Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Fort Collins. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Nick George helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around Fort Collins, Colorado.
Is your business serving the residents of Fort Collins? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpFortCollins.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins
E41: Medicine meets aesthetics in this physician-led approach to feeling and looking better.
What happens when healthcare providers decide to expand their mission beyond treating illness to helping people feel genuinely good about themselves? Ashley Chase and Dr. Bauer answered this question by founding Valar Aesthetics, a physician-led med spa bringing medical expertise to aesthetic treatments.
Ashley reveals how their practice emerged from a six-year professional relationship in family medicine that evolved into friendship and eventually partnership. Their shared vision—helping patients feel as good on the outside as they do on the inside—drives everything at Valar Aesthetics. Unlike traditional medical visits that patients often dread, Ashley explains that aesthetics allows them to work with people who actively want to be there, creating a more positive experience for everyone involved.
The conversation takes fascinating turns as Ashley debunks industry myths like "preventative Botox" for twenty-somethings and shares surprising research about oral vitamin E supplements potentially contributing to heart disease. What truly sets Valar apart is their commitment to education, offering complimentary physician consultations so clients understand all their options instead of feeling pressured to research everything independently. Ashley also dispels the misconception that aesthetics is just for women, noting their treatments benefit everyone seeking to enhance their appearance and confidence.
Perhaps most compelling is Ashley's candid discussion about balancing business ownership with caregiving for her father, who was recently diagnosed with liver cancer. Her story of developing emotional resilience while maintaining her professional responsibilities reflects the human element that defines Valar's approach to aesthetics. As Ashley puts it, "We really try to bring the humanity into this aesthetics industry." It's this philosophy—combining medical expertise with genuine care—that makes Valar Aesthetics a standout in their field.
Ready to experience a different kind of med spa? Visit https://www.valarmedspa.com/ to learn more about their services and team, or find them on social media for the latest updates. Your journey to feeling better inside and out begins with a conversation.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a unique med spa owned and operated by an experienced local physician? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ashley Chase with Velar Aesthetics.
Speaker 3:Ashley, how's it going? It's going great, Nick. Thank you for having us on the show.
Speaker 2:We're so excited to be here. Well, we're excited to learn all about you and your business. Tell us about your company or practice.
Speaker 3:Sure. So Dr Bauer and I co-founded Velar Aesthetics about three and a half years ago. We really we worked together in family medicine and we really wanted to expand the way that we were able to help a patient feel better. You know, a lot of the times people come into a doctor's office they don't really want to be there for their blood pressure. But you know, if you come in to, you know treat yourself, you know we are able to help you feel better that way and that was something that really appealed to us. So we did this three and a half years ago.
Speaker 2:How did you get into the business?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so Dr Bauer and I worked together. I was his medical assistant for, oh gosh, about six years before we started this together and this was something that he had always had in the back of his mind that he had wanted to do. He had always wanted to start an aesthetics clinic and just seeing how well we work together, he's my best friend now and he was like, just, do you want to do this aesthetics clinic with me? And I was like, absolutely. And we just, you know, to the grindstone and got it done and I've learned a lot, but we got in from from our healthcare background. So that's how we're here now.
Speaker 2:What are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?
Speaker 3:Oh, that's so interesting. Let's see. One thing that Dr Bauer likes to poke fun at is preventative Botox. So you will get, you know, some people might come in in their 20s, you know, young 20s, early 30s. They're like I need preventative Botox. I'm like you don't you know. So he really likes to dispel that myth. Another one that we've recently learned about is the dangers of taking oral vitamin E, because we will might take it for, like, skin, hair, nails, things like that, but if you take it through the like, through a pill, through via mouth, like if you use it topically, great, but if you take a pill for it, it can actually cause contributes to heart disease. So that was crazy that we learned. Oh, just a few years ago there was some study for it, but I'd say probably. Those are the first two things that popped in my mind.
Speaker 2:I saw that you do a lot of different things there, all wrapped up under one title. But who are your target customers and how do you attract them? Now?
Speaker 3:Let's see. Our target customer is, I would say, a little different than your standard aesthetics patient, because we are really targeting just anybody that wants to just feel better on the outside that they do on the inside. It's really anybody. It's not for only women, you know we there's a lot of misconceptions. You know that this is for women and men, don't? You know? Go do this. But you know all of our services are great for men. You know, none of these are only for women. We treat a lot of men and so I forgot the question.
Speaker 2:No, I mean you're answering it. It was a loaded one. I saw that you did many different things under the heading of aesthetics, and so I guess what I wanted to say is, outside of the usual esthetician, who are your target customers now and how are you attracting them, for and for what procedures?
Speaker 3:Sure. So, yeah, we're full, full aesthetics clinic, everything from facials to plastic surgery, Like I mentioned. You know, anybody that just wants to feel like they, you know, feel like they look outside the way they feel inside, and so most of the time it's going to be people in there. You know, right around 40, just starting to come in there, like I started to notice some lines and wrinkles. You know, what can I do about this? And we're really big on education, and so I think that our complimentary physicians consultation is huge in attracting the right kinds of patients that want to learn and, you know, really understand all of their options instead of feeling like they needed to do all the research on their own.
Speaker 2:Have you thought about getting that information out in a podcast?
Speaker 3:No, it sounds great. I mean we've thought, we've been. You know, we've thought about radio and all of those things. I've always been open to it. I just haven't looked out for it myself. So it was just a delight that you reached out to us.
Speaker 2:Outside of work. What do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:Oh me, I'm a big nerd, so I, you know, I like to play video games, I like to read, I have a pet lizard that I like to go take on walks, you know, I'm just a big so. And then I'm a caregiver for my family as well. So you know, the the caregiving doesn't stop when I leave here.
Speaker 2:Nice, let's switch gears. Sure, can you. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you overcame and how it made you stronger? What comes to mind?
Speaker 3:Of course, yeah, gosh, I mean, life is hard, right, nick, life is just hard. But I would say I feel like I'm really in the most challenging time right now. Personally, if that's what you were asking, it involves the business. It's, you know, keeping. You know, keeping the business going, trying to improve things, get the word out there, and I'm also.
Speaker 3:My dad was recently diagnosed with liver cancer and so I'm taking him and doing, and his caregiver, and so really trying to do all of these things together has been Pretty challenging running a business and being a caregiver for my parents and has been quite challenging. But I definitely feel like I have more emotional resilience now. I have more just command of my life. Like I can, I'm not afraid to do one thing or the other. Like I know I can make it happen. Now I don't have to worry about if I'm going to be. You know. Well, what if this happens? Well, what if this happens? It's like I'll be all right, I've got this. So it's definitely, you know, put a lot on my plate that I have been impressed with myself. I've been able to handle so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're a real doer. That's amazing.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Ashley, please tell our listeners one thing they should absolutely remember about Velar Aesthetics yes, please, I would absolutely love if you remember nothing else about Velar Aesthetics.
Speaker 3:I would love if you just kept to heart that we really try to bring the humanity into this aesthetics industry. There can be. You know, you don't know what you're going to get all the time when you go into a clinic like this. And we really wanted to bring the humanity here and we're very down to earth, we're very open, friendly, we love to educate and love to answer questions. So if that's, if that's the only thing that you take away, like we've, we've really put a lot of effort to bring the humanity into this industry, so we'd be proud to show you that if you wanted to come by.
Speaker 2:Sure, I'd love to. How can our listeners learn more about Valar Aesthetics?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we have a website. So we're at wwwvalarmdcom it's V-A-L-A-R-M-Dcom, and you can see all of our services. You can learn about our staff, including Dr Bauer and myself, our nurses, our esthetician, and you can learn just all about us there. We're also starting to work on our social media presence, so soon here you'll be able to find us on tick tock and instagram awesome.
Speaker 2:Well, ashley, I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your practice the best moving forward thank you so much.
Speaker 3:We appreciate you having us on the show, Nick.
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 gnpfortcollinscom. That's gnpfortcollinscom, or call 970-438-0825.