Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
Is your business serving the residents of Tri-Cities? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 241: From Hospice to Aesthetics: Michelle Bowers' Transformative Journey
What makes Michelle Bowers with Biltmore Dermatology a good neighbor?
What happens when a hospice nurse follows an unexpected path into aesthetic medicine? Michelle Bowers, an aesthetic RN with Biltmore Dermatology in Asheville, North Carolina, reveals her fascinating journey and philosophy in this heartfelt conversation.
Michelle brings nearly two decades of nursing experience to her role, having made a dramatic career pivot during the COVID pandemic. Now celebrating five years in aesthetic medicine, she's thrilled to bring specialized cosmetic treatments to Biltmore Dermatology's established practice. What makes her approach special? A dedication to natural, holistic treatments that enhance rather than drastically change a person's appearance.
"A misconception is that everyone's going to look unnatural," Michelle explains, countering the fear of "those big lips or those big cheeks" that many associate with cosmetic procedures. Instead, she focuses on helping patients feel confident while still looking like themselves. This patient-centered approach has created meaningful relationships that Michelle treasures as the most rewarding aspect of her work.
Beyond her professional identity, Michelle shares her love for hiking the North Carolina mountains and spending quality time with her children. She also opens up about a profound personal challenge—Hurricane Helene's devastating impact on her wedding plans and her now-husband's home. Through this crisis, she discovered the extraordinary resilience of the Asheville community, finding unexpected gifts in how people came together during hardship.
Working alongside the physicians and staff at Biltmore Dermatology, Michelle embodies their mission: "We deeply care about people and the whole person. We want people to feel good and be the healthiest, happiest versions of themselves." Ready to learn more? Michelle welcomes listeners to schedule a free 30-minute consultation without any pressure—simply visit BiltmoreDermatology.com or call their office directly.
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To learn more about Biltmore Dermatology go to:
https://biltmoredermatology.com
Biltmore Dermatology
(828) 232-5222
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monning.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am very excited today to have a special guest in the studio with us, and I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am to learn all about her and her business, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, who is Miss Michelle Bowers, who is a aesthetic RN with Biltmore Dermatology. Michelle, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:We are thrilled to have you, like I said, excited to learn all about what you do. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your business?
Speaker 3:Wonderful. Well, I joined Dr Lisa May and Dr Lisa Nury in practice Biltmore Dermatology, which has been in Asheville, north Carolina, for 25 years now, and I have brought in the specialty of aesthetics and cosmetic treatments which I know their patients are just thrilled about. So I've been doing this about five years now and I actually started out in surgical aesthetics and then I was in a med spa setting for a few years and I'm really thrilled to be in dermatology.
Speaker 2:And you kind of touched on this. But how did you get started Like in the very beginning? What's your journey to where you are now? How'd you get started like in the very beginning? What's your journey to where you are now? How'd you get started?
Speaker 3:it's an interesting story. So I've been a registered nurse um for almost 20 years now and the majority of my career was actually in some way shape or form actually in hospice and I was approached to join an aesthetics practice and train with the surgeon and at the time it was right after COVID and I right during COVID, after COVID, and I just took a leap of faith and thought, well, I'm going to see what this is all about and I really enjoyed it. I've enjoyed learning, I've enjoyed my patients and I've enjoyed the different specialties that I've been in.
Speaker 2:Very good, very good. Nice to know. Well, what are some myths or misconceptions in the dermatology aesthetics field.
Speaker 3:I don't know about dermatology aesthetics specifically, but in the world of aesthetics, which a lot of people know is one of the fastest growing fields in medicine, A misconception is just that everyone's going to be changed, Everyone's going to look unnatural or look strange or different or something I hear all the time is. You know, I don't want to have those big lips or those big cheeks, and it's a big misconception because it definitely doesn't have to be like that. Specialty really truly is very natural, holistic treatments that just help my patients feel you know great about themselves.
Speaker 2:Well, and that's got to be rewarding, I would think.
Speaker 3:It is rewarding. Yeah, I really, I really enjoy the patient relationships. It's it's got to be the best thing about any nursing job I've had. But in this, in this specific field, you know you, you see people repetitively and you get to know them and their lives and it's it's a it's a vulnerable space for people and it's also really rewarding.
Speaker 2:Very good. Well, outside of work, Michelle, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:My favorite thing to do is hike and be in the mountains and be in the woods. I'm very drawn to. You know where I live. Obviously, I've been here 15 years now and I moved from Wisconsin and then I have two children who are two of my favorite people in the world, and they're 11 and 13. So we're always doing, you know what they like to do too, which is chess and Pokemon and um basketball and pickleball, so it keeps things lively.
Speaker 2:I'm sure. I'm sure. Well, time with family. Absolutely best answer Absolutely. Well, let's switch gears for just a second, michelle. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've overcome and how it made you stronger in the end? Does anything come to mind?
Speaker 3:Yes, actually so recently this year, and I'm sure a lot of people are aware of this, but our area got hit by this um hurricane helene and I was supposed to get married to my now husband rick on october 5th my now husband Rick on October 5th and, needless to say, that wasn't possible because there was no water and there was no power and there were no flights into Asheville and Rick's cabins and home and belongings and everything was outside of Hot Springs and belongings and everything was outside of hot springs.
Speaker 3:So it got totally destroyed. It's still standing, but totally destroyed. So it has been a really interesting year but ultimately, on the other side of it, I can say it's a gift and I can say that the people that walked through my door at Biltmore Dermatology, particularly during that time, it was really special, like the community came together, people connected whether that was like emotionally or whether that was, you know, by helping each other physically, spiritually, and I've never been so proud to live in this community and just like really honored that I could be supportive and give a safe space for people to, you know, heal. So that was, that was big this year.
Speaker 2:Huge, huge and impacted so many people, but it's, it's very. I live right across the state line or studios are right across the state line in Tennessee. I'm not far from Hot Springs actually and, yeah, hot Springs got just absolutely hammered, but they're resilient and it's done my heart good to see how people have stepped up to the plate to help each other, like you, I mean. That's just been amazing. Amazing Makes me proud to live here, honestly. Well, michelle, if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about you and about Biltmore Dermatology and what you do in aesthetics, what would that?
Speaker 3:be at Biltmore Dermatology, which also includes Alison Phillips, who is a PA, amazing PA and the physicians, of course, dr May and Dr Nury and myself. We deeply care about people and we care about the whole person and we want people to feel good and be the healthiest, happiest versions of themselves, and I can say that I'm just so honored and grateful to be there with them.
Speaker 2:Awesome, good thing, good thing to remember. So, for those of our listeners who may be interested in learning more about your services and the services available at Biltmore Dermatology, how can they learn more?
Speaker 3:The easiest thing probably. You can go on the website, which is BiltmoreDermatologycom. Just call the office and we have a couple of great front desk gals that can tell you all about it. You're welcome to schedule a free 30 minute consultation with me, and there's no pressure to do anything. Just it's all about collecting information and making the right decision for each person. So that's probably the easiest way, um, and I am not great at social media. I don't have much of a presence there. I do. I do have a social media account, but that probably isn't the best way to reach me. So I would say you know, call the office, the website, and then I do have an email, um, and it's m brown, built derm gmailcom, so people can email me as well very good and can can people book on the website?
Speaker 3:not at the present time. They do have to call.
Speaker 2:Okay, very good. Very important to know that. Okay, very good. Well, michelle, I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule helping people to share what you do with myself and with our listeners, and I wish you and your family and Biltmore Dermatology all the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Thank you, and maybe we can have you back sometime.
Speaker 3:I would love that.
Speaker 2:All right. Thank you so much, Michelle.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.