From Unpaid Internship to Success as an Aesthetic Biologist

Carina de Fátima has been passionate about biology since her school days. Her inspiration was a biology teacher, which aligned with her interest in the health field. The road to finishing her degree was hard. She faced many challenges and is now completing her specialization with total focus on her career.

It was in the face of adversity that Carina grew personally and professionally, absorbing experiences from the good and bad moments to become a reference among aesthetic biologists, always acting with commitment and respect toward her patients and attentive to their dissatisfactions. 

The goal of becoming an independent professional, with financial autonomy and more time for her family and leisure, gets closer every day as the specialization moves forward. Despite the difficulties of transitioning to a field that deals daily with patients' self-esteem, she gives herself fully to the classes and is certain she made the right decision in choosing aesthetic biology as the profession that will revolutionize her career.

Example at school: A biology teacher was her greatest inspiration

Back in high school, Carina de Fátima already sensed her calling for health. It was while still a teenager that she was inspired to follow the path of biology, influenced by one of the biology teachers whose classes she attended. Her affection for the health field formed a perfect marriage with her passion for biology, which led her to pursue her degree in the area. Her connection with biology was so strong that, in addition to her degree in Biological Sciences, between 2004 and 2007 she also completed a master's degree in Molecular Biology.

However, her academic journey had several challenges that contributed to her determination. Carina went through long journeys to be able to finish her education. The main difficulty she describes was enduring the exhausting hours of transportation to get to the university. Carina, born in the city of São Manuel (São Paulo), took classes in a nearby city, Avaré (São Paulo), a little over an hour's travel away.

Every student, especially those who depend on public transportation, knows the difficulties of getting to the place of study. For Carina, it was no different. From Monday to Friday, facing more than two hours of travel and the dangers of the highway to complete her studies were not easy moments for her. This exhausting routine was made worse because, to help pay for her studies, she had to balance class time with a job at a clothing store, which demanded time and energy from the young student.

From Unpaid Internship to Success as an Aesthetic Biologist

Another similarity among students is entering the job market in the chosen field. When she began her career as a biologist, Carina joined as an intern at the clinical laboratory of Unesp in Botucatu, at the Hospital das Clínicas; however, the internship was unpaid. It was eight months of a lot of learning, she says.

In that department she took advantage of a professional development opportunity, taking an exam to win one of the available spots, where she stayed for three months. Soon afterward she took a new public exam for a laboratory technician position, where her talent and competence led her to take charge of the cytology department, thus consolidating her expertise over more than a decade.

Despite little contact with patients, Carina felt happy with the work. During this time she completed her master's degree and then also a doctorate, but academia was not her goal. So she decided to move to another city and went to Bauru (São Paulo) in search of new experiences and opportunities. She then looked for work at several laboratories, but the lack of professional recognition and the low pay discouraged her.

“I had the chance to do a master's and a doctorate, but I didn't like the academic side very much and I focused more on clinical analysis. I had the chance to move to another city and look for jobs at laboratories, but the pay is very low and our profession is undervalued and I was no longer satisfied”.

The transition to aesthetic biology and the fear of the new

Even with professional success, the dissatisfaction and the undervaluing of biologists in the Bauru region pushed her toward new horizons. That was when she decided to make a turn in her career, moving toward aesthetic biology. Although this change was filled with uncertainty and apprehension, her passion for making people feel good about themselves encouraged her to keep going.

The transition to Aesthetic Biology was not without challenges. Carina faces the fear of harming patients, since she now intends to have direct contact with them. However, her determination to acquire knowledge and skill was greater than any fear. Gradually, she overcame her insecurities, benefiting from the experience in the clinical immersions and the support of her professors and classmates.

“You always have fear. In clinical analysis I had no contact with the patient, I knew the bare minimum about them, unlike now, when I'm in direct contact. You get a little cautious, afraid of doing something that causes a complication. But I started studying a lot to be sure of what I was doing. The person comes to us and trusts us, the least we can do is make sure they leave our office satisfied”.

We are professionals of everything that has life

Carina sees aesthetic biology as a rising profession. As she herself says, there are few biology professionals in aesthetics, and even though they are trained and qualified, people still don't know that Biologists can work in this field. She hopes to help change this perception by showing the value and versatility of biologists in this field.

“I joke that it's a new profession. Very few biologists are in aesthetics and people even ask: But can a biologist work in aesthetics? I even see a certain prejudice, because they think we are only plants and animals, but we are professionals of life. Everything that has life is part of our universe”.

In her pursuit of professional and personal fulfillment, Carina longs for the financial freedom and schedule flexibility that her own clinic can offer. With a young daughter, she wants to balance her career with family life, bringing satisfaction not only to patients but also to herself. So she plans to open her own space soon, where she can apply her knowledge and values, thus reaching her full fulfillment.

“I'm very happy, excited, because everything is new. Studying a lot to be a differentiator in my city and a reference in my profession”.