The Care Girl Podcast
The Care Girl Podcast
The Skin Nurse: Fola's Journey from ER to the Beauty Industry
Ever wonder how a registered nurse in emergency medicine and intensive care turns into the city's number one skincare nurse? Meet my close friend, Fola - she's done exactly that, and more. Navigating her way from the chaotic world of nursing to running her own wellness boutique, Fola has turned her passion for beauty and skincare into a full-time career. Her journey, filled with inspiring odds and challenging ends, is a testament to her entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to empowering women of color to look and feel their best.
Struggling with 'mom guilt' or looking for a fresh perspective on parenting? Fola and I open up about our experiences as mothers, offering comfort to those finding it hard to juggle the roles of being a parent and an individual. We emphasize the importance of letting go of guilt and focus on how to raise independent children without compromising on love and support. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur, a hardworking parent, or just someone in search of skin-care wisdom, this episode promises to inspire, uplift, and offer a refreshing outlook on life's many roles. Tune in as we peel back layers of guilt, embrace self-esteem, and celebrate the beauty of being a woman.
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The Care Girl podcasting experience. Hi, it's Alex the Care Girl and this is the Care Girl podcast. I'm here with one of my close friends, Fola, the owner of the new Jepdazelle Atlanta here in Atlanta. I call her the number one skincare nurse, Period, Period Period, and this is like full circle. I hope I don't tear up doing this episode.
Speaker 2:Oh Lord.
Speaker 1:Because we like this, y'all we like this. I've been trying to get over here for a while, but she moved from one location to another location in a short period of time. Like I can't even keep up with you, girl. So introduce yourself. I can't say your whole name because she's Nigerian as well, like my Nigerian queen, that's what I call her. So introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you've been through with your nursing, and then we'll go into your whole new empire.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. My name is Fola Shadeh. I was about to give you the whole name, girl. It's almost natural, where you know, I start calling out all the names my aunties and my grandmother has given me. But no, my name is Fola Shadeh. Oefso, la Depot, people know me as Fola, or Atlantis, number one skincare nurse Yay.
Speaker 2:I'm a registered nurse. My background is in emergency medicine and intensive care, so ICU, and my original plan was actually to become a CRNA, which is a certified registered nurse anesthetist. So my whole plan. I remember going into cadaver labs like right out of nursing school, because I was so sure I wanted to be a CRNA intubating patients. I still, to this day, love it. And then, you know, god decided something different.
Speaker 1:What was the breaking point for you, because I know we had conversations while you were doing travel nurses and doing COVID. What was the breaking point where you was like I really just want to work for myself and do something different?
Speaker 2:So I'll be honest, I have always been an entrepreneur. I think you have and there is. I don't mean any harm by this, but everyone is not an entrepreneur Absolutely, and you either have it or don't. It's not just about, oh, I want to do what I want to do. You'll hear that oftentimes when people speak about entrepreneurship, like, I just want my schedule to be free, I want to do what I want to do, and entrepreneurship couldn't be further from that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is still. I still don't do what I want to do. Doing what I want to do is on the beach, chilling every single day. I'm a rasta. You know I may be pain and I just lay in the sun with my kid.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm like my baby and we just relax with our dog or something.
Speaker 1:I don't think I can't see you like even doing that, because you love it so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so how I got into it. So I remember being about nine years old when I first kind of really discovered that I was an entrepreneur. So you remember those little we the same age. You remember those little pencil boxes and they had that little rectangle on the top of them. Yeah, so I used to take crayons and color the top of it and lay glue on it and then it would become a bookmark, and so then I would put a hole puncher in it and then I'm selling them at school as bookmarks and the kids are buying them.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, you had an early early early age, at 13, you remember like 17 magazine, cosmo Girl and stuff like that I really got into like loving those team magazines, but unfortunately, when I would look in them and they would give you like tips on different things to do with your hair, there was no one that had hair like us. It was like either you know what we normally see or a girl that looks like us but she has a relaxer. So at 13, I remember my father bought me my first laptop. I'm over here like I'm going to create the first African American teen age magazine. Like that was my goal. I mean, who knows, maybe I don't know if it will be the first anymore, but so I even sat there. I made a whole magazine on Microsoft.
Speaker 2:So I just was always just born to be an entrepreneur my, when I was a child, of course in Nigerian. So my father was already like, oh, you're going to be a doctor. So that was my original plan, right? So I had hopes of becoming an OBGYN. Always have loved women, the, the, the female body, and so I thought I was going to be OBGYN. And then, when I got in high school, I was like, no, I want to be an anesthesiologist. And now I own a aesthetic wellness boutique and I'm an aesthetic practitioner, so I am everything beauty as it relates to beauty, botox fillers I absolutely love it. I'm in love with skin, so I focus on corrective and preventative skincare and everything wellness, everything related to looking your best, filling your best is what I do at Giselle Atlanta.
Speaker 1:How does that relate to your story and have you always felt your best Like? Have you always felt like you looked your best, or did you start paying attention to yourself more in doing this journey?
Speaker 2:Well, I think, as a black woman, and the black experience as a black woman, especially one of deeper skin complexion, filling your beauty when you're young, is something that's a little difficult, right, because the things that we see and you know, the standards of beauty, don't always include us. So I think, as a young girl a teenager probably not didn't feel as good as I feel about myself now, and so I think that maybe probably a decade ago, before I got into aesthetics, was I starting to build my self, my self-esteem, my value, which lies deeper than our skin. So I think it was a process or a journey I was on that I didn't realize until I've gotten here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'm, being a black woman, really just loving yourself, loving your skin, loving your hair. I want to talk about the transition from nursing into skin. Was it a hard transition and was it scary?
Speaker 2:Well, I love nursing. I'll be honest. I went into the ER and then I went to the ICU because I was at ER Tech for some years until I finished nursing school. I've been at the bedside for the last decade, so 10 years.
Speaker 2:I'm not new to this, I'm true to this. So I was in nursing before nursing became popular, before they found out all about the COVID money. The transition for me was not a difficult one, I guess kind of maybe okay, let's maybe somewhere in the middle. One can see it as difficult, but I think that it is my background that has made me a strong aesthetic practitioner and a strong business owner. I am very nurturing. I get that from bedside. I've held people's hands when they take their last breath. I've been that point of contact with family to talk to them about their loved ones when they don't know if their loved one is coming back.
Speaker 2:I was a nurse during COVID in the ICU very, very traumatic experience, very heavy experience. You're talking about a time where people are unable to see their loved ones and people are dying alone. So, to be honest with you, if I could go through that, I don't think a lot of us healthcare professionals speak about how difficult it was during COVID, and so for me the transition was. I was tired, I'll be honest. I felt undervalued.
Speaker 2:I put my life on the line and it was more a scene like oh, that's what you're supposed to do. I had a family I have a daughter every day that I was afraid that I was going to bring home COVID and I was putting my family's life at risk. There were many nurses during that time that weren't going home because they were afraid, and I won't say that COVID really honestly pulled me away from the bedside. I think that God had a difference calling on my life.
Speaker 2:I don't regret where I've been being a nurse. I don't regret bedside as something I absolutely love, taking care of my patients. And even now I still take care of patients. I don't call them patients anymore, I call them guests. Sometimes I slip up and call them patients, but I don't like to use the term patient because it reminds me of being ill. So the transition for me was it's just when you want something, no matter if it's hard or not, you go get it. So I don't really sit back and always think about how hard it actually was. For me, it's something I enjoy. I love every day building my business. I love business.
Speaker 2:We always talk about business and one day maybe soon I'll get into business consulting, because I love business. It comes natural to me I'm doing great well. Being a nurse is something I loved, but I don't think it was my indestination. I'm still a nurse. I'm still an active nurse. I still have my license. I need to be a nurse to do what I do. I still can jump on a bed and do what I've got to do to resuscitate, Once you have it you always do.
Speaker 1:It's in your blitz. Exactly, I drew blood on one of my eyes.
Speaker 2:I drew blood on one of my guests last week so we could do something called PRP micro-needling. She was like oh my God, I didn't even feel the needle. I'm like baby, that is those nursing skills. I can still pop an IV with my eyes closed.
Speaker 1:Yeah For those skills. You just basically transferred them into your current business. This place is gorgeous, y'all. I'm definitely going to do a video walkthrough where she can show you how beautiful this place is. I've just seen the vision come to life. You were a solo room for a minute Not long, though. How did you feel about your growth, and what do you feel like was the most thing that helped you grow? Was it just you zoned in? I feel like, because I've been a client, I've been a guest, that's what I'm going to say.
Speaker 1:I feel like she's top notch. She's top notch. She don't play. If you don't do the regimen, she's not going to play with you. I feel like this is a gift for you to be honest, yeah, honestly.
Speaker 2:It's very funny because people will come to me and like, oh my God, look at my skin. They rave about their results. There have been times I've surprised myself, but I think really I know skin. I've been a nurse. I mean, I nurse on the bedside. We always do skin assessments. Your skin is the largest organ on your body. If your skin is compromised, so is your well-being. Essentially, for me, it was something that just snaps. I'm big on research. I'm big on knowing my stuff. As I said earlier, I wanted to become a CRNA. You have to be good big on. I was an ICU nurse. I know medication. No, tomorrow I'm sedating people in the ICU, I'm checking their tubes.
Speaker 2:For me, skin was only nothing different Studying it at the scientific level. I think for me, that's what sets me apart from a lot of people. Many people just look at aesthetics like it's a spa and more about it being relaxing, which I absolutely want my guests to feel relaxed when we are in there. We are result-driven. I think that's what has allowed me to grow Just who I am as a person. I care about my guests. They understand that. They know that. They can feel that I am just myself. I am who I am. You take it or leave it. I think that's what has made me excel. I'm hungry. Say that part again.
Speaker 1:People don't understand when she was sitting in this place up.
Speaker 2:she was here seven o'clock, eight o'clock at night I was sleeping here, I slept on this couch, I did.
Speaker 1:You have to be hungry. That's a trait you can't teach. If you don't want it bad enough, you won't get it. It's not something that is going to be given to you. You still have to keep working to maintain it.
Speaker 2:That's exactly what I was saying earlier. Many people say I want to be an entrepreneur. The first thing that will come out their mouth is that I want to do my own thing. Entrepreneurship is not easy. I never stopped working. My phone is constantly ringing.
Speaker 1:Someone is trying to get in touch with me.
Speaker 2:Not only that, you're always thinking about something and everything is on you when you expand and now you have employees, which I do now. Now, everything is on you. Now you make sure that you can afford to pay people because you're going to impact their lives. If you don't, it's not an easy thing. You've got to be self-motivated, self-driven. No one tells me to wake up in the morning. No one tells me you know full-on, you need to go on there and do X, y and Z. I just get it done. I love it. I love it. I love what I do. I love what I've created. It allows me to be creative. I love the interactions I have with my guests. I love giving people an experience that makes them feel good about themselves and uplifts them. I love when I have someone that walks in the door. When they first came to me, they were very like, maybe a little self-conscious about what their skin looked like or what they look like. You see them a couple months down the road their shoulders are back, they're feeling good.
Speaker 1:There's no better feeling than that for me. I love that Absolutely. Yeah, you have a daughter. Tell us a little bit more about her and the story behind Giselle Atlanta, the name, yeah, so, um, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, giselle is actually my daughter. I named my business after Giselle. I absolutely loved it. Giselle. I had Giselle. I was pregnant with Giselle. The way I found out I was pregnant with Giselle might as well just tell the story, since we're talking.
Speaker 2:I found out I was pregnant with Giselle at Dillers, because I worked at Dillers at the time and I was married to my ex-husband and I was just a few days late and I'm always that person that's just on time and I was like I never forget how nervous I was. I mean, I was 20 years old, I just got married, maybe six months prior, and I was like, oh my God, and when I found out I was pregnant I just remembered this rush, just feeling all this anxiety, like I got to get my life together.
Speaker 2:That's the first thing that came to mind, right, because at 20 you're young, you're enjoying yourself. I was married, but we were just kids Just said that you know, you feel away about somebody and you just got married, like that's just what it was. But there was something that changed in me, that I was just like I can suffer alone, but my child cannot suffer. I can sleep on a couch alone, but my child cannot sleep on a couch with me. I can eat ramen noodles every single day, but my child cannot. And I knew from day one, before I even saw Giselle, the moment I felt that kick in my belly that I wanted to give her a certain life.
Speaker 2:I wanted to give her peace. I wanted to give her a space where she had opportunities, that she would not be limited, and I wanted to make sure that when anyone look at Giselle in her future, she has broken many generational curses or many things that were meant to be against her or harm her. And so Giselle has given my life purpose that I didn't have before. You know, giselle has given me drive and motivation that I didn't experience before. My hunger comes from Giselle, like I can't give Giselle crap, I gotta give her the best. So even when I was a nursing school, I remember her sitting next to me with her little toys. I'm like mommy wanna play toys. And I'm like, okay, mommy will play toys, would you really really give me a second? And it just building with her. You know. So even when I had my grand opening, it wasn't about me, it's about Giselle and I. This is created for us. It's hers, you know. It's something that I want her to walk past and be proud of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I love that I love that, and she's the sweetest little girl, you ever see, and she's always, always, always happy. And you're doing an amazing job. You're an awesome mother let's talk about, let's do a little bit. So let's go a little bit towards, like the moms that are doing what we're doing and they feel a little mom guilt. What words can you give them right now to ease that?
Speaker 2:that discomfort. This is a G station, huh Like PG. Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, I could see that you can't do nothing with mom guilt. Honey, I've given up mom guilt a long time ago. I don't feel guilty about anything, nothing. You know why? Because there are people that throw their kids in the trash here and never look back, losing.
Speaker 1:I say they also not able to move.
Speaker 2:Okay leave their kids and crack homes. Okay, do all kinds of things to their children. You're talking about women that are desiring a better life for their children. As long as you are not out here, you know you're not abandoning them, you're not neglecting them. You're making sure you give them love. What I try to practice is when I'm busy and maybe I'm not as available to play dolls or whatever. I mean. Thank God, giselle doesn't love dolls anymore.
Speaker 2:I don't have to play dolls and Giselle is very like. Giselle only needs hugs and kisses from me. Giselle is okay if she lays next to me for a few minutes and I try to take moments out of the day to make sure we connect. I don't feel guilty. She's proud of me, she knows what I do, we talk, I keep her in the loop with things, we have conversations and I think that being a great mother is not just sitting at home and baking cakes. You know what I'm saying. There's nothing that gets anyone that's I mean that does that.
Speaker 2:But being a mother, a good mother, is knowing how to rear your children, knowing who they are and being able to support them. In that A lot of people think if I spend all this time with my kids, that means I'm a great parent. Many people spend all this time with their children. Their children still feel alone, are all this time with their children. You can't take their child anywhere because they're poorly behaved. So mothering is not just about sitting underneath your child and teaching them nothing. I take every chance I can to teach Giselle something about life, because my job as her mother is to love her, to make her feel secure, make her feel. Let her know her worth. We already have those conversations. Don't let no snotty nose boy be around.
Speaker 1:Like I already put my daughter on game.
Speaker 2:And my goal as her mother is that when she walked out my door which I don't believe in throwing kids out at 18, she's still got until about 27 and a half her life together right, that she's able to function society and she doesn't have to keep coming home like mama I lost my job again, yeah, you know, and just letting her, giving her that unconditional love In space, in space to grow, and letting her be who she naturally is.
Speaker 2:God calls us all to be who we are and I can't put my labels on her and what I expect her Now. I have great expectations for her, yeah, but eventually, as she becomes an adult, she gets to define who she is and I think, as a mom, you just keep trying. You know every day is not going to be a great day. Some days are going to be awful, some days your kids are going to push you, some days you're like this is just too much. And you just know that your children love you and you come from a good it's from a good place, and you want them to be happy and you want to love on them. There's nothing to be guilty about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. I agree to all the moms out there. Hope that that touched your heart and inspired you, because we just we try to do it all. But you know, sometimes we fall short and that's OK, as long as you're doing your best, that's all that. You wake up and say you know what? I did my best and sometimes your best is laying in bed all day, day.
Speaker 2:There's some days Giselle's like I see Giselle's not she likes to be tucked in right. There are some nights I absolutely cannot tuck Giselle in because I am so physically tired. You know what we do. I said, baby, can you come tuck mommy?
Speaker 1:in, exactly, exactly, and she'll come in, and pull the cover over, She'll tuck me in.
Speaker 2:Mommy, I love you and I'm like I love you so much Sometimes we need to tuck things. Yeah, we still connect. That's for the bedtime.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my kids, they'll come in there, my son, my Nathan. He'll be like oh, you're having mommy time right now. Yes, I am.
Speaker 2:Yes, he already know.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll give you a minute. I think I can remember what I was talking, because he hates when he forgets. He's like I forgot. But he comes in and that's the only one they really love to talk. So when I let him have his talk session he just feels good about it. So I know when I get home he's going to have something to talk about. He told me yesterday he was stressed that I said who's stressed that about it? He told me his teacher said something to him and he had to admit to something that he didn't do, just so the whole class wouldn't get in trouble or something. But I let him express his everything. I feel better now, yeah.
Speaker 1:Giving them that space is so important this space, the time and the attention, and then also we have to raise independent kids. You do you do? That's something that I think that people nowadays you got technology, you got all this and all that, but they need to be independent of you in order to survive and thrive in the world.
Speaker 2:Some parents are not willing to teach their children independence because then it will mean that they don't need them. And you want to get your children to a point in life they don't need anyone. My goal is not to have Giselle forever lean on me. I want Giselle to be a whole woman.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:A whole woman, her own identity, know who she is. Take it or leave it, baby. That's how I want Giselle to be. That's empowering her, because I'm not going to be around forever and I need my daughter to have all these skills and everything that she needs to tell some of these men to go kick rocks some of these straight friends that. I don't need, I'm independent, self-sufficient. If I've done that, I've done an amazing job.
Speaker 1:And that's it, and that's all. Tell the audience more about what they can get done here at Giselle Atlanta. What experience can you give them and what do you mainly deal with here?
Speaker 2:That's such a good question it's a lot, it's a lot y'all. You know, I was just telling my aesthetician this earlier and, just to be candid, I was like a lot of my business has grown from Instagram, right, and I've grown a whole lot within a very short amount of time.
Speaker 2:And my boyfriend will always say something like oh, you know the vibes, right? So now that we're in the storefront, people don't know the vibes. I have to now tell them the experience they can get at Giselle Atlanta when most of my clients they see the vibes on Instagram. So one thing I can say is that I'm big on education. That is what separates me from many mess balls, from many aestheticians, is that you don't get a service from me. That's not what I do. I don't do services. I give experiences. I give experiences. I educate you. It's important.
Speaker 2:Your skin is the largest organ. Ok, I'm so sick and tired of people going on TikTok and Instagram and people lying to people about what to put on their face, what to put on their body, what to put on their skin, what to consume. You need, just like you go to the doctor, to a cardiologist, for your heart, it makes it no different when it comes to your skin. Everybody should have a yearly check up with their dermatologist, make sure there's no skin cancer, no awkward I mean unusual moles. And then you come to me and we tackle the beauty of things. It's more like the aesthetic of it.
Speaker 2:If you have concerns about acne acne scarring, anti-aging, helping with tightening skin, rosacea, laser hair removal, hyperpigmentation is one of my big ones, and now we offer IV hydration and Botox and fillers, and it's a world of just being a better you, but not only you coming to be a better you, you're coming to be informed, and so I feel as though when people have the proper education, they can make better decisions in their life and with their skin. So I'm a big skin fanatic. I love skin skin skin skin skin skin, skin, skin, skin, skin, skin skin, just skin, and that's you know. Many people are like oh, you do IV hydration because the vitamins honey it all has to do with inside of the body.
Speaker 2:You know, your skin is a reflection and it's a window to your overall health, and so we make sure that we take care of every. We cover every, every, every area when it comes to your skin. So if that means we need more hydration, if that means we need a laser to help with skin resurfacing or laser hair removal, or we need Botox to help with some fine lines and wrinkles, or fillers to help with volume loss or facial belt, I mean it.
Speaker 1:She's going to make you look better than you like a new one baby. You're going to look bomb, bomb, real, real, real, real good. Where can everybody find you online?
Speaker 2:So I'm on Instagram. I'm sorry, I'm old, I don't get down with the TikTok like that. I tried, but I don't Instagram Gisele Atlanta, so G-I-Z-E-L. Atlanta, and then our website, wwwgiseleatlcom, and that's about it. That's only. I don't have a whole lot of.
Speaker 1:I'm not a very social media savvy girl Social media now she got a whole assistant else on the phone now so you can't get her on the phone now?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:I have one more question. Give me three, three words that your family and friends would describe you as.
Speaker 2:Hardworking motivated, loving.
Speaker 1:Those are three words I can say that definitely describes you. I can say way, way more. We said we're going to keep this short. We may be coming back some soon with some more stuff, because I think the mommy talk is needed. The business, women in business, because it's just not talked about enough to where we could actually navigate this world better.
Speaker 1:Thank you for coming on. Come check out Gisele Atlanta. You all. This is the Cure Girl podcast and another episode in the books. Make sure you like, follow and subscribe and go over to our YouTube to see more of the Cure Girl podcast and experience. Stay well.