthetician and so and then figuring out what menu to put on there… they don't know how to prepare a menu for a facial. You know and what kind of facials they should be doing and it's really dependent on what a doctor has in their office. Are they doing a lot of lasers? Do they have a lot of acne patients? What is it? are they working with mostly an older clientele so, you know, developing a product line for their client, their clientele and also developing a menu for their aesthetic department is keen to that.

Rebecca Gadberry  35:21  

What do you mean by menu? 

Trina Renea  35:23  

Menu of services that an esthetician would do in a doctor's office. So, depending on if it's a plastic surgeon’s office or dermatologists office, plastic surgeons do need post care and pre care, so you would create a menu for the esthetician to prep the skin for surgery, and then post care for after. Whereas a dermatologist who's doing mostly lasers, you're going to also do a different kind of prep for laser and a different kind of post care. Whereas if you're a dermatologist that's working with acne, you want an esthetician who can do a lot of extractions, proper extractions, I teach extractions, of course, and then how to once they get the acne under control. And that situation, you're really working with the doctors with medications. And I have to teach the esthetician what medications the doctors are using, and how they keep the patients on the medications because doctors don't see those patients as often. So, they'll say, oh, use this Retin A or whatever they're putting them on. And then the patient will stop using them because they're like, it dried out my skin. And so, the esthetician who's in the office is seeing that patient every month to do these facials, so they can be like how's your medication going. And if they say they've stopped, they make them do it again. But this time, we're going to do it twice a week, and we're going to build up to it. And I want you to tell me how you're doing so that we can keep you on the medication so we can get a good result. So, with, you know, if you’re a doctor's office that's working with acne, it's a different, you have to train the esthetician quite differently, because they have to know those medications, they have to know what to do after they fix their skin, and once if they're on Accutane, like there's a different facial you're going to do for that. And then once the skin is better than we want to start repairing and doing things that are going to get the scars away and pigmentation away. So, you know, it's a lot that doctors do not have time to do. And there's nobody out there doing what I do. So, it's not my full-time career, so I'm very choosy, and I make sure that people want to follow my pattern so I just not go to waste, you know.

Rebecca Gadberry  37:34  

Right. There's nothing worse than being a consultant and having nobody take heed of what you're doing. 

Trina Renea  37:41  

Yeah, I have to turn away a lot of people because I’m like uh-uh.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  37:45  

Do you want to enlighten us about how you started your own skincare line? 

Trina Renea  37:51  

Well, at the time, I was selling Bianca.

Rebecca Gadberry  37:59  

So, that's a line out of France, isn't it? 

Trina Renea  38:02  

Yes, that’s been around for, I don't know, 800 years. But it's a beautiful line out of France called Bianca. And so that was my like spa line. And then I realized I needed a clinical line. So, that took me a really long time to find out because there's so many, and I wanted the best one. And so, I did a lot of research into that. And I landed on Jan Marini skincare. And I mean, before the internet, there was a before the internet and I was there. They would buy from me. And I mean, they would always come back and buy products from me and I was a very, very good part of my business. It was more than half of what I made during facials. So, one day one of my clients came in, I was like, ‘Do you need a refill on your products?’ And she was like, ‘Oh, no, I got them online.’ I'm like, ‘What? What do you mean?’ And she's like, ‘Oh, yeah, you can buy Jan Marini online now. And it's like 20% off in some places.’ And I call Jan Marini right away. And I was like, ‘What is this online thing happening? My clients are buying your products online.’ She's like, ‘Oh, they're not allowed to do that. We have lawyers that are slamming people down for doing that. And they're not, you know…’ I mean, it was a big struggle when the online presence became…

Rebecca Gadberry  39:18  

Nobody knew how to really handle it at that point because it happened so quickly. 

Trina Renea  39:23  

It happened so fast. And so, it was like, you know, the product companies are fighting them because they were trying to save their estheticians and doctor's offices and it was a struggle. So, my idea was like, well, my business is not going to die because of this. Like I never go negative on anything anytime in my life. I always search for like a way out in the positive. And so, I was like, oh my God, I am going to have to create my own product line that nobody can get except for me. And so how do I do that? And I was like, oh my God, what do I do? So, I started, like looking up lab, product labs and you know, going down that route, and then I found your class at UCLA, Rebecca. And so, I signed up for that. And then I was so lost in that class, I was like, what in the hell, I am not a chemist, I am not a manufacturer, like, I don't have the money to do this 1000… and I met a lot of people that, but I did learn that there were some labs that were making products for people like me to be able to sell that were already kind of pre made. But we could pick and choose from different cleansers and different serums that we wanted, and we could test them and try them on the skin. And then, you know, really be a partner with a chemist right lab, where I wasn't saying I'm the chemist, I didn't create it. I worked with a chemist who created it, and we work together. And I came up with a personalized product, I curated the line that worked beautifully. And it took a long time. I started with one product, you know, and then it just kind of went up from there. And I just learned and learned and learned more and more and more what I was looking for in products. 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  41:21  

What's your best-selling product right now?

Trina Renea  41:23  

My antioxidants. 24/7 Defense. 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  41:26  

The orange one, it smells so good. 

Trina Renea  41:28  

Yeah, it's so funny because the orange color and that is actually an algae from the sea that makes it orange. It's not carrots, it's a scent that called astaXanthin. 

Rebecca Gadberry  41:39  

We should do a podcast on that because it's a fascinating ingredient. 

Trina Renea  41:45  

Yeah, it makes that orange color. So, people think they're like, what if it stains my clothes? I'm like, it's not a dye. It's not a color. It's an actual algae. It's just a color that comes from a plant in the sea.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  41:59  

Do you think that's better than the regular Sienese, the anti oxins that's out there?

Trina Renea  42:04  

I like Sienese. The thing that at one point, Rebecca, in our class, and I'll never forget it. She was like – Did you know there's more than one free radical family? There's actually like how many 13-14 or something you were saying? 

Rebecca Gadberry  42:20  

Well, there's like 16, free radicals in three different families that affect the skin, just in the epidermis.

Trina Renea  42:27  

Right. And so, you know, when vitamin C came out, we were like, this is the only thing that you know, fights the free radicals. And what I like to call antioxidants are the little warriors on the top of your skin to fight off the free radical damage that ages you more rapidly caused from Sun, pollution, these things. So, vitamin C was the only thing that was introduced at the time and come to find out vitamin C doesn't fight all of their free radicals. And so, then people started blending antioxidants. So, there are a lot of different antioxidants that work on different free radical families and free radicals. So, you know, you want as many of them and as you can in a product. So, the more the better, you know, you'll get a better result with more. So, I like vitamin C, of course and vitamin C is unstable and turns colors in the bottles. And that's hard, but they have come a long way with that technology. And I love you know, Ferulic acid and vitamin D, I like blends of blends of them. Mine has 18 different blends, and I find that overall, my clients just can't live without it. Like out of all the products they just they're constantly re buying that one because it just works so well on their skin, they really can see a difference and you know, keeps the redness down. The tone of their skin is always good. The health of their skin is always good and it just soaks right in.

Rebecca Gadberry  44:05  

And we are in a smoggy area. 

Trina Renea  44:09  

Yes. And being in Southern California, definitely, you want to use antioxidants because there's a lot of sun, and there's a lot of pollution. So, any big city I feel like in all of the sunny cities need a lot more antioxidant. 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  44:23  

I want to talk about this cool situation, when you had your daughter Ella, you came up with a brilliant business idea that blew up. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Trina Renea  44:38  

Well, yes, so I had a baby which was a phenomenon all on its own that she came out of my body but I was driving down the road on a highway one day and I was just like, oh my god, will you just go to sleep already. I am so tired. I just want to pull over and take a nap. And I was like, why isn't there a place where I can just drive up, hand my daughter to them and take a nap? Like, why doesn't that exist? Like, moms are so tired all the time. And then I was hanging around all these moms and they're like, ‘Oh, what do you do for a living?’ And I'm like, ‘Well, I’m a facialist. I wish I could get a facial, I can't do anything. I can't even get a bath or a nap.’ And I was like, why can't we get a bath or a nap? And why can't we go get facials, like this is crazy. Like, we're the one person on the earth that is the most highly stressed, highly depressed, trying to take care of a child, trying to keep our marriages alive during this process. And it's like, why isn't there anywhere that takes care of us? You know, this is insane. So, I came up with the idea to make a spa with childcare, like, can that be so hard? And why doesn't this exist? I looked on the internet all over the world, it did not exist. And I'm like – Why doesn't it exist? Well, because it's really hard to make that business because you have to not only know business, but you have to know how to run a spa. You have to know how to hire people who will stay in the spa like your massage therapists and your esthetician. But you also need the aspect of being a mom because moms are very, very particular. ‘Is the paint on the walls okay for my baby to be in this room? What kind of water are you serving that you're giving to my child?’

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  46:33  

H2O water.

Trina Renea  46:37  

No like, is it filtered? What kind of filter? Like they're so bizarre about their needs? Like what kind of soap are you using in the bathroom that I'm putting on my hands because I have to touch my baby afterwards. Like they're very intense when you have little babies. And so, which I understood because I was a mom, and I'm around all that. So, if you don't have that aspect, and then you have to hire nannies or babysitters and they have to be vetted. And that's a whole different thing. So, you're like trying to run a daycare, and you're also trying to run a spa. And they're two different businesses completely. And if you don't have a business sense, or knowledge and both, how would you ever I'm like, this is why this kind of Spa does not exist.

Rebecca Gadberry  47:22  

Well, you tested the concept.

Trina Renea  47:24  

Very expensive to start it. And so, we were one of a kind, we got a lot of press and we; I mean mothers and fathers would come in and experience it and just be come out with tears in their eyes, like, oh my god, I can't believe this exists. And you have to separate, you can't hear your screaming children in the spa, you have to be able to walk into a door and disappear knowing that they're still on the premises. You have a buzzer in case we need you, but like you can relax. It was a very hard concept to do. Very, very rewarding. And so many people loved it, but COVID swallowed it up. 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  48:06  

I remember that.

Trina Renea  48:07  

I mean, it was going so well. We were getting ready to franchise we had set it up as a franchise, we were ready to move to the next level, we were doing really well. We were in our third year, or like end of third year. And then COVID.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  48:22  

In fact, I remember we recorded an early podcast at the location because nothing was happening in the location, so we did the podcast because you're like, well, there's nobody in there, let's go there. It was beautiful. 

Trina Renea  48:37  

Yeah, it was such a special place.

Rebecca Gadberry  48:39  

it was lovely. And I love the chair that you could sit in and just was like an egg and it just kind of envelope you.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  48:48  

Well, maybe somebody listening to this with lots of money, or an entrepreneur who wants to start it, they should contact you to do it.

Rebecca Gadberry  48:54  

Would you do it again?

Trina Renea  48:57  

So, I wouldn't personally do it being the hands-on person. Definitely, if somebody wanted to take this spot on, I have all of the franchise paperwork, I have all of the blueprints, I have all of the day-to-day, I have it set up and ready to go and I would be happy to consult and be a part of the beginning parts of it. And I would love for somebody to take it over. I don't care anywhere in the world. I mean, I had people wanting to open the franchise in Saudi Arabia, in all different parts of the world that were like ready to open one there. So, if somebody wanted to take this on, I would be happy to hand it over because I think it should be a thing in the world. But me working in a store day to day running it, like that was not my love.

Rebecca Gadberry  49:46  

So, was the insurance higher on this because of the daycare area?

Trina Renea  49:51  

No, it wasn't. If you had, I forgot The program they had to go to, but they had to be nannies that went through a program and they had to be vetted and you had to check their prison record, like the whole thing, and they had to go through a background check, and they had to be CPR certified. And as long as you hired the right people in that portion, the parents are not leaving the property. So, they can't drop off their kids and go shopping, they have to stay on property. If you did have them go off-property, it'd be higher insurance. But basically, it was just your regular insurance that was like, if somebody slips and falls, and somebody gets hurt on the property.

Rebecca Gadberry  50:39  

So, let me recap this. If anybody out there is listening and would like to do this kind of “Mommy and me” day spa, you've got everything put together, you've got the franchise papers put together, you’ve got the concept put together, you tested the concept for three years. Anywhere in the world, this would work. So, if you want to follow up on that…

Trina Renea  51:01  

And it would make a really good money, and doctors and people would send their patients. 

Rebecca Gadberry  51:06  

Lots of press. So, info@faciallyconscious.com. Send Trina an email, and I think that that's the takeaway of this show. Yeah, I think that's remarkable. 

Trina Renea  51:23  

And they can also reach me at www.aestheticconcierge.com, which is my concierge business.

Rebecca Gadberry  51:33  

I think we're almost done here. But I think that would be incredible, Trina. I know, this was a passion of yours. 

Trina Renea  51:28  

It was such a beautiful business, and so many moms were also heartbroken about it, because I mean, it changed their entire motherhood, people who got to experience that. 

Rebecca Gadberry  51:53  

Imagine all the stress you go through, and you had so much information about positivity and motherhood and which makes more milk if you're breastfeeding. So, you know, it's like a roundabout thing.

Trina Renea  52:05  

I mean, we had moms that would come and often, we also had dads that would come in when the mom would be like, you take the kids right now. And the dad would show up, be like, ‘Do you have anything available for 30 minutes’ and like, they get to put their kids in the playroom and they'd be like, ‘Yeah, I got it.’ And they'd show up.

Rebecca Gadberry  52:25  

‘I'm good, honey. I'm good. You stay out as long as you want.’ All righty. Thank you. So now you know a lot more about Trina Renea than you ever did before, including me. And what about you, Vicki? 

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  52:45  

Oh yeah, I love the Lo-Balls story. 

Rebecca Gadberry  52:40  

Oh, I do too. We better run that is an Instagram post.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  52:45  

But I also love this Bali law story… and I also love the wash. I want to get more of that wash if you have any backstock. I can’t remember, it was like you use it I think for your hand like…

Trina Renea  52:58  

You know what? I'm bringing it back. I just brought it back and it's actually on the way. I know people love that wash. They keep asking me for it.

Dr. Vicki Rapaport  53:07  

Yeah, I got about three last time and they're basically running out. 

Trina Renea  53:16  

So many people are asking me, I'm like – okay, okay, fine. I'll bring it back. But I just ordered it. So interesting that you asked.

Rebecca Gadberry  53:22  

And that's it for us, everybody.

Trina Renea  53:29  

Get ready to stay in the know with Facially Conscious - The Ultimate Guide to Navigating the overwhelming world of information. We're your trusted co-host bringing you the latest and greatest of all things facially conscious. Have a burning question or idea you want to share? Don't hesitate to email us at info@faciallyconscious.com, we'd love to hear from you. And if you're itching to share your own experience with our audience, contact us and we just may feature you on an upcoming episode. Stay tuned for even more insights and inspiration on our website www.faciallyconscious.com, where you can catch up on blog posts and past guest interviews.