Dermal-Care Esthetics and Wellness Center with Deborah McGarry

Have you ever wondered what it takes to stand out in the competitive world of skincare and wellness? Join us as we dive into the world of beauty with our guest, Deborah McGarry  a skincare specialist turned entrepreneur who redefines beauty through a holistic perspective. Deborah, owner of Dermal-Care Esthetics and Wellness Centre in Boca Raton, shares her inspiring journey from the fashion industry to launching her own skincare line. Listen in as Deborah opens up about her unique skincare practices, her commitment to helping cancer patients, and the common misconceptions in the beauty industry. 

Get ready to be motivated by the entrepreneurial lessons from Deborah's experience of running her own business. She enlightens us on the challenges she faced, her distinct approach to skincare, and how she strategically integrated her skincare line into a franchise's product line. This episode will not only offer you a fresh perspective on beauty but also show you the power of perseverance and innovation in overcoming adversity. Whether you're in the beauty industry or an entrepreneur, there's a wealth of insight to glean from Deborah's story. Join us and discover how Deborah McGarry  is changing the face of beauty and wellness in Boca Raton.

Dermal-Care Esthetics and Wellness Centre
www.dermalcare.org
561-299-0858

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Welcome, welcome everyone to Local Living Community Podcast for Palm Beach to Parkland. I'm David Conway, your host for today's episode, and if you are interested in beauty, if you are interested in health and if you are interested in doing it in a holistic manner, we've got the show for you. We've got a great guest I have Debra McCary. She is the owner of Dermal Care, aesthetics and Wellness Center in Boca Raton. Debra, thanks for joining us today.

Speaker 2: 0:43

Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.

Speaker 1: 0:46

Great to have you, so why don't you start out by telling us a little bit more about your business?

Speaker 2: 0:54

Okay, well, we are a holistic skincare and wellness facility offering anti-aging and acne treatments, and we also do procedures such as body sculpting, professional teeth whitening and other holistic treatments such as Reiki, chakra healing, ionic body detox and things of that nature all on a holistic level, and we've been doing this in Boca Raton since 2013. The business basically had started in 2006 in Naples, florida, and I was very successful there for 10 years, and then, when I met and married my current husband, I decided that I wanted to be in Boca Raton. So I basically what I did was we visited Boca Raton and I had previous actually had lived in Boca Raton previously, years ago, and I always thought I would come back. But anyway, to make a long story short, I decided, with my current husband, to visit Boca and we went to the Flakowitz diner and I said to myself my God, this brings back memories. I said I would love the opportunity to open up a business here. You know, it was just a shot in the dark.

Speaker 2: 2:13

So about a month later, we secured a space in 2013, and it became a reality. We just ran a group on and it's been flying ever since. It's been going great. Now it's all word of mouth, but basically it was running two locations, both in Naples on Fifth Avenue South and also Boca Raton on Camino Real for about four years, and then I decided to consolidate and stay in Boca full time. So that's what I'm doing currently.

Speaker 1: 2:43

Well, we are glad you decided to stay here. So you've been in the industry for a while.

Speaker 2: 2:49

Very good years.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Take us back a little. Before that Were you always interested in beauty and health. How did you get into the industry in the first place?

Speaker 2: 2:59

Well, back in the day, back in the 80s, I was attending college and my intention was to become either an art therapist or a school psychologist. So I was attending SUNY Stony Brook and to help put myself through college I actually started doing some fashion modeling. So I was able to model in New York City, long Island and also the Boston area, and that helped to pay my way through college. Now, while I was modeling, I had gotten an interest in actually makeup artistry and eventually that led itself to taking a course in a rehabilitative appearance therapy where I would learn to basically create a makeup palette for burn survivors and cancer patients so they can go out into the world and feel somewhat more normalized. And it was very, very successful. I had started that. Actually at that time I was living in Boston and I also lived in the Midwest for a short time. So I hooked up with Baptist Medical Center in the Midwest and I had the opportunity to work with many, many different clients. And then eventually I moved back to the New York area and continued my studies in psychology and I found myself more interested in the skin here and makeup arena more so than the psychology, even though they sort of tie in together. So eventually I wound up actually taking a position on Park Avenue in Manhattan with a very prominent dermatologist and I started off as a staff aesthetician, had done that for many years. Then I was promoted to basically a spa manager or director of one of his many spas and a satellite location in Long Island, new York, and I would go between the two locations in Long Island and Manhattan to work with the dermatologist. And then after a few years I was promoted to VP of sales for a skin care line that the dermatologist had launched at that time we're talking about the mid 90s at this time and that became very successful and I was loving my career and my position and everything. And then 9-11 happened. So after 9-11, about six months or so after, I decided to leave New York and it was a very, very difficult decision, but I made the decision to leave and I moved down to Naples, florida, and while I was down there I opened up a Merle Norman cosmetics franchise in the local regional mall there Coastal Incentor, and I had run that.

Speaker 2: 5:38

That this was back in, let's see, the early 2000s and I had that for about four or five years and I didn't really like the way they presented their product line, I thought it was a little too generic and what have you? And so I found myself incorporating my own product line that I had basically developed with a lab that I had worked with way back when I was working in Manhattan with the dermatologist. I had a relationship with a cosmetic lab and we would develop these products. So, anyway, I hooked up with this lab again years later and then I decided to incorporate these products into the Merle Norman product line. So I had all these products displayed in my display case.

Speaker 2: 6:22

Anyway, word got to corporate, the franchisee that I was doing this, and they weren't happy. So they did a corporate visit from LA and they came to visit me and I said Deborah, what is up with this? You're representing Merle Norman products. Why are you selling these other products? And I said well, there's a little bit of a void in your product line and I figured I would incorporate my own take on, you know, treatments for acne and anti-aging that I feel are more effective. So what they ultimately did was they took my, they sat down with me, they interviewed me and they took some of the advice I gave them and they incorporated it into their product line, which is in place today.

Speaker 1: 7:04

Wow.

Speaker 2: 7:05

So they've upped the anti with their products, and what have you? But they told me if I wanted to remain a franchisee I'd have to or a franchisee or whatever it is the term is I'd have to maintain the corporate standards of their products, and what have you? So I decided to go on my own. So that's when I opened up Dermal Care in Naples on Fifth Avenue South in Naples, and I had a very successful practice for seven to 10 years and that's when I decided to branch out soon after Tu Bocca Retone. So now I've been in Bocca for a good 10 years and it's been very successful for me and I really feel that I have a special niche because I'm one of the.

Speaker 2: 7:47

I'm one of the very few estheticians in probably the region that does not believe in Botox, dermal fillers and a lot of surgical procedures. So I came up with my own take on combining these different devices which are energy based. They work with LED, ultrasound, microcurrent and different energy based modalities to create a nice anti-aging effect to the skin. So that's been successful with me and it's taken a while for people to catch on, but they realize when they take advantage of my treatments and my services that they are very effective, but it's gotten a lot of people in the marketplace a little upset in Bocca, but it is what it is. But I am sticking to my guns with my own niche and I'm still not an advocate of any of the more invasive treatments. So here we are, 10 years in business in Bocca and I also offer complimentary treatments for cancer patients and also trauma victims who have gotten clearance from their physicians to receive skin care. So I help these people to go out into the world and feel more normalized, if you want to use that term.

Speaker 1: 9:01

Well, that's fantastic. So you've had such a wide breadth of experience. You've seen the industry from different vantage points. Can you share any myths or misconceptions about the industry you think are out there?

Speaker 2: 9:17

Yes, I think and this has been a little bit of a challenge A lot of people out there. They want a quick fix, so they'll go to their local net spa and they'll be injected here, there and everywhere and, you know, in the hopes of an instant, you know result for themselves. And I really don't believe in that route. I believe in doing treatments that are less invasive, actually noninvasive, and that create a wonderful result. But it takes a little bit longer to get there. It may take several treatments, but over the long haul they're doing things that are, like I said, noninvasive, there's no side effects, there's no downtime and the results are appreciable over time. And so the clients that have stuck with me are absolutely thrilled and they send their friends and family in and it's been wonderful. I'm at a point where I really don't have to advertise very much, which I'm very, very, quite proud of, but I really feel that I have a niche there.

Speaker 2: 10:14

Now also, another obstacle that I had endured was when COVID hit, and of course we all had to close down for a couple of months, and I had clients calling me towards the end of that period and saying Deborah, when are you going to open up? And I said well, gee, I don't even know if I even have a business anymore, I don't know if I'm permitted to open up. So anyway, when I got the green light to open up, I was bombarded with phone calls, bombarded, and I had business that I couldn't even keep up with. But anyway, I was able to maintain it and to this day, you know, maintaining these clients and things are going well. So I'm very, very grateful to have overcome that so-called obstacle and and also getting the word out there that people can achieve wonderful anti-aging results without having to go under the knife or even under the needle. So that's my stance with that.

Speaker 1: 11:08

Well, it's great that people have an alternative out there to what's generally practiced currently. So tell us a little bit more about you, though. When you're not helping people and working, what do you do for fun?

Speaker 2: 11:26

Well, my husband, who actually is in my business with me, he's the practice administrator and he's been with me for about 14 years and doing such I only work three days a week at this point, you know, by choice and also for medical reasons. I have some occupational related issues going on, but I'm still very viable at what I do. But you know it is somewhat limited. But anyway, my husband and I, on our days off we actually belong to a time-share travel club so we have the opportunity to travel quite extensively once or twice a month for three or four or five days at a stint up and down the coast of Florida, the East Coast, actually all over the country, although we haven't flown too much lately so we try to stay within driving distance. Anyway, we love our time-share opportunity, so we do that.

Speaker 2: 12:17

And I'm also into collecting antiques and art, art deco related art and things of that nature, and I'm also a landscape and nature photography photography enthusiast. So I engage in that quite a bit. And also my husband and I consider ourselves foodies, so we're amateur gourmet cooks and we engage in that, you know, on a regular basis. So that's about it, and I'm also taking courses here and there. I'm always interested in a lot of health and wellness related subjects, so I always keep myself abreast of the latest technologies and treatments out there. So I take a lot of courses that add to my CEUs for my business as well.

Speaker 1: 13:04

Deborah, not to get too personal, but can you maybe describe a hardship or a life challenge that you incurred? But you found yourself rising above and maybe you consider yourself a little stronger for it or better for it today.

Speaker 2: 13:19

Okay, well, again, I would consider two different instances. One was 9-11, where I had to really make an entirely a tire of life change and leave my wonderful job that I had on Park Avenue in Manhattan. But I was able to come down to Florida and open up a business and become very successful right from the get-go, which I was very thrilled about. So I had overcome that. And also, with COVID having been shut down for a couple of years and being able to recoup and build my business back up, I was very, very thrilled with that. Now I will say, as a result of my 35 years in business, I have a lot of physical, occupational-related concerns back issues, wrist issues and things like that but I'm able to deal with that. And you know, I'm 60 years old and I hope to work for another five, seven years and God willing, and that's it.

Speaker 1: 14:17

Well, you look amazing. You don't look 60. And I can tell you you didn't get to where you are by accident. You're obviously, you're doing some things right. You demonstrate a creative spirit which I think a lot of people appreciate on a social level. Thank you. Tell us something that you would like our listeners to know about the business, just something that you believe really sets you apart from other alternatives.

Speaker 2: 14:49

Okay, well, I truly believe that I have a specialized niche in the industry, especially here in South Boca, where people can achieve anti-aging results and also acne results. By the way, I have a 90% success rate at treating acne through a line, a skincare line known as Face Reality. So I've been actually certified with their line and also their way of treating acne. That has been very successful. And also I work with cancer patients. I have many cancer patients that have come to me and they refer other people.

Speaker 2: 15:28

So my niche is a little bit more clinical but also non-invasive, and I'm not a run-of-the-mill spa. Basically, with each client that I have, I take my time, I have a very personal relationship with them and with my practice you're not just another number, you become a family member with both my husband and myself. My husband's at the front desk, so he's the first one they see when they walk through the door, and so he meets and greets them and I work with the clients with my treatments. Now also my husband, gary, has been trained and certified in professional teeth whitening, so he does those treatments and so that's a little bit different too, because there's not a whole lot of that out there. And we also do body sculpting and reiki and chakra healing and all these different things that are now part of a wonderful aspect of self-care that has become very prominent since COVID especially, so we're happy to be able to offer those treatments as well.

Speaker 1: 16:36

So how can people find you? Please share your location. Where can they find dermal care, aesthetics and wellness center? And then, if they want to look you up or call you, give us that information.

Speaker 2: 16:46

Okay, we are on Camino Rial in East Boca, about a less than a mile west of the Boca Raton Resort Hotel, or now the Boca Raton. We are just west of the railroad tracks in Dixie Highway, across from Fresh Market on Camino Rial, and anyone can reach us via email at customersreport, at dermalcareorg, and we also have a website and also an Instagram account. Wonderful and your dermal care aesthetics.

Speaker 1: 17:22

Well, listen, you've been a great guest. I want to thank you for joining us today, Deborah.

Speaker 2: 17:26

Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's been a pleasure.

Speaker 1: 17:29

And folks, we do appreciate you listening today. Look forward to having you back for the next episode of Local Living.