What Makes The Luminary Different

The Luminary was created out of a need. A gap in the system, if you will. I had been to many different offices that just felt off. They were either too clinical and sterile and made me feel like I was at my PCP’s office that hadn’t been updated since the 80s or too predatory and made me feel like I was at a car dealership. Speaking of car dealerships, there’s really not a place I dislike more. The whole process seems icky (no offense to any car salesmen and women out there, I’m sure you’re lovely) but the second I can sniff out a sale I shut down. How is that same icky practice allowed in medicine? Practices who capitalize on a sale without considering the patient in front of them is a major ick. We are not salespeople, we are medical providers. There is no “move the meat” mentality and we’re not the Costco of aesthetic practices. We are boutique and personalized to every patient.

I wanted to create a space that was welcoming to everyone with ZERO pressure and transparency with pricing. I’ve sat in the chair doing the mental math (and maybe counting on my fingers) of how much X amount of Botox units will cost me and have had that gut wrenching feeling when handing over my credit card at the end of the appointment. There is none of that at The Luminary. I wanted to create a space that everyone felt comfortable going to - no matter what car you drive, bag you carry or clothes you wear. Come as you are, messy buns, day old sweats — We love to see anyone and everyone!

My goal was to create a girl gang that is incredibly supportive of each other and our patient’s biggest cheerleaders. Sounds simple, right? Not so much. Creating a team that shared my vision was hard. I had to make some incredibly difficult decisions to steer our team in the right direction. While a difficult decision is just that - difficult - it’s also empowering. I know I can make the hard decisions that maybe don’t make sense to others but are the best for our team and our culture. And then life happened. My daughter got incredibly sick and I had to take a year-long medical leave from the practice. Building my dream team while I wasn’t there? Darn near impossible. But now, we’ve got it. I can happily say we have a wonderfully healthy and supportive culture that bleeds through every visit. We have had so many patients say they can feel our passion and our “girl gang” magic the second they walk into our clinic and nothing makes me happier!

We have a group of gals who truly care about you, your experience, and delivering safe and natural results. We collaborate. We ask each other questions to come up with the best treatment plans. We’re honest and ethical with you and each other. We think about how you’re doing in between appointments. Have we had complications? Yes. Did we manage them expertly? Yes. (My ultrasound blog post will be for another day). Have we had patients we just didn’t vibe with? Of course. If anyone says they haven’t, they haven’t been in the medical aesthetic industry long enough or dealt with a high enough patient volume to experience some of the complications that come with treating thousands of patients. It will come.

My main concern is our culture. I jokingly say I am The Lum’s “culture hawk” and continually monitor how we’re doing. Culture is a living, breathing thing that has to be taken care of and fostered. It needs attention, boundaries, encouragement, hard conversations. It’s built brick by brick and rewards ten-fold. It’s not something that is talked about much outside of internal communications, but it affects the business more than anything else. A happy team makes happy patients who refer their happy friends.

Connection is at the heart of our mission and it makes me so proud to have created a place that dually puts employee happiness and patient experience first. A chic, elevated practice that you can walk into wearing your trendiest, cutest barrel jean or your snagged leggings and we will love you either way. When you sit in our chair, you are our friend and we will treat you as such - that also just so happens to be the best Botox, filler, facial provider in the area. We keep in touch with you and follow up to ensure your results are satisfactory to you and to us.

Another one of my favorite sayings is, “it’s not that deep”. Aesthetic medicine is happy medicine. Our work is important, but we’re not cracking ribs while doing CPR. We’re not standing in a room while a patient’s getting the worst news of their life. I’m not saying this to dismiss our speciality, but as medical providers, I can’t think of any other speciality that is as joyful and fun. I say this to remind myself and my team to stay grounded and keep perspective. To laugh a little more, stress a little less and bring that golden retriever energy (happy to see you, always) when our patients walk through our door. We get to come to work, hang out with patients that are essentially our friends (at least in our eyes) and get to make people feel GOOD and CONFIDENT. Truly, what could be better than that? It’s a privilege we don’t take lightly, while also not taking ourselves too seriously.

All this to say, I truly think The Luminary is one of the best and most unique medspas in the Peoria area because of all of our backend teamwork and our palpable feel-good energy. Come in, relax in our waiting room sipping an Alani Nu and having a snack before seeing one of our providers that will listen to you, validate you and take expert care of you. We can’t wait to see you soon at The Lum!