Today we’d like to introduce you to Krista Johnson
Hi Krista, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My friend Jenn Kucifer and I met 8 years ago while working together at the cancer center as oncology nurses. We worked on the PICC line team during the Covid-19 pandemic. Often times, between patients we would talk about all things skincare, and the different products we liked. We joked about opening our own spa. One day we decided to stop joking about it, and really go for it! We would turn our little plan into a reality. We started by getting our Botox and filler certification and training. We went to the National Laser institute in Scottsdale Arizona in August of 2020. It was a strange thing to do considering the world was still required to wear masks. But our timing was just right. Everyone was looking at their own wrinkles on “Zoom” so the demand for Botox and fillers was booming. In the Phoenix airport, the idea for Skinology was born. At first we started out offering our Botox services out of Jenn’s cousins dental office in the evenings. Our friends and family were our guinea pigs as we mastered our skills. Through word of mouth, social media, and eventually the launch of our website, our clientele grew bigger and bigger. We spent our first couple of years in smaller office spaces. This worked for a while, but as our client base continued to grow we decided it was time to build the spa we had dreamed about that day in the Phoenix airport. Today we have our beautiful space on 200 North in Cedar city. In 2021, Jenn graduated with her Nurse Practitioner license enabling her to act as our medical director. In 2023, I officially retired from the hospital and work full time managing Skinology. It truly is a dream come true for both of us.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not! The road has been definitely been bumpy at times for us. Starting a small business is easy, but staying in business is hard. Especially in a small town. We had to find a way to set ourselves apart from similar businesses, and make a name for ourselves in a competitive market. When there are only two employees taking on all the roles of the business it becomes very overwhelming. One major difficulty was trying to get funding for the build out of our new space. As a small business, and a new one at that … there was a lot of red tape and hoops we had to jump through in order to qualify for funding through a loan institution. It became very frustrating at times.
Also, we are both nurses and not business majors, so there were a lot of details of starting a business that we weren’t aware of at the time. Luckily, we had great friends who had the knowledge that we were lacking! It was a steep learning curve but we’ve definitely figured a few things out over the past 4+ years.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are a medical spa specializing in the latest in skin care and aesthetic treatments. We are known for our lip fillers! We have clients that travel from Northern Utah as well as Las Vegas just to get their lips done at Skinology! We consider that such a great honor and privilege. What sets us apart? We aren’t a franchise…There isn’t another Skinology Medical Spa like us on every corner. Our clients feel special when they meet with us. They aren’t just a number….at one of a thousand branches of Skinology. One of our clients thanked us for turning Cedar City into a “lip filler destination location!”
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Luck played a role in the timing of when Jenn and I decided to get our Botox and filler certification. The pandemic had made everyone use “Zoom” to stay connected with friends and family. All the while, they were scrutinizing their own faces. Because of that, the aesthetics industry had a booming year. That was the year we opened Skinology. We were able to grow our clientele rather quickly at that time. It certainly helped us to get established.
We felt pretty lucky to secure the space we are in right now. It was a sort of a “right time, right place” situation. We had looked for a quite a while for a place to rent, but nothing felt right. So when the opportunity to build our office space exactly how wanted it was presented to us…we took it! We are so grateful it worked out how it did. At the same time we believe you make your own good luck by working hard and going after what you want.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.skinologymedicalspa.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skinology.medspa/profilecard/?igsh=MTM4dHVvZXpsZHdmaQ==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/southernutahskinology?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr
