Fellowship. Pregnant. Divorced. — with Jennifer Levine, MD

Fellowship. Pregnant. Divorced. — with Jennifer Levine, MD

Catherine Maley, MBA: Hello, and welcome to Beauty and the Biz where we talk about the business and marketing side of plastic surgery and how Jennifer Levine, MD went from being in a fellowship, to getting pregnant, and then divorced. I’m your host, Catherine Maley, author of Your Aesthetic Practice – What your patients are saying, as well as consultant to plastic surgeons, to get them more patients and more profits. And I have a very special guest today.

It’s Dr. Jennifer Levine. Now she’s a board certified plastic or facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon in private practice. In New York city where she achieves believable beauty. I love that term believable beauty for her patients using surgical as well as nonsurgical treatments.

Now Dr. Levine is triple Ivy league trained, was in a fellowship, got pregnant and then divorced, having graduated from Columbia University, receiving her medical doctorate from Cornell as well as additional training at Lennox Hill Hospital, Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat, Hospital, and New York University Hospital. She’s been featured in multiple major publications and TV programs that we’re going to learn more about.

And with that, Dr. Levine, welcome to Beauty and the Biz.

Jennifer Levine, MD: Thank you so much for having me on the show. I’m really excited to be here and kind of just chat with you.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Absolutely. Yeah, no, I’d love to start with, how did you become a facial plastic surgeon and how did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced? Because most little girls don’t grow up thinking that so…

Jennifer Levine, MD: Well, I, you know, it’s really funny because the first thing that I wanted to do is like to become president of the United States.

I think I was in the third grade and someone said to me, Know girls can’t do that. There’s no, there’s no, there’s no women that have been president of the United States. And I remember feeling very angry about that. And unfortunately, that hasn’t really changed yet, but I guess after I decided that I wasn’t sure if like being president was, was entirely possible.

What I really to do is like my main activity where I was little was. Sketching and drawing. And my mother had taken me to a lot of different art classes and I particularly like to draw faces. And because I grew up in Brooklyn, we also a lot of time on the subway and I find myself like looking at the person across from me on the subway and kind of sketching them and then maybe like fixing their face a little bit.

So I felt like that was, yeah, it was something that I was gravitating toward even at, at a young age. And then as I went through school, I really, I liked, you know, the precision of math and science. So I really did like scientific pursuits. So I felt like. This idea of plastic surgery combines like, you know, my natural ability and interest in, in art with kind the method and precision of math and science.

So I felt like incorporated everything that I really enjoy.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Well, it’s certainly helpful to have that creative side doing what you do. So how just tell us quickly the journey between fellowship to private practice, what kind of a jump was that or many steps in between? How did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Well it was kind of a, you know, it’s, there’s never a straight journey, so it’s always, like, I felt like the path wasn’t really like smooth.

Like initially when I had to even apply to my fellowship, I was like pregnant. So I wasn’t able to go on a lot of the interviews. And luckily I manage get a fellowship that was in, in New York city. And then unfortunately, I also decided that I was going to get divorced. So I, I kind of had to figure out, so here it was, I was finishing my fellowship.

Didn’t have a job. I had a baby and I wanted desperately to, you know, just be a very aesthetic surgeon, but I also had to do things like pay the take child. So I. Was fortunate enough that my one of like my mentors and chair, people were like, okay, you can rent some space from me, like part time. And I was able to start a private practice and otherwise I was kind of like cobbling it together.

So I would take call. Where I could and just pick up some clinics, just so I had some while I was building and time, I don’t, you do any reconstructive surgery really? Except if it’s like someone has a torn ear load, but really my practice is aesthetics.

Catherine Maley, MBA: So you’re probably sleeping a lot more now than. How did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Well, you know, it’s still, as I said, like we were doing, we have this new construction, so we just built we bought the office across the hall during COVID.

So now we have this office and office that has a full recovery room and all that other stuff. So that’s, that’s keeping here kind late. So I don’t know about the sleeping part, but I certainly love what I do. So I’m grateful for.

Catherine Maley, MBA: That’s really interesting that you’re doing a full build out and it’s, it might not be Medicare approved. How did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Perhaps go, no, no.

I’m far with Medicare, so it’s not nothing to do with Medicare.

Catherine Maley, MBA: So how difficult is it to get things done right now in New York city with like limited supplies or contractors. How did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: or, I mean, it’s, it’s challenging. I’m lucky. You know that I had a really I had a great team. My architect and my construction company were the ones who had helped me do this office.

So they were very like, mindful about that. And, you know, tried to only order supplies that they were making, made sure that they could get and that were in stock and available. So we weren’t waiting around for things that were never going. So I, you know, I think with anything, like, you always need people to help you and guide you and it, it makes it smoother.

Yeah.

Well that, I mean, the, or was inspected on Thursday and we had zero deficiency. So it actually be up and running soon and the, it should be ready to go today. So. We’re going to be good to go. Congratulations.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Thank you. Your, your life will be a lot easier when you just walk across the hall than try to. How did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Get across that’s what’s I’m there’s get the way.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Everybody, everybody. I know all the surgeons I’ve talked to. I can’t think of one who regretted doing it. How did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: And it’s not –

Catherine Maley, MBA: the center that you think it might be and how did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: You know, no’s.

You know, being able to decide like how things are going to be, what kind of experience it’s going to be for the patients and for myself. So that ability to kind of make sure that it really truly is me and what I to be, I think is what what’s important to me. Yeah.

Catherine Maley, MBA: So tell me, what is your team consisting of? Are you, are you growing. How did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Team or so we have to hire yes. We’re in the process of like hiring more people, which as we all know, like staff issue for any, any business or I think business medical or otherwise, I think staffing always issue. So we’re, we’re in the of hiring more people ball. So. When you went into

Catherine Maley, MBA: private practice, were you surprised at the business side of it and how that might affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Like managing people? Oh yeah. Oh, I mean, you know, yeah. So basically, you know, I went to Cornell medical school, which was like ivory tower of medicine where we would like sit in like a solarium and we discuss like differential diagnosis. And they basically said like advertising was bad, like, and medicine were not, were separate and they were not at all together.

So I spent, you know, most of my training, just trying to be the best doctor that I could be. And I had idea and I think it’s like a pretty steep learning curve. You know? It is. It is not easy. And I’m, I find no means an expert, you know, I’m still learning every day. But yeah, I’m not, I don’t think like being a business person is something that’s necessarily intuitive, but it does require a lot of like dedication and consistency and it’s, it’s, it’s challenging.

So I think that people who have more of a business background definitely have a leg up.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Like, if you had some ideas about this, like for well it’s background, but it’s also that EQ, that skills patients communicate with staff. How do you the leader without being seen. How did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: As a, a big, oh yeah, yeah. I mean, I think it’s like constantly evolving and that you’re right. It’s a huge. It’s a huge skillset because it’s not only about me, it’s about, you know, other people and trying to shift your focus to, you know, how you really want other people to feel and understanding and connecting with people.

It’s something that’s really important. And it’s something yeah. That I I’m always trying to work on. Yeah,

Catherine Maley, MBA: I think it’s a, it’s a lifetime learn. How did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Yeah. Oh yeah.

Catherine Maley, MBA: For every time I think I’ve got people figured out they confuse me. How did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Yeah. I there’s lots of things. I don’t know. And I’m kind of more comfortable with that. Like I know that I don’t, it all figured out and that at some point I might know who more, that I’ll grateful for that, but there’s. I have to cultivate.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Good for you. I would say that that for you to stay open and humble is going to last you a long time, because I’ve noticed well, as people get older too, and they’ve around, they start closing up and they’re not open to learning anymore. And so glad you have that open mindset even after being in the fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced.

Jennifer Levine, MD: Yeah. It’s important regarding –

Catherine Maley, MBA: The procedures you’re offering, you have a really good plethora. How does that relate to you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Treatments and surgical procedures. How, what percentage of your practice is surgical versus nonsurgical? And is that how you want it?

Jennifer Levine, MD: So I think it’s about like 50, 50 now that I do surgery and I do these noninvasive procedures and it kind of like fluctuates according to the, so there might be some months that we do more surgery and some months that we do more noninvasive procedures.

And what I really like to do is I kind see patients on continuum. So sometimes patients need surgery and sometimes they need not invasive procedure. So I feel like I want to offer the patient the procedure that’s best for them. And I don’t want to be limited by, is it surgical or nonsurgical? Like if you only have, so I don’t really that for patients, I really offer individual and customized, well, that’s going to make them look and feel their best.

And so. It’s surgical. Sometimes it’s not surgical and sometimes it’s a combination. And the thing that I, I didn’t realize about this feel is. How much of a relationship you have with your patients and really follow them on this journey, which has been so wonderful is that, you know, I’ve really seen so many people like over time and, you know, for, or family connections to a lot of my patients.

And I’m happy that, you know, I’m able to say like, you know, so. We started off with nonsurgical things and now they’re ready for surgery and we moved to that. Or sometimes they’re surgical patient, and now we’re maintaining the results with some nonsurgical procedures. So it’s very I think very rewarding in that way.

And it’s not like one and done that I’m seeing the patient and then they’re done with their procedure and I never see them again. So we don’t really have that without practice.

Catherine Maley, MBA: I love the patient for life philosophy that it sounds like you have. And I think in today’s world, it’s just an easier way to play this game. How did that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Doing the one and done thing I find that would be exhausting. And I know a lot of surgeons do it that way, but I just think it would be a lot more fun and easier if you keep these patients coming back for more and family and giving you good reviews and photos and growing this more organically. Yeah.

So give me, give me a mistake that you have made that you’ve learned from and you and that others could learn from without going through what you did.

Jennifer Levine, MD: Oh, let’s I made let’s. You know, I think not investing in your staff or not, you know, choosing the right staff. People are some of the big mistake that I’ve made.

So in the beginning, I really wasn’t sure what I was looking for. Or you knew the wrong or didn’t you? We weren’t insane. So maybe they weren’t, I’m not saying that they were like bad people or anything like that, but we weren’t moving in the same direct. So I think that. Without the right staff people, it’s really hard to have a successful practice.

So really investing in my staff is very important. And like my staff is like my most important resource. So yes, I, my patients are very important to me as well, but my staff or the people who here to support me every single day and I’m here to support them. So, I mean, I’m lucky, there’s not really many people who.

Who are like rude or are not nice to staff members, but I would consider that like a big red flag.

Catherine Maley, MBA: So that would be something that I would tolerate. Yeah. And then have you brought on other revenue generators? How does that affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Are you the only I have expectation, but that’s what we’re trying to do is get some more.

We have like these other noninvasive machines that I don’t have to run. So that’s the idea that there would be revenue streams without, without me.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Because those machines are terrific, but they’re time consuming and for right. How do they affect you in terms of fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: And I’m up in my state that they can be run by other people besides me.

Catherine Maley, MBA: So I remember, in New Jersey, the surgeons had to do.

Jennifer Levine, MD: Yeah, that’s crazy. So –

Catherine Maley, MBA: So let’s talk about the competition and how that relates to your fellowing, getting pregnant and then divorced. Apparently you’re from New York, is that right? Yes, I am. Otherwise why in the world would you enter that jungle of. Uber competition.

Jennifer Levine, MD: So, yeah, it’s the only, it’s the only jungle. I know.

Catherine Maley, MBA: So, I mean, you’re not in Ohio, you’re like off of park avenue, upper east side. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

It can’t be more competitive. So how did you enter that marketplace? Or what was your plan to say? Okay, I’m here now. You know, where, where am I going to position myself? Did you have any strategy to that? Or just jump in?

Jennifer Levine, MD: So I guess. You know, since I’m always from New York you know, I kind of. When I’m looking at something, I don’t, I, I, you can’t like run a, if you’re looking behind your back at what other people are doing.

So the only thing that you can do, you can, you need to go forward. So it’s like, I’m when I’m doing something I’m not, I don’t think about the competition. I just think about what I need to do to. To get ahead or do my best. So my kind of ideas I’m going to do the best I can. And I’m not going to, this is about a competition.

I can’t, I can’t control other people. There’s always going to be, there’s plenty of people who are very smart and very talented and. You know, there’s plenty of out there. So all I can do is

years of school. So I was younger and you know, I graduated number one in my class in high school, which Cornell for mean. Everything that I’ve done is being competitive. Yeah. You know, but I can’t, as I said, I can only do what I can do. And that’s just kind of how I think about it. Like I’m not, I’m not really looking at what other people are doing as much.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Well, you’re, you’re quite a smarty pants. Good for you. yeah. And isn’t there something Brooklyn? How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Really in the, what is that really?

Catherine Maley, MBA: Some heavy hitters come. Would you say you got a lot that experience? How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Well, I didn’t have another experience to, you know, to compare it to, but yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, Brooklyn is about like, if you’re going to work hard and do your best.

So that that’s what its, so it wasn’t, that’s like of, I think the mentality is that you were win. Right? I think that’s.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Yeah, congratulations. So tell me about the patient demographics, because I think you’re doing a lot of rhino, but you also do aging face. How do you, it’s very difficult to market. It’s very different markets, you know, very different people. So how are you that? How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Well, I think that, you know, when I looked.

At the demographics of my patients, they’re fairly evenly spaced. So we have patients of all decades coming into the practice. And I think it’s cause we a lot of different procedures. Certainly the older patients might come more so, do more procedure than someone who is younger, but we kind have all channels.

This is what we have. So we’re kind like encompassing all areas, you know, that’s like, I guess the idea of you know, like a liberal arts education, like we want to know about everything and we want to strive to, to do that. So that’s the, that’s my idea. It’s like, I, I’m not like somebody who only can do one thing.

Like I’ve always kind of. Like the idea. That’s why I do surgical and nonsurgical. Like we treat people of different demographics things. I keeps things interesting. And I don’t want to pigeon my, my myself in one thing. I I’m a person that have different interests. So I kind of like that, think it fits my person.

Catherine Maley, MBA: So we should talk about how you’re using social media, because you’re doing a good job. You’ve got 30,000 followers. And are you just sticking with Instagram? Are you jumping into the world and how does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Oh yeah. Do something on all channels because you don’t really know how people are going to find you. And I have to be able to find. On multiple avenue. So it’s just, obviously we might pay more attention to Instagram.

We, some things on much, all the, to certain extent, never where people are, make sure that we have something going on. We’re going to concentrate our efforts more on certain things than others and make certain times we. Switch our strategy a little bit, but we kind of try to have it encompass everything. Cause it’s not enough to be only one channel.

Catherine Maley, MBA: For sure. And do you have a social media team helping you and if so, what do they consider? How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Yeah, so I have people who obviously like. In our office, we’re going to come up with a strategy and then I might not do like the physical post sometimes I do, but we, we, you know, we have like, we do actively talk about it every week, you know, and come up with a strategy and a plan.

We have a calendar that we’re post on. We make sure we send out a newsletter. So it’s not, it is. It is scheduled. It is, you know, we do have social media meetings. So I, I mean, we’re not spend like every day doing social media for several hours. But we try to least have –

Catherine Maley, MBA: How much time do you think you put in weekly on social? How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Oh, I mean,  several hours, I would say like between five to 10 hours still. Yeah.

Catherine Maley, MBA: I mean, you can make it look easy, but there’s a lot of work that goes into that. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: There there’s, there’s nothing easy. Nothing’s ever easy. You have to think about what it’s you, you’re doing what you want to say and. Also like social media is really like a conversation.

So it’s not only about what you’re doing on your channel, but I think it’s like very important to interact with other people, you know, and, and let them know they’re doing a great job or you really, like, I learn a lot from some other people’s social media posts or I see cool things that they’re doing, or some of those results are beautiful.

So it’s just nice to share, you know, and, and be positive to other people.

Catherine Maley, MBA: And do you have a videographer that’s helping you out or are you just doing it with iPhones? How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: No, we do it with iPhones.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Good for you. Yeah. Yeah. I’m starting to think you almost need a videographer in today’s world because, or somebody who’s good at video editing, you know, because you want to, the video is main video. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Newer is actually like really good. But the editing process is very important. Cause obviously you’re using the video to tell story. So. If it’s not edited properly, it doesn’t tell that story in that same way. So yes, editing is very important.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Well, you’re doing something that I, I recommend to my clients all the time, which is do educational videos. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

And you can put them on YouTube, but also put them on your website. Just have them everywhere because people want to hear. Yeah, you you’ll like doc surgeons say, everyone knows all this already. You can get it all on the internet, but they didn’t hear from you, you know?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Well, they don’t, but the thing is, is they don’t know.

Yeah. Some people know, but most people. Most people don’t know. And it, even if they’ve heard it, they’re certainly not an expert on it. So hearing it again can be quite helpful for sure.

Catherine Maley, MBA: And you know what I noticed can you just talk about your, like I was trying to think, like how does she differentiate herself being in New York city and I was on your website and it, under their procedures, it had up. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Eye drops and I’m like, sign me up.

Jennifer Levine, MD: I had no, yeah, they’re amazing. They’re amazing eye drops. So what it does is it works on something called thes muscle. So basically like the main elevator of the eye is, but there are other muscles under sympathetic control that can open up the eye. But unlike other medications that either.

Have stimulated those receptors, but either cause habituation or allergies up, doesn’t do any of those things. So it is it’s really good product. It doesn’t hurt every day. It’s great.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Well, I was taking some eye drops for nearsightedness. So you take some drops and then you’re you know, if you need reading glasses, it would take that need away. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Oh, for the farsightedness. Yes, I have heard, so –

Catherine Maley, MBA: I did it for over a month because I thought if I can get rid of all these contacts in the reading glasses, I’m good. But what was happening? It was, it was distorting my farsightedness and my nearsightedness. Yeah. So I don’t know if you had, like, I had to do it a lot longer to make it like, even out, but it just wasn’t working and I, yeah. Don’t know much about that.

Jennifer Levine, MD:. It works right away. So it starts about 15 minutes after you put it in. And the peak effect is that two hours and last for about eight hours. So I have used this drop and it’s great, but you can just, you see it work right. So it’s not like you have to wait.

Catherine Maley, MBA: so the point is, is its opening up your eye. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

It’s making it look wider and brighter. Is that the point?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Yeah. And bigger. Cause it’s yeah, they’re great. Yeah. I, I need that. Yeah. So everybody.

Catherine Maley, MBA: Yeah. So let’s talk about PR because you’ve done a really good job. With the media. I’m sure some of its paid some of it’s not some of its connections. Like how, how did you handle this PR and is it still a viable marketing channel for you. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: I’ve been for in that?

Because I have lot industry relations. I mainly work with those PR firms. So I’m. Paying for that. They’re so some of these things, I work with a PR firm of these other companies and they get media things. So but now that I office, I actually get. My own PR, but that’s not something that I’ve otherwise done.

It’s just, we relied on these other connections that we have with these other companies. And we’ve been fortunate that they send editors and other people, or they videos. They do all that stuff. So that’s very lucky.

Catherine Maley, MBA: I often recommend for people who want PR I say, start with the medical societies and the vendors. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

They all have their own PR department. So, you know, piggyback off of them first, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So wait, I had a question about that.

Jennifer Levine, MD: Would you say –

Catherine Maley, MBA: PR is, is as good or better than like, let’s say trying to work with influencers and social media, like, do you think in today’s world, you can just do that on your own.

Or, or you need sophisticated PR agencies to help. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: I don’t have the few, if I, to a certain extent done it by for a, I think it’s possible. But I think. Like any industry, there may be a certain like pay to play effort that I don’t know about, but after if I try my own PR, then I’ll get back to you and let you know if that, if that’s be the case, have you worked with influencers?

Yes. I think influencers are kind of like a mixed bag at work with it’s an influencers that have been great and some influencers that have been that. So I think it’s a little bit of a.

Catherine Maley, MBA: So they’re let, please tell them something. That’s very interesting about you and it’s some it’s relative of yours.

Yeah. Who, who are, who is your cousin? How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: That was. So we got together.

Catherine Maley, MBA: well, I’m thinking that is amazing. Yeah. I didn’t know. He grew up in New York city and oh, you know. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Every, and I was, oh, did go to my though. I know that counts, but OK.

Catherine Maley, MBA: So do, what else is interesting about you? That’s not about Adam Levine, but maybe about you getting pregnant, in a fellowship, and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: I’m a, I’m a, a mom. So I have two beautiful, accomplished stars that I’m very proud of.

So that’s one thing. That’s a pretty big thing. Yeah. That’s a pretty thing. Let’s

you know, I find it very interesting. That you know, that they’re surgical, especially.

All right. So the majority of the aging based population, and I think that there’s something about Probably some of this surgery under the male days that may not be completely what women want. So I’m kind of exploring that a little bit and trying to change that a little bit, because I think most of the time women, you know, really want to look like themselves.

It’s not that we don’t want to look more youthful or you know, have a change, but I think that. There’s a real desire not to look artificial. And I think also there are some people that don’t want to be like they appropriate. So I think, I think that as a woman, sometimes I’m to connect a little bit more to my, about that.

Catherine Maley, MBA: You know, it’s really weird. I got into this industry 22 years ago and I was in San Francisco and we had mega doctors, like we had Jack Ousley and Brun Risto who are like infamous for facial faceless, but you can see these facelifts a mile away. And you know what I learned the patients wanted at that point in time, the patients wanted people to know that, that they spent a lot of money. How does that relate to your fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced?

Jennifer Levine, MD: Right. So I that’s interesting. I’m like a logo. Right. Kind of like a logo. It was assign well, right? That they didn’t care if they looked tighter. Both. I agree. But I think the time that, like, I think times are changing probably.

Catherine Maley, MBA: I’d rather have a nip and tuck every year than a major overhaul every decade.

Right. You know? Right. This is mean to me. Yeah. So I, I just, I love that you’re growing your practice organically and growing it from patients who come back again. And again, I, I just think that’s a really smart move in today’s world. So good for. Yeah. So any words of wisdom to anybody coming up or anyone working let’s say in a hospital and they’re thinking about going out on their own any, any thoughts on that?

Jennifer Levine, MD: I think that you need to ask people for advice and it’s very hard to like, do this yourself. I don’t think it’s intuitive. So I think you need to ask for help. You know, when, wherever you can. So one of the things that we didn’t talk about that I did that was helpful to me is I joined this organization.

I’m actually not doing it anymore, but I did do it for a number of years called the WPO, the women’s president organization. Good. And was business organization. So we.

And everybody had a different business. And we would talk about like the challenge that in business and someone, or round that specific, there were questions, questions, and then there are points where you could give advice, but you had to give advice. In a specific way, like you had to say, you couldn’t say you should do this.

You had to say, if I were you. I would and I was very lucky in my particular Harvard school were really, really

in this. So these. I didn’t acquire this knowledge on the, I, I did invest, you know, time and energy into like, learning more about these things. And that was extremely into how, how I thought about my practice, how I thought about growing my practice. Don’t think that as a physician, any of those ideas were.

Really explained to me. And I wouldn’t have thought about the things in the way that I did without that kind of support and information and framework. For sure.

Catherine Maley, MBA: I, in my world of business and marketing, we call them masterminds and everyone’s read, think and grow rich. And mastermind is the whole thing about coming together collectively listening to other viewpoints and perspectives.

It’s that perspective. That’s so darn important. So I highly recommend everybody have some kind of outside consult.

Jennifer Levine, MD: Who’s you need, I mean, you need. This is not like this. Isn’t like, do it yourself. And you’re, you’re not going to figure it yourself. Like you need some help and it’s going to take so too long to figure it out.

Catherine Maley, MBA: You know, like you, like in today’s world, you’ve got to get there a lot faster than you, you know, before it…

Jennifer Levine, MD: It some time to, for everyone to figure it out because everyone’s journey and path is like a little different. And I think that we have to be accepting that this is not. It’s not instant. It’s going to take time.

We want it all to fast, but it may not be fast. And that’s it’s has to authentic and in the right way, just it take time and it takes more time than any of would like, but right, right. That’s just what it.

Catherine Maley, MBA: All right. Well, thank you so much for that. I really appreciate it, everybody. That is our episode for today on fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced.

If you would head to Beauty and the Biz and subscribe. So you don’t miss any other episodes, if you’ve hold of you.

Jennifer Levine, MD: So they can reach out to me on Instagram, @drjenniferlevine or, you know, send a inquiry to [email protected] or office number is (212) 517-9400. And we love to hear from you..

Catherine Maley, MBA: Okay, terrific. Okay. Thanks everybody. We are going to wrap it up now for Beauty and the Biz. A big thanks to Dr. Levine for sharing her journey on fellowship, getting pregnant and then divorced.

And if you have any questions or feedback for me, you can go ahead and leave them at my website at www.CatherineMaley.com, or you can certainly DM me on Instagram @CatherineMaleyMBA.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode on Beauty and the Biz, please head over to Apple Podcasts and give me a review and subscribe to Beauty and the Biz so you don’t miss any episodes. And of course, please share this with your staff and colleagues.

And we will talk to you again soon. Take care.

-End transcript for the “Fellowship. Pregnant. Divorced. — with Jennifer Levine, MD” Podcast.