What would you do to achieve the dream of working in a field you love? This aesthetic biomedical professional in São Paulo overcame several challenges along the way, such as the traditionalism of a university focused on research and even the death of her father, who provided her financial support.
Her name is Rafaella Gomes Bergstrom. And the story below was told during a clinical immersion class of the postgraduate program in Aesthetic Biomedicine. What is impressive is the resilience and courage this health professional needed to get to this day. See the details!
From genetics to aesthetics in the blink of an eye
Rafaella Bergstrom admits she entered college with the goal of going into genetics. In fact, that is one of the most common paths in biomedicine in our country. “To be very honest, I didn't even know much about the aesthetics field”.
But in the blink of an eye, while she was still in her 2nd year of college, she began to notice a very different movement at her university. “I saw the upperclasswomen doing some postgraduate programs in this field and I thought it would be very interesting for me too”.
From that moment on, she did a lot of research on this specialization alternative, which was not talked about much in the student environment she was part of. She says the courses and the whole university administration were very focused on research.
“But I started following aesthetics more closely. When I looked into how the specialization came about, I found Nepuga and the whole story of Ana Carolina Puga. Before I knew it, I was totally in love with this world”.
Prejudice was one of the first obstacles. “There was always that idea that it made no sense to study biomedicine to go into aesthetics. But by then I was already convinced of my decision and told people that yes, I was going into aesthetics”.
From college to the sales field for a while
Despite the aesthetic biomedical professional's conviction in São Paulo, what she didn't know was that her life could change at any moment. And that happened during the Covid-19 pandemic, when she lost her father and, with him, all the financial support she had to pay for the postgraduate program.
“However, I couldn't go straight into the specialization after graduating because in the meantime my father passed away from Covid-19. So I was without money for a while and started thinking about what I would need to do to move forward”.
At that point, Rafaella was very interested in aesthetics. But without money, how would she pay for the postgraduate program? “I stayed home for a while until I managed to get into clinical analysis, which was my qualification and all that”.
The problem is that she couldn't continue in that job, even though the goal was to get financially established. “It wasn't working because the money wasn't enough to support myself and pay for the program. My way out was to go into sales”.
For a moment, she had to face yet another barrier in her professional journey: setting her career as a biomedical professional aside. And that also took a lot of courage and focus from the aesthetic biomedical professional. Focus so as not to lose sight of the goal: aesthetics!
In sales, but with a foot in aesthetics
By coincidence, luck, destiny, or whatever reason you want to believe in, the fact is that she got a job in sales, but inside an aesthetics clinic. So the aesthetic biomedical professional in São Paulo would work as a sales consultant, and that opened many doors.
“Besides, I couldn't work as a biomedical professional yet. But I wanted to get into that field, one way or another, to start learning. As a sales consultant, my mission was to sell the aesthetic procedures. In addition to the service packages and patient evaluations. And from that, I started getting more enthusiastic about the field because I started to understand the patients more, their lives”.
And that was an important stage in Rafaella's life because it ignited all the feelings she had about aesthetics. “It's incredible to be working with someone's self-esteem. You end up working with the person's mental health”.
In that job, the greatest certainty she had was that she would indeed specialize in aesthetics. “You can see how transparent these people are with the health professional. My goal wasn't just to sell, but to be straightforward with clients. It was an incredible experience”.
At this point, it is worth mentioning a part of the aesthetic biomedical professional's story in São Paulo that makes a lot of sense: “I've had problems with affected self-esteem. My mother was a beauty queen and I was always kind of sloppy. I was the picture of that tomboy kid, you know”?
That is why she says that today she can understand so well the patients who seek these aesthetic treatments. “It was over time that I built this idea of self-care. So, starting to like myself was very hard. On the other hand, that was good because I started to see myself in these people. I want to help them, the way I wished someone had helped me”.
Starting the postgraduate program in aesthetics
Here comes another curiosity: the aesthetic biomedical professional in São Paulo was already following upperclasswomen who had also chosen aesthetics. “At least about three people from my college, from older classes, were taking this institution's postgraduate program”.
So that was another driver and motivator in the biomedical professional's decision. “To this day I follow the career progress they've had. And I'm delighted. That feeling of I really wanted to be like you when I grew up”.
The result is that today she loves being in this study environment, especially in the clinical immersionclasses. “It's constantly meeting people, classes, procedures. That added a lot for me. And there are friendships I made here. I definitely wouldn't have learned alone. In fact, I wouldn't have learned from classes alone. The immersion is very important”
She assures that it is a field worth pursuing. “There's also the financial prestige, but that won't help at all if you don't like what you do. I recommend that everyone who comes into this field come with love and with this concern for others”.
Success Stories>Aesthetic BiomedicineIrving Malaguti
NEPUGA content team — Núcleo de Especializações Ana Carolina Puga.
