Dr Cat's August Update
…and it’s done! On 31 July, ownership of The Face Place transitioned to Dr Jenni Irvine, a face for The Face Place that is familiar to many of our team and patients. Once I made the decision to sell, Dr Jenni was my first choice as she understands our culture and has aligned values and ideas. I called Dr Jenni from Mexico and she said yes immediately, so things moved very quickly - only 5 weeks from the phone call to signing the first papers, and then 3 weeks to settle - and just flowed (thanks to a lot of hard work by our GM, Nicci) - which confirms for me it was absolutely the right decision.
From your perspective, nothing really changes - the team, clinics, systems, values and treatments stay the same - except that Dr Jenni will be in clinic seeing patients and supporting the team in the way I used to before my health journey - and you might see a few new treatments coming in, which is exciting!
Last week was emotional for me as I thanked the team and reflected on our 25 year journey, through 5 clinics, 2 global recessions, several TV programs including the global hit ‘Ten Years Younger’, multiple Fashion Week talks, 2 books (and soon to be more!) and so many incredible team members, past and present. Treena has been along the journey for over 20 years, Lauren and Teresa for 17 and Marilou and Marjorie for 10. The industry has transitioned from me having to go out and do educational talks on what Botox is, to cosmetic clinics being on almost every street corner. I’m so grateful for the impact we have had on thousands of lives over that time, and the high standards of care, education and innovation that our team has curated throughout.
After not being able to receive most of our treatments for the last year due to a combo of travel, multiple surgeries and chemo, I made the most of my last couple of weeks and went in for ALL the treatments including regular use of the Emsella chair (see the Emsella offer this month) and some of the techniques that Queza learned at the recent Distinct Definition workshop, which you can read about in her blog. It was also a nice way to connect individually with each team member before the transition to make sure everyone was OK.
The team has been really excited about Dr Jenni taking over the ownership, and when I popped in with flowers for Dr Jenni on Friday - her first day as the new owner - she described being back as like ‘coming home’.
And this is not goodbye! You’ll likely see me popping into the clinic for treatments, and I may possibly be involved in some workshops or training. In the meantime, if you’d like to see what I’m up to, you can follow me on Instagram @drcatstone or email me at me@drcatstone.com.
I will be speaking on 5 September at Empower Me Pink, a fundraiser for breast cancer rehabilitation service ‘Pinc and Steel’ who do incredible work helping men and women regain their function after breast cancer surgery. I needed physio assistance for cording, seroma and lymphoedema prevention after each of my surgeries, and the impact was life changing. You can buy tickets for the event here for a great night with dinner, silent auction and chats with interesting people (like me!). I’d love to see you there!
There will also now be time to focus on my book projects. The first is ‘The Beauty Of Survival’ - a coffee table book with gorgeous artistic photos of breast cancer survivors and their scars, along with their stories and both practical advice and inspiration for those newly diagnosed with breast cancer, those who are supporting or want to support them on their journey, and those who are deep in the journey and need some hope and inspiration. I would love to get NZ Breast Cancer Foundation on board and donate $1 of each sale to them, so if anyone knows the right person to connect me with, please get in touch! We are also looking for breast cancer survivors to photograph and interview, so if you know someone who’s a potential candidate, please get them to contact me with their story.
The second book project is the 3rd in my ‘Grow Younger’ series - ‘Grow Younger With Great Sex’. We have the pitch and rough first draft written, we are just looking for a publisher!
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy all the new positive changes at The Face Place. I’m excited to see where Dr Jenni and the team will take it. Heartfelt thanks for all your love, support and patronage over the years, without you as our patients, The Face Place would never have become the incredible business that it is today!
With love and hugs,
