Episode 5: Dr. Joni Collins

Pretty Powerful Podcast with Angela Gennari: Episode 5 Dr. Joni Collins.

Welcome to the Pretty Powerful Podcast where powerful women are interviewed every week to share real inspiring stories and incredible insight to help women or anyone break the barriers, be a part of innovation, shatter the glass ceiling and dominate to the top of their sports industry or life's mission. Join us as we celebrate exceptional women and step into our power. And now here's your host, Angela Janari.

Angela Gennari: Thank you so much for joining us today. This is Angela, and this is the Pretty Powerful Podcast, and I'm sitting here with Dr. Joni Collins and I'm so excited to have you here today.

Dr. Joni Collins: Thank you for having me here.

Angela Gennari: So, I wanted to introduce Joni, she's amazing. And thankfully, a very good friend of mine and I am so grateful for that. So, I wanted to give your credentials because you've got quite an extensive list of credentials. You're very impressive woman. So, thank you for being here. So, Dr. Joni Collins is a doctor of medical science in osteopathic and internal medicine. She is N C C P a board-certified physician assistant. She is a Florida native and a member of the Florida physician assistant dermatology society. She is also a member of the Florida association of physician assistants, Georgia association of physician assistance, and the PA doctors. Dr. Collins has been injecting since 2006 and has focused primarily on facial plastics, head and neck surgery, regenerative medicine, and advanced aesthetic combination therapy. In 2015, Dr. Collins earned her certification as a certified aesthetic consultant and has worked with several physicians' offices and med spas in compliancy, protocols, and policies at an aesthetic event in 2015, where she was teaching, Dr. Collins was picked up by a vendor for a large New York-based investing firm in 2015 after pitching her business model to these investors.

Dr. Collins co-founded Reso Luna advanced aesthetic therapy, a boutique med spa in Baldwin Park, Florida. Her office won the best-med spa in 2016 and 2017. And Dr. Collins additionally traveled for AI, AM as a national trainer in PDO threads, platelet-rich, fiber, micro cannula, and advanced combination therapy. She mentored under Dr. Kean Perini, often seen on the doctor, and co-chair classes with Dr. Carinii and the infamous aesthetic YouTube star, Dr. Anneal Rajani. Dr. Collins trained many providers nationally over the past decade and has assisted to develop successful aesthetic practices by teaching combination therapy. She has also been active in device development behind the scenes in 2017, Dr. Collins founded 1228, mobile medical wellness, a traveling concierge aesthetic and regenerative practice that utilizes a 1973 Airstream to serve the uninsured true to its name 1228, mobile medical wellness offers a one-of-a-kind experience. The land yacht Airstream serves as the umbrella of permits and as the vehicle to serve and care for others, not only is 1228 sentimental to Dr. Collins, but 1228 also marks the anniversary of the first in-vitro baby born in the United States. The vessel is a tribute to her beautiful twin daughters that are IVF miracles in 2020, during COVID shutdown, Dr. Collins moved to Atlanta, Georgia. She opened her second location for 1228. That is a brick-and-mortar practice. This location offers customized aesthetic and regenerative training providers from all over the United States, fly to Atlanta to train with her. So, welcome.

Dr. Joni Collins: Thank you. I feel like an empire. A lot. Thank you.

Angela Gennari: It's incredible though. You've done quite a lot in your career. So, tell me, I know 1228 has lots of meanings, and tell me how that all came about 1228 because it's also a Bible verse.

Dr. Joni Collins: It is actually, it's a Bible verse. We're given spiritual gifts and it talks about how, you know, as a church and a lot of people think of church like this, you have to go to every Sunday and there's all these rules, but it has to do just a church of God. God being any religion, any faith, and that we all work as a team to use our gifts to serve other people. And so, what are these gifts? And I believe that God humbly blessed me with a gift to serve others through healing and through education teaching.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Amazing. I love it. So, I know that you have been working with people with scar therapy. So, how did that come about and talk to me about the regenerative practice that you've started and kind of what made you go into that particular arena?

Dr. Joni Collins: That's a great question. So, it's somewhat stealth of a story actually. I didn't even know that's was going to happen. And studying medicine. I really thought I would cure cancer and do all these things, and for the longest time I fought being a Botox PA or an aesthetic provider, but when I was offered the opportunity to start my own company in Orlando in 2015, I had a lot of patients with Mala asthma, which is like a mass of pregnancy and a lot of patients with scars. So, it's interesting in aesthetics people come to you and they're looking for so-called Botox, but they really have a story of their own. And they've been through a lot of things, and so scarring, whether it's emotional scarring, physical scarring through trauma, or through there can be good scars and some people want to keep those scars, but there's a lot of people that don't. And so, when someone's laying there receiving a treatment that's somewhat aesthetic and seen as by a lot of people superficial, it's actually healing within because you're speaking to these patients. And so, as I developed the rapport with my patients in Orlando, I realized there really wasn't a niche opportunity to help people with scars that offered somewhat of a psychological counseling with also physical healing and transformation.

Angela Gennari: Interesting, and I know that you're also certified in cognitive behavioral therapy.

Dr. Joni Collins: Yes. I am certified in cognitive behavioral therapy. I actually was going to find it to help others and I ended up meeting it somewhat myself. So, it's one of those neat stories that we all have stories of trials and using things that I've been through at the time I didn't realize why I was going through them, but I can tell you it's helped me to serve other people, and that goes back to that verse of 1228. Serving others.

Angela Gennari: I love it. Okay. So, tell me a little bit more about your journey through your practice and your move to Atlanta. I know that it, wasn't always easy doors didn't always open for you right?

Dr. Joni Collins: No, absolutely. And lots of doors were shut. And timings everything. So, and just being obedient to trying to just continue to be relentless. That's what my family calls, they say I'm relentless just to persevere through things. So, and around 2018, I actually, had a domestic violence event occur, and the irony of it was I was working with the child protection team to do sponsorships, to help people with scars. So, it was one of those kinds of embarrassing moments of this looks completely fake. Do I stand tall and speak about what happened and use it to help other people, or do I kind of feel sorry for myself and said, well, I actually did both, to be honest, I probably sat there for about 24 hours felt sorry for myself and thought, you know what?

No, that's not how this works uses to help other people. And so, going through with 2018, 2020, a lot of counseling myself, my daughters, and the psychiatrist had said, you need to move out of state. And so, what do you do when somebody in the medical license recommends that? You do what you have to do, right. What I didn't know was going to be COVID. And so, at that time I used to teach nationally and I couldn't because I was pretty much back to a single mom. And so, if not anyone's fault, I hope that's not what the message is taught here. It's just about using things to transform and help, but I moved here and Atlanta being a four-hour flight from San Diego, two-hour flight from Texas.

So, it was a blessing because this great airports here that people can come and train with me because I couldn't travel to teach them like it used to. So, when I first moved here, you could only see one patient an hour. Excuse me. One patient, every six hours, because it was COVID regulations, and I thought, oh, lovely. How am I going to have income for my children? But through it, I did psychiatric counseling through coming called cerebral part-time. And I started off in a one room, 100 square feet, and a little salon studio. Because it just made sense businesswise you can only see one person, a master's face. And as God would have it, I had a couple of people that wanted trainings because they were so sick of the medical work and the hospital burnout through COVID. And when I saw this one woman named Lindsey, she's a physician assistant, she's amazing Lindsay Shaw brown. She really encouraged me to use this training to serve other physician assistant moms. Oh, interesting. And so, it's really been neat over the past year, seen 76 women, and actually, sorry, two men. So, 24 men, 74 women, and 2 men transformed being in the hospital setting, not being able to see their children as much to having their own practice or either bringing back regenerative therapies to their practice for scar therapy.

Angela Gennari: Wow. So, explain to me and for our listeners, what Regener, I can't even say it, regenerative therapy is?

Dr. Joni Collins: So, it could be explaining many different ways. The way I see it is that healing within. So, we all have blood, we all have certain things. And when used correctly in scientific methods that have been researched and studies, it can actually heal things. So, I use your own blood through a process called Play Rich Fibrin that does not have a blood thinner. It's not P R P like the vampire stuff, and that actually burns PRF doesn't, but it's almost like Windex in my big fat Greek wedding, and it kind of fixes everything. So, regenerative is somewhat of a healing process, regenerating, renewing, restoring things by using the body's own natural processes and the body as a whole, which is osteopathic medicine as well.

Angela Gennari: Okay. Amazing. Yeah. All right. So, tell me a little bit more about... so you had your daughters through IVF.

Dr. Joni Collins: Yes. And who would've tell...

Angela Gennari: Me about that journey?

Dr. Joni Collins: That was interesting. It really how spoiled I was. And at that time, I was around 2007. So, I got married, and quite frankly, to be straight up, I was married because I wanted to have children. So, I always did the check. Check the box, school, get married, have kids, and my ex-husband, I thought we're just good at we not having kids yet. And then when you want to have, and we're like, oh, wow, something's going on? Well, as God would have it, I was working in infertility. I ran the polycystic ovarian syndrome clinic and we had trouble getting pregnant. So, immediately I went to the doc I worked with, and it was a blessings Florida Institute for reproductive medicine, Dr. Kevin Winslow, and this goes back to 1228 also using your skillset to serve others. So, because someone used their skillset to serve and help my family, I have my beautiful daughters, but that was a journey. The first time in my life, I can say, I couldn't study harder, I couldn't run harder, I couldn't pray harder. You literally just had to abandon to God's will and know that like, eventually if this is timing, it will happen. And in the back of mind know statistically and scientifically speaking persevere enough, it will happen.

Angela Gennari: I love it. So, what I love about you is that you are so spiritual and you do, you know, there are certain things that in medicine, obviously you can control in their science there, but there's also spirituality [inaudible 11:24].

Dr. Joni Collins: There's things you can't explain.

Angela Gennari: There's things that in medicine. While you want to say if a then B not, everything happens that way.

Dr. Joni Collins: And I think that's almost why I went through it. The silver lining is I witnessed myself that there's some things science cannot explain. There's some things, our work cannot explain that we either achieve the goal or we don't, and there's a reason behind that trial, and even going through trials, people learn through your failures, not your successes. So, I hope that's what people are hearing through this, you know, going through what I've been through. It's not a sob story. It's actually, you know, now that I can stand, tell in the face of diversity. It's a blessing because it helps me relate to other people, especially my patients. And so, it's kind of neat to see when you can really look back at your life and think, I went through this, I went through this.

Angela Gennari: When you were talking about the domestic violence, it's so interesting because I actually went through my second marriage, there was a lot of domestic violence. And so, everybody was so shocked because you're saying, oh, you're such a strong woman. How did that happen? And you know, I look at you and I think you're a very strong woman, but it doesn't happen that way. It doesn't happen where we see it coming.

It's a very slow process that happens over time. Most of the time you have somebody who's very narcissistic, who's very charming on the front end. They're not walking into a relationship abusive. So, it happens over time. And so, I think as women, you know, we can be a strong woman and still find ourselves in a domestic violence situation.

Dr. Joni Collins: And I would, even for that out to say, my hope is that the person that I went through this with, it's an amazing human being. They were going through trials themselves too. And so, hopefully, they'll use that situation, and learn from it, although it's not my job to make them learn from it. That was something I had to let go in healing. But that again, talking through trials, it can be someone who hurt us. That actually then realizes, and it could have been something far worse. So, praise God, it happened to me because I'm pretty darn stubborn.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Well, and so coming through it, you learn, I'm sorry, you just learn a lot. You learn a lot about yourself, you learn, you're able to better identify with other people who have been through it because I can say that before I went through it, I would say, why would anyone let themselves get in a situation like that? After I got through it, I realized it wasn't because they let themselves, it just is something that you can't necessarily anticipate or control.

Dr. Joni Collins: It's like a tornado. If you're in a tornado, you don't realize you're in it until you step out and go whole these skeletons an insane tornado, but again it was at the time, I think 2018 was that me too thing. And I remember thinking for the love of Pete, I do not want to be that person who says, oh, me too. I didn't even want there to be someone that I cared about being in the story of just what was me junk. It was more of just, you have to stand up for your children, you have to stand up for yourself. Because if you're not a part of solution, we're part of the problem. But I can remember being called at the office where I was working by the state attorney prosecuting and saying, just calling straight up, asking me these questions that were just awful.

And had I not been able to just redirect myself or put myself in the mindset. I don't know, you know, it takes a village, but in saying that it made me realize if I'm having trouble through this and I have this mom and dad at home who are supporting me, I have these great children. I have a job that pays that is allowing me to go and to go to the court once a week, how do people do it? That don't have the means for that. And that's kind of where the 1228 component came in. So, I actually have a trademark that I developed. And it's funny because when I had the name of my company had nothing to do with a trademark or service mark or copyright. but, there's 12 months in the year and 28 days in the skin cell cycle.

So, I have a plan where people come once a month or once every 28 days for 12 months. And it's a restorative plan for internal healing and physical healing for scar trauma. And in saying that I don't know where I was leading with that other than just being able to use what I went through to serve and really realize back to even cognitive behavioral therapy. Why do we act the way we do? How are we raised in our childhood? And the thing is my dad and mom have an amazing relationship. So, that was the hard part for me to see, how did this happen? How did I let this happen? And I think sometimes we say imposter syndrome, but as women, as mothers, we feel guilty. If we do anything that feels self-serving and I even have...

Angela Gennari: And sometimes self-serving is saving yourself.

Dr. Joni Collins: Oh, absolutely. And self-serving can be serving others to where you feel guilty almost. And that's that imposter thing.

Angela Gennari: Well, and self-serving could be something like aesthetics. If I'm coming in there oh, absolutely. To get rid of a star that I had during childbirth, or I had in some facet of life, like, am I not honoring that experience?

Dr. Joni Collins: The tiger stripes of abdomen. So, I always encourage people to put that on me. I always brush off my shoulders and say, put that weight on me because here's the thing at the end of the day, whether it's Botox, whether it's purple hair. Whether it's pink socks with brown dental floss, that makes you feel better in the morning, I'd put a Cheeto on my forehead if it made me a better citizen but I couldn't hurt me, want to help them. So, I encourage them to put that on me so they can feel the best. And we encourage game plans on that. Because here's the thing in aging every day, there's nothing worse when you go somewhere for help and you feel like they're selling you things. So, my goal is to teach people to make a game plan. So, when they come, they don't feel every time oh, I'm serving myself. Oh, I feel guilty. The truth of it is when you have the best version of yourself and it sounds cliche, but it's true, you really can stand confidently out there and use your skill set right. To serve other people.

Angela Gennari: And so, I came in recently for a treatment and I thought it was so amazing because you talked to me the whole time and I didn't feel like I was doing it. Wasn't like going to a spa. This felt like a healing process.

Dr. Joni Collins: Thank you.

Angela Gennari: And that's really what I get from how you serve people and what you do differently because we've been to spas, we've been to med spas, but with what you do, I feel like there's a, there's an element of really, truly trying to heal internally.

Dr. Joni Collins: And it takes time.

Angela Gennari: And then that takes time. And some of the looking in the mirror sometimes the times that I was actually just speaking with somebody else that sometimes when you feel good inside is when you look the best on the outside. That's true. And so, there is a correlation of how I feel internally and how I look externally to other people, and it's an energy and an aura and a vibrance to you.

Dr. Joni Collins: And there's a lot of psychology and aesthetics. So, when people notice something and I always encourage what bothers you, and kind of give the why. Not that they have to prove anything, but usually there is a story. And it usually relates to something of childhood. Someone made fun of somebody or a friend hurt my feelings when they pointed this out where I broke my nose, because someone punched me in the face or there's a scar on my cheek because I was stabbed. Those are things that are truly traumatic. And if you're looking every day and you see that reminder, that hurts. Literally! And so, how can someone feel stand tall and look at themselves and have that memory, unless it's something that they want to keep. And so, we discussed that.

Angela Gennari: Talk to me about how you got into this industry. What encouraged you to make a start into aesthetics?

Dr. Joni Collins: This is actually funny. Going back to fire trade characters. So, I actually cheered for the NFL. And that's where it goes back to just being brokenhearted in college, and it was my last semester and a boyfriend cheated on me or something cheesy like that. And instead of feeling sorry for myself, I was like, you know what? I don't even know how-to put-on makeup, but I'm a ballerina and I'm going to go try out for the NFL. And I made it and made the travel team in the USO. It's kind of cool. but it taught me about networking and in doing that, the women that were gorgeous, smart, brilliant, kind, really wanted aesthetic procedures. And so, they'd say, if we're going to get this done, will you please learn how to do this, do this.

So, I did. I did it part-time I was working at the NICU as my first job, intubating babies, running codes, and then going to put red lipstick on at NFL practice. But the women there really encouraged me of the art. And I really saw the psychology of it. So, in about 2011, after doing internal cardiology, trauma, all that saved the world things. I realized and felt true to myself of that. I could stand tall and doing aesthetics and be using my, you know, what I'm supposed to be doing? But it is art, it's a lot of art, it's a lot of seeing things in not just one plane, it’s seeing things spiritually, making game plans, and helping educate. We always say educate, empower, serve. So, educate others, empower them to make the choices, and serve them as well.

Angela Gennari: Oh, I love it. Okay. So, when you started doing aesthetics you really took it as I'm healing from the inside out, right?

Dr. Joni Collins: Oh, absolutely.

Angela Gennari: You started studying psychology and understanding why people get to the point where they feel like they need aesthetics for that actually help them?

Dr. Joni Collins: It was interesting. So, it was not on purpose. The psychology was in behind and growing up and just asking people questions or seeing psychiatric influence in my family for the benefit of therapy or things. Just my parents were very proactive and their educators, but it was actually the opposite. I was doing psychology and then aesthetics because the joke is I got some rock and eyelashes, if I buy extensions in some tended sunscreen, I'm looking halfway decent, but I'm going to have a skateboard in my car, which can't really do that great in Atlanta. But I really didn't know aesthetics meant and I think what I want the message to get across is aesthetics is so much more than just a physical look or this selfishness that people see, we all have this need to want to feel and look good and if people don't, I want to encourage them. Why?

Angela Gennari: Right. Well, and sometimes if they don't, it's due to trauma. They want to hide from the world.

Dr. Joni Collins: And I get that because I was that person. I would feel guilty if I curled my hair or if I wrapped eyelashes or if I had lip gloss it's okay. And if here's the thing, if that's not for you stand tall on that too, it's not for everyone. But then I support that as well.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. And I agree. I mean, there are people who don't put it's not a priority to them and that's a hundred percent okay.

Dr. Joni Collins: There's so many game plans would do too, and that's the regenerative part. So, hair loss. We'd even do sexual wellness. We, I say we, the mouse in my pocket I do. But there's so many different things such as, you know, besides scar therapy, there's sexual health and wellness. Erectile dysfunction, anorgasmia things as such. And we address all of this, our eye address, all this.

Dr. Joni Collins: Awesome, because again goes down to psychology, psychology, and medicine together.

Angela Gennari: And that's where the stealth of the Airstream is. It was actually before COVID when I had the Airstream. And so, it wasn't even known then this traveling thing and showing up in isolation, it was just a God thing.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. So, what inspires you?

Dr. Joni Collins: My mother, my dad, my children. My children inspire me because they're what... we have our future, our legacy, and what we leave to them is to me. When I look at God in the face and say, okay, what did you do with what I gave you? I give you a lot, Joni what'd you do. And I think about these two human beings that were created out of just a complete miracle. There's science, but then there's God. And to look at them and know that I gave every effort I could to support them makes me most emotional because I'm so thankful. And it's funny I don't mind sharing this. I went through in vitro right. 12 years ago, and then a 42-year-old woman, that's me actually joking saying 84, but I'm 42 I had a miscarriage and it was spontaneous pregnancy on birth control. And that was that same situation of, oh, wow. What am I going to do with this? But again, what the legacy of leaving that is, how did I face adversity in front of my daughters? I cried for maybe four to eight hours and then I got to work and then seeing that is important. Because using failures to make success. There's certain things we do not have control over.

Angela Gennari: And them seeing, you honor the miscarriage by grieving and then able to pick yourself up.

Dr. Joni Collins: Yeah. What I hope people hear too, is that it's not about just stepping up and moving on. There have been many moments of crying and counseling and hard work behind the scenes that have brought me here. It takes work. It's hard work from every angle possible.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. Yeah.

Dr. Joni Collins: But there is support out there too. I think that's the message. Is that besides leaving a legacy, don't be afraid to ask for help? There actually are good people.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. I mean, none of us got here alone.

Dr. Joni Collins: No. Oh my gosh.

Dr. Joni Collins: None of us. So, nobody makes it to the top alone. We all need...

Angela Gennari: And you could be that one person that makes or breaks someone day, like in the intro, when you're talking about the vendor. Big vendor in New York and the hedge biggest hedge fund in the world. And this guy, I asked him if I could say his name, Randy Robertson. Amazing human being made a massive difference in my life. And small-town dream in New York, within 24 hours pitching something and had that one person not believed in me. I pray I have the confidence inside you now, but it was even someone being loyal during failures to teach me. That you can fail, learn from this, and be use it to serve other people be better, and to still succeed in business. That was a huge thing. So, if he's out there listening, thank you, Randy.

Angela Gennari: Awesome. Yeah. And sometimes it's that one person believing in you when you don't feel like you believe in yourself.

Dr. Joni Collins: And that's my mom and dad. So, that's when you were saying, who inspires you? I never knew I couldn't do it. My parents literally always made us feel like, oh, you want to do it? You do it. You have to work hard, but you do it. And I can remember cleaning houses in high school. So, be able to go to college. So, it was just that cheerleader in the background that relentless spirit of I think I can, no, we know you can. So, I never know. I couldn't.

Angela Gennari: Right. I love it. That's awesome. And I think we all need that support, you know, women, men, everybody, you know, we all need that...

Dr. Joni Collins: And if you don't have a mom or dad there that can do that or a spouse or a sibling, encourage you to look for different groups out there, and this is an excellent resource for that.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. And you and I belong to a think tank group and I think that does a lot for us. Doesn't it? I mean, it's that group of individuals who collectively, we cheer each other on, we support each other's initiatives, we are there for each other in business. And I think that that has been a tremendous blessing in my life

Dr. Joni Collins: And I think that's the neatest thing about that think tank is that some of the most successful people you'd ever meet and think, oh my goodness, I'm not going to be able to talk to this person. They're way too cool for me, but I will say, and being here it is that think tank that has been there for me. That has been supportive without judgment. And so, it's okay, there are big people in this world that are kind and so absolutely, seek out resources. But if you don't ask, you can't get right.

Angela Gennari: Well, and so that's the thing is like, you know, as women, people are like, well, those opportunities aren't out there for me. There were no opportunities that just came knock to my door. I went and got them.

Dr. Joni Collins: That's what I said. You have to find them. Even a business plan. I remember working in cardiology and oculoplastic and what we jokingly called sketchy skins fall back in the day, but at night after my children went to bed, I would work on a business plan until three in the morning. It was work, it doesn't look, it's easy to see from the outside, Tada! Aesthetics. It's so fun. But I cleaned houses on the side. I took extra calls to be able to attend trainings. You have to invest in yourself.

Angela Gennari: You do. And when you don't see those opportunities presenting themselves to you. You go get those opportunities and you create them. And I worked very small amounts of time in my life. Most of the time I've been an entrepreneur over the past 20 years. But when I did work for corporations and I realized I wasn't being valued, I stopped working for them. And I created my own opportunities. When there's not enough recognition, I figure out, okay, well, what am I doing wrong? I can figure this out myself. I don't need somebody to recognize my value. I will show them my value.

Dr. Joni Collins: You show? I giggle because you had a nicer way of saying that I kind of got in trouble at places I worked because I was so outspoken. And I thought, well, how am I going to... how is this going to work? And it's not that I'm not a team player, but when you're really passionate about something yes. And ethically, or like it stops here, I'm not agreeing with this, I'm stepping over the line, I'm that 10th man or 10th woman. It's important to have accountability. And so, that's why I created my own business as well because I needed to be able to be a mom. But to be able to provide for my children, pay my student loans, for medical practice. And even when I moved here, I didn't even have a credit card. So, it goes to show, it's not like I had this back funding. Yes, I did in 2015 with investors. But when I had my own business, it's been done by hard work. It's doable.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely dry. So, you know, as women, I think we give away our power to so many people. We say it's because of this person and this person that I'm successful and had it not been for my spouse, had it not been for my employer, had it not been for this person. And while everybody in our lives do get credit for where we are, I feel like we are quick to give away our power and not step into our power. So, tell me about a time when you gave away your power unnecessarily and another time when you stepped into your power and why did you make that change and why then?

Dr. Joni Collins: And I wouldn't even say specific timeline, I've just seen the repetition and asking, why am I creating these habits of almost self-sabotage yes. And I realized, I was trying to quote, save the world, heal the world, and that it's not my job. It's just that sometimes people have to have failures to be able to have successes. And that's very hard because I would hire all these people that were quote projects. And then when you could actually disempower somebody too much. And then they would turn against you and it would hurt my feelings so badly. And I thought, why am I doing this over and over stand tall and feeling that you don't have to have projects because I was a project myself. And realizing, you know, yes, it takes a village, but you can do things through hard work on your own. I'd say the only thing that I'm not comfortable with saying that wasn't my own as God. And that's because I'm telling you, there are things that I cannot explain how I got through them other than God share God's your faith.

Angela Gennari: I agree with that. So, when you stepped into your power, it was just taking control of that, of like, I don't have to because I'm a big believer and you can help somebody so far, but they have to take accountability, they have to step into their own accountability

Dr. Joni Collins: And that's even what happened with the domestic violence event. I can remember that evening. I was getting my doctor of osteopathic medical science at a presentation due. I wanted to do that. The clapper. I was giving a presentation that evening and the occurrence that happened midday and again, two little girls looking at me and I thought, this is the moment in history. Where I can either sit here as a victim or be a Victor or a survivor. And that's when I prove to my, not to my benefit in a court of law, but at the moment that didn't matter. It was more about my children, my safety myself, and standing in that time. And it almost feels like in slow motion. When I think about it, I remember giving a presentation that evening after that event happened. Wow. And my little girls remember that they don't remember the tragedy. And so, that's standing, that's when I stood in that part and I remember thinking that's brought me through so many things, if I can get through that, right. I can get through anything, and even the bedrest, I was on bedrest for eight months with my daughters. Wow. That was harder than anything that I've worked for is sitting still sometimes. So, that's another lesson of this trial is sitting still sometimes is what you have to do.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. You know, I say that the Covid shutdown for my business was almost one of the blessings of time because it was an awful thing that was going on in the world, but it gave me the blessing of time because I was running, running, running, running, running, and I didn't want to slow down. And so, I felt like I was just constantly trying to catch up. Like I, my goals were so far ahead and I was just running to catch them constantly. And then everything shut down in the world, and it was the blessing of time that reminded me of where my passion is and the passion isn't necessarily in doing the day-to-day stuff, with my business, it's the bigger picture, the vision of what we're trying to create, which is serving others having a great place for our employees to work that is supportive and empowering, but also providing an amazing experience for the patrons at any of our events.

And so, I stepped back and I looked at the bigger picture, but then I also, the blessing of time gave me the ability to connect with people. And so, I started coaching. I started doing entrepreneurial coaching and finding ways to help others. And that's when I realized women were so in need of a platform and of a voice. And when I was doing these group coaching sessions, the women were super engaged. The men were fairly aloof because women, we don't have those resources. We don't have those networks. And so, when somebody takes the time to say, hey, let's learn this together, women embrace it. And so, we are really quick to say, yes, this is my opportunity. I need to grab it right

Angela Gennari: Now. I think the NFL taught me that actually too. Because you sit there and you look at these women, they're gorgeous on the film. I was joking and saying, I was a little boy with the brain. With my soccer, socks...

Dr. Joni Collins: And beautiful eyelashes.

Angela Gennari: It's all about the eyelashes.

Dr. Joni Collins: Okay. That's awesome. But they really encourage you to stand and service with each other as women. And then I'm sure that alumni, right. So, it's here for the Jaguars and this is women, Donna, Windsor, she's amazing. She's a cancer survivor, but she was a Testament to just standing with women unified to make a difference in change. And so, that's my platform of training. So, I teach many women that they can stand tall in business, even in medicine, because they did not teach medicine how to run a business. And so, I took the knowledge that I learned from even failures in 2015 through 17. And it sounds like, oh, with number one, med spa. But here's the thing, there's a lot of trial and error and behind the scenes. So, it's again about networking using the, not using, but using what is being presented to you as an opportunity every day. And the other thing I would say is sitting in the uncomfortable, I feel like we're in a Bible lesson, I'm sorry. Not you're fine. Because I'm like kind of Jesus by curse and I'm human being and I have major issues too. Everyone does. But it's sitting, being able to say, you know what, this is really uncomfortable. I'm going to sit in the uncomfortable and I'm going to deal with it. So, I think sometimes as women, we tend to be busy to keep ourselves from addressing things.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely.

Dr. Joni Collins: So, even in my practice when people are numbing and they're laying there, you have to sit in yourself and think about the uncomfortable, the healing, you know? So, that's it's an important part of being successful is being comfortable with yourself and sitting in the uncomfortable.

Angela Gennari: Right, and pushing through it because I mean, it's not always going to be easy, it's not always going to be comfortable, but pushing through it is really the key to getting to the other side.

Dr. Joni Collins: And not making it a habit. To feel sorry for yourself or to self-sabotage.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. So, what would you tell 18-year-old you setting out on the journey of adulthood? What would you say to her?

Dr. Joni Collins: Be strong and courageous? My daughter is the Cinderella and she always talks about be courteous and kind and right. I would tell myself, be strong and courageous because it's a crazy world out there. You have to be able to stand up for yourself, but be your own advocate, don't give up, and that sounds so cheesy, but it's the truth. You're your biggest advocate even in medicine. When you're getting treatments, be an advocate for yourself, speak up for yourself, ask questions and be relentless. Yeah. And God has you.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Awesome. I love that. So, what do you wish people knew?

Dr. Joni Collins: Wow. That's a hard one. And I've been thinking about again, back to legacy, what do people know? There's so many things that we all wanted to just say and that if you had that last moment. What did you know? I think that at the end of the day, we all can make or break someone's day. It's not, again, we talked about earlier, not about satisfying people, but I would really ask yourselves, what is your intention or what's the person's intention and really come from a powerful place of positivity and advocate for the best in things trust would verify, but really know that everyone has their own battle they're going through. Be that person to make that person's day rather than break it.

Angela Gennari: I was this morning I saw a quote and I actually shared it on my social media, but it was we don't see things as they are. We see things as we are. And so, going into your day and using that as a filter of, am I judging this person harshly because of my own internal filter, or am I seeing what needs to be seen?

Dr. Joni Collins: My text are misunderstood because we see them through how we're feeling at that time.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. We can be offended by something just because we just had a moment of where we felt slighted by somebody and now everything that's going to happen. Somehow, we become offended. And so, I've noticed even with interactions with my son, if I've had a bad day at work, or I had a bad phone call, the very next thing he could say something like, hey mom, I'm going to, you know, do X, Y, Z, and suddenly I'm frustrated with him. And he didn't do anything wrong.

Dr. Joni Collins: But and actually even tell your daughters too, if you were mom, I encourage, them always to ask questions. If you're the mom, what would you do? Because then it puts you in someone else's shoes, same thing with the advice of what would you tell someone they wish they learned, encourage yourself to ask questions of if you were that person, how would you feel? And you might change the way you do things.

Angela Gennari: You really will. And I think advocating for yourself, like you were saying is so important because I think as women, we don't do that enough we'll advocate for our kids. We'll advocate for our spouse we'll advocate for our family. But when do we advocate for ourselves?

Dr. Joni Collins: Like put the oxygen mask on yourself for others constantly have to remind myself that, but thank you for letting me be here.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I'm so, happy that we had a great conversation and I'm so thankful for your friendship. So, thank you for being here and I hope to see you again, on a show and wish you much success.

Dr. Joni Collins: Yeah. And to be, you know, I'm here for, not that I have the time, but I'll make the time. It's about making time for helping people and if anyone has questions medically or needs an advocate, I'd encourage them to reach out. If I don't get back to you quickly, I'll try my best to...

Angela Gennari: Right. And you've got even more extensive information that they can see on the website at prettypowerfulpodcast.com because we've got your bio up there. So, I look forward to seeing you soon. So, wish you watch success.

Thank you for joining our guests on the Pretty Powerful Podcast. And we hope you've gained new insight and learn from exceptional women. Remember to subscribe or check out this and all episodes on prettypowerfulpodcast.com visit us next time and until then step into your own power.