Choosing a profession on impulse may seem like a bad idea, but some people hit the mark and find themselves in the program they picked. That is how it was with Dr. Michele Said Petzold Habib, a biomedical professional and biologist. She chose to study biomedicine without even knowing exactly what the profession involved, but she liked it from day one. The specialization in aesthetic biomedicine would come later.
Dr. Said lives in Prado, Bahia, a small town with few opportunities in her field, but as soon as she graduated she passed a public exam to become a high school teacher and secured her initial income. Soon after, she needed to complete a teaching degree in biology to continue as a teacher in her town, and she stayed in that profession for seven years.
However, with the pandemic, she was removed from her position and saw the need to work in another area to secure her income. Leaving the small town, where she already had her life established, was not in her plans, so she found in aesthetics the opportunities she needed.
“I had no way to leave my town to grow in my profession, I needed to stay there, I have an established life there. And then aesthetics showed up like a lifeline, in the sense that I would be working in my field and would earn a good income, combining business with pleasure,” says Dr. Said.
In this Success Story, follow Dr. Michele Said's journey to Aesthetic Biomedicine.
Aesthetic Biomedicine: a choice for comfort, necessity, and return
The aesthetic biomedical professional has been married for 17 years, has a young daughter, is a teacher, and also owns a pizzeria in her town. Even with all these responsibilities and challenges, aesthetics has become Dr. Michele's main focus.
“I didn't get into aesthetics to be like everyone else, no. I got into aesthetics to make a difference in people's lives and, as a result, in mine,” she reveals.
She explains that, before starting the postgraduate program, she didn't really know the range of services aesthetics could offer. She points out that many people outside the field believe that anyone who works in aesthetics will spend their whole life doing facials, massages, and drainage, and still don't connect aesthetics with health.
“Aesthetics is health. We live in a time of many illnesses of the soul, like anxiety and depression, and when you perform an aesthetic procedure on a patient and they leave happy, it's as if you had given them a shot of encouragement,” she says.
She also stresses that, for her, every aesthetic procedure transforms what is already beautiful, because each person has their own individuality, details, and differences, but if they can be improved, why not do it?
“Through combinations of procedures, we are getting very good results at a much lower cost, and that means people who previously couldn't afford a surgical aesthetic procedure with doctors or plastic surgeons now can. So we are democratizing aesthetics,” she reflected.
A blue ocean to explore and work in
Her priority was to find a field to work in that wouldn't make her move away, since she had her whole life established and settled in Prado. And Aesthetic Biomedicine was the best option, given that her municipality lacks aesthetics professionals.
And with entrepreneurship already in her blood, besides continuing to run the pizzeria, she also plans to open her aesthetics clinic in partnership with a physiotherapist friend.
“My town is very quiet, but it also lacks many services, including aesthetics. To get any health or aesthetic procedure, you have to go to the neighboring city, which is about 90 km away. So bringing this kind of service there will be wonderful, since people won't need to travel and lose a day in another municipality,” she says.
And to strengthen her name in the market, Dr. Michele explains that she chose her Postgraduate Program in Aesthetic Biomedicine strategically.
“I chose Nepuga because it has an established name, it has marketing ready-made for my career. I have to explain much less to my patients just by saying my training is here. It's already halfway to strengthening my name and establishing myself in the job market,” she concludes.
Josiele Batista
NEPUGA content team — Núcleo de Especializações Ana Carolina Puga.
