Diamond Hands Podcast with Leslie Tracey

Leslie Tracey
  • 5.0 (27)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Biweekly

Conversations with the founders, executives, and operators shaping the future of medical aesthetics. Hosted by Leslie Tracey, executive brand advisor and author of Be Intentional or Be Irrelevant.

  1. Episode 90: She Posts Once a Month. Her Chair Is Full. with Whitney Carlson

    9h ago

    Episode 90: She Posts Once a Month. Her Chair Is Full. with Whitney Carlson

    What happens when you strip away the social media filters and look at medical aesthetics through a lens of clinical grit and a non-negotiable standard of care?     In this episode, Leslie Tracey sits down with Whitney Carlson, MSN, FNP-C (widely known as the Alaska Beauty Nurse), an established injector, national clinical trainer, and the founder of Skin Confident a seven-figure independent practice in rural Alaska. Whitney shares her 18-year nursing trajectory, from pediatric care to assisting in facial plastic and Mohs dermatology surgeries. She explains how entering the industry long before the social media boom anchored her philosophy in healthcare principles rather than passing internet trends.     Now a business owner and mentor, Whitney reflects on the identity shifts required to transition from a heart-forward clinician to a business owner and leader. She talks about navigating hard clinical moments, managing a growing team, and why true authority is earned through reliable patient outcomes and deep community trust not follower counts.    Together, Leslie and Whitney cover the operational friction points of the aesthetic industry, the concept of mitigating “emotional debt” through reliable SOPs, and how to stay grounded when the lines between social media perception and clinical reality blur.    This is a conversation about raw determination, structural leadership, and what’s possible when patient care in medical aesthetics is driven by vocation.       🎧 Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube   🔗 Resources & Links  👤 Connect with Our Guest Whitney Carlson, MSN, FNP-C  📸 Instagram: @alaskabeautynurse   💼 LinkedIn: Whitney Carlson on LinkedIn  🌐 Practice Website: https://www.skinconfidentalaska.com/      Remember: “Being seen and being trusted are two very different things… There is no helicopter, babe. You gotta work.” — Whitney Carlson    Enjoyed This Episode?  If this episode resonated with you, share it with an injector, practitioner, or healthcare entrepreneur looking to bring deep clinical intentionality, operational transparency, and authentic grit into their daily practice.  🎙️ To connect with your host, Leslie Tracey  (Founder, Diamond Hands Media | Author | GAIN Business Faculty):  📸 Instagram: @leslietracey__

    55 min
  2. Episode 89: From Condé Nast to the Consultation Room with Nurse Vinny

    Jul 3

    Episode 89: From Condé Nast to the Consultation Room with Nurse Vinny

    What happens when your dream creative career leaves your analytical brain starved and your passion diluted? In this episode, Leslie Tracey sits down with Vinny Sathe (known widely as Nurse Vinny), an emerging authority in medical aesthetics, an Allergan KOL, and a leading practitioner at Skin Spirit's premier Denver location, for a look at the intersection of high fashion, rigorous science, and clinical authority. Vinny shares his journey from a high-profile publishing and marketing career at Condé Nast in New York City to an accelerated nursing program. He explains how his early musical training and formal education in fashion design shaped a different way of looking at the human face; not just through a medical lens, but through a structural framework of form, space, light, and materials. Now a mentor and clinical leader, Vinny reflects on the identity shifts that came with his career pivot, how to ethically and responsibly navigate AI tools in practice, and what it takes to build a personal brand within a luxury institutional name like Skin Spirit. Together, Leslie and Vinny explore the hidden pressures of the aesthetic industry, the danger of overfilled, homogeneous results, how to rebuild trust with patients who've been let down elsewhere, and why the next generation of injectors must confidently reclaim medicine in medical aesthetics. This is a conversation about visual craftsmanship, clinical depth, and what's possible when patient care in medical aesthetics is held to a meticulous, high standard. 🎧 Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube         🔗 Resources & Links  👤 Connect with Our Guest Nurse Vinny  📸 Instagram: @nursevinny (Reach out directly for private training or clinical networking inquiries)  🌐 Website: https://www.skinspirit.com/   Remember: "Aesthetics describes how we perceive something. We need to start curating our perception of ourselves in every aspect."    Enjoyed This Episode?  If this episode resonated with you, share it with an injector, practitioner, or creative entrepreneur looking to bring deep intentionality and a luxury experience into their daily workflow.    🎙️ To connect with your host, Leslie Tracey   (Founder, Diamond Hands Media | Author | GAIN Business Faculty):   📸 Instagram: @leslietracey_

    39 min
  3. Episode 88 – The Patients You Already Have Are the Strategy with Audrey Neff

    Jun 26

    Episode 88 – The Patients You Already Have Are the Strategy with Audrey Neff

    What does it take to build authority in business when the odds and your age are against you? In this episode of the Diamond Hands Podcast, Leslie Tracey talks with Audrey Neff, Chief Marketing Officer at Aviva Aesthetics, about industry influence, scaling medical practices, and the industry's shift toward private equity and corporate ownership. Audrey broke into medical aesthetics at 22 and became one of the market's most recognized speakers and a top 3% podcast host. She shares how mentorship shaped her early career, the hard truth of moving from a startup to private equity, and the mistake of separating sales, marketing, and retention. Leslie and Audrey also dig into why running a clinic like a pro sports team, and refusing to keep toxic, high-revenue producers, is the real secret to scaling a business from $1 million to $5 million. They cover the wave of private equity hitting aesthetics in mid-2026, current valuation multiples, and a founder-friendly alternative that lets med spa owners tap into corporate purchasing power while keeping 100% ownership of their business. Audrey leaves practice owners with a clear playbook for protecting and growing what they've built. 🎧 Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube      🔗 Resources & Links 👤 Connect with Our Guest Audrey Neff 🌐 Website: https://www.avivaaesthetics.com 🤝 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audreyneff/ “You don’t get anywhere phenomenal in business or life without surrounding yourselves with people that are specific experts in that specific craft.” — Audrey Neff Enjoyed This Episode? If this episode resonated with you, share it with a fellow practice owner or entrepreneur navigating scale, team culture shifts, or corporate transitions. Audrey’s approach shows what actually protects a practice’s value alignment, systems, and culture. And if you’d like to connect with your host, Leslie Tracey (Founder, Diamond Hands Media | Author | GAIN Business Faculty): 📸 Instagram: @leslietracey_ If you understand brand, story, and distribution, you can build anything in this industry.Subscribe to my newsletter for weekly strategy for aesthetic founders & healthcare CEOs:🔗 https://www.leslietracey.com/Work with my team at Diamond Hands Media:🔗 https://diamondhandsmedia.com(Healthcare video marketing, executive brand strategy, and branded patient journeys for leaders who want to dominate their market.)––– My Book –––Be Intentional or Be Irrelevant🔗 https://a.co/d/fE8DuQoSource paper: https://arxiv.org/html/2510.14223v1

    40 min
  4. Episode 87 - 13 Years Sober. Two Clinics. One Real Life. with Emma Wedgwood

    Jun 19

    Episode 87 - 13 Years Sober. Two Clinics. One Real Life. with Emma Wedgwood

    What do you do when the life you've built falls apart?  In this episode, Leslie Tracey sits down with Emma Wedgwood, Advanced Medical Aesthetic Nurse, Independent Prescriber, and founder of Emma Wedgwood Aesthetics, for a raw and honest conversation about addiction, recovery, resilience, and rebuilding from rock bottom.  Emma shares how a successful nursing career spiraled into alcohol addiction, leading to disciplinary action that nearly cost her nursing license. She opens up about the shame, denial, and fear that accompanied that period of her life, and the moment she realised she had a choice: continue down a destructive path or fight for a different future.  Now 13 years sober and the owner of two successful clinics, Emma reflects on the identity shifts that shaped her recovery, the courage required to start over, and the lessons she learned transitioning from intensive care nursing into medical aesthetics.  Together, Leslie and Emma explore the impact of limiting beliefs, the hidden pressures of healthcare culture, entrepreneurship, personal responsibility, and why helping others has become a central part of Emma's mission. Through her pro bono initiative supporting women in recovery, Emma is creating opportunities for others to rebuild confidence, self-worth, and belief in what's possible.  This is a conversation about second chances, resilience, and the extraordinary things that can happen when someone decides their story isn't over yet.    🎧 Listen On Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube     🔗 Resources & Links  👤 Connect with Our Guest Emma Wedgwood  ● 🌐 Website: https://www.emmawedgwoodaesthetics.co.uk/  ● 🤝 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmawedgwoodaesthetics/  ● 📸 Instagram: @emmawedgwoodaesthetics    Remember:  "I thought my life was over. It turned out it was just the beginning."        Enjoyed This Episode?  If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone navigating a setback, recovery journey, or major life transition. Emma's story is proof that your lowest moment does not have to define your future.  And if you'd like to connect with your host, Leslie Tracey (Founder, Diamond Hands Media | Author | GAIN Business Faculty):  📸 Instagram: @leslietracey_

    54 min

  5. Jun 12

    Episode 86 - Luxury Is a Position, Not a Price with Adam Haroun (Founder & CEO of Aesthetic Altitude)

    What separates the practices that command premium prices from the ones stuck competing on discounts?  In this episode, Leslie Tracey sits down with Adam Haroun, Founder and CEO of Aesthetic Altitude, to discuss luxury branding, patient experience, pricing strategy, and why differentiation is becoming one of the most valuable assets in aesthetic medicine. Adam shares how practices can stop competing on price, attract higher-quality patients, and build brands that thrive in an increasingly AI-driven world.  Together, they unpack the difference between premium and luxury positioning, why patient experience begins long before someone walks through your doors, and how small operational details can dramatically influence perception, trust, and retention.  Adam also reveals his powerful "3 Cs" framework for building a luxury brand, explains why your front desk team may be your most important marketing asset, and discusses how practices can thrive in an AI-driven world by doubling down on differentiation, human connection, and exceptional experiences.  This episode is for practice owners who are ready to stop chasing volume, stop competing on price, and start building a brand that patients actively seek out.    🎧 Listen On Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube    🔗 Resources & Links  👤 Connect with Our Guest Adam Haroun (Founder & CEO of Aesthetic Altitude)  ● 📸 Follow Adam on Instagram: @adamlovesbranding ● 🤝 Connect with Adam on LinkedIn ● 💻 Learn More About Aesthetic Altitude    Remember:  "If you're trying to appeal to everyone, you'll end up resonating with no one."  Enjoyed This Episode?  If this episode made you rethink pricing, positioning, or patient experience, share it with a practice owner who needs to hear it.  And if you'd like to explore what your brand is really communicating to the market, connect with your host, Leslie Tracey (Founder, Diamond Hands Media | Author | GAIN Business Faculty).  📸 Instagram: @leslietracey_

    49 min
  6. Episode 85 - Human Connection Is the Next Premium Offering with Jessica Cvetic, MSPAS, PA-C (Founder of Citrus Aesthetics & Citrus Franchising)

    Jun 5

    Episode 85 - Human Connection Is the Next Premium Offering with Jessica Cvetic, MSPAS, PA-C (Founder of Citrus Aesthetics & Citrus Franchising)

    What does it look like to build a highly profitable aesthetics empire without losing your ethics, your judgment, or your humanity along the way? Jessica Cvetic, MSPAS, PA-C, didn't arrive in the med spa industry from the world of superficial trends. She arrived through the high-pressure doors of the ER, armed with deep anatomical knowledge, a massive sense of risk responsibility, and a clinical standard that fiercely separates confidence from competence.  In this episode, we unpack why human connection is fast becoming the ultimate premium offering in an increasingly automated, AI-driven world. Jessica breaks down her breakthrough, trademarked AWQ-10 (Aesthetic Wellness Questionnaire) protocol—a 10-question pretreatment tool designed to catch the 5% of patients who aren't psychologically ready for treatments, ensuring providers fulfil their medical oath to "do no harm" while actively lowering practice litigation risk.    We also explore the operational reality of "unreasonable hospitality", why patient retention beats transactional volume every single time, navigating medical trust in the age of AI, and how to build a community-driven brand that serves as a true sanctuary for the human spirit.  This one is for the provider who wants to build something that lasts, anchored in deep clinical ethics.     🎧 Listen On Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube   🔗 Resources & Links    👤 Connect with Our Guest Jessica Cvetic, MSPAS, PA-C (Founder of Citrus Aesthetics & Citrus Franchising)    💻 Visit Citrus Aesthetics   🤝 Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn  📸 Follow Citrus Aesthetics on Instagram  Remember - "Great marketing gets them through the door once. Only great work brings them back.    Enjoyed This Episode? If this one made you think differently about your practice, share it with one person who needs to hear it.     And if you want to talk about what your brand is actually signaling, connect with Your Host — Leslie Tracey (Founder, Diamond Hands Media | Author | GAIN Business Faculty)   Via: 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslietracey_/

    53 min
  7. Episode 84: Be unmistakable in the Right Room

    May 29

    Episode 84: Be unmistakable in the Right Room

    Most aesthetic leaders have at least one of these, but very few have all three working together: proof, cultural proof, and distribution. And so they do the work. But somewhere between the exceptional results they achieve and the authority they're working toward, something isn't connecting. The problem isn't results. It's a distribution problem. In Part 4 of How Authority Compounds, Leslie gets into the distinction most luxury strategy advice skips entirely; the difference between mass reach and selective desire. The market doesn't reward the person who tries to be everywhere. It rewards the person who builds a highly disciplined media architecture to become completely unmistakable in the right rooms. This episode walks through the three critical layers of elite authority, why private proof never compounds over time, and what it looks like to apply luxury thinking to your personal brand asset. There's also a practical exercise that will show you, quickly and clearly, exactly how to build a Proof Map to determine where your message must travel to build true narrative equity. This one is for the leader who is done keeping their achievements private and ready to own their authority. Don't skip this one. Part 4 of How Authority Compounds; a four-part series by Leslie Tracey Part 1: Visibility Is Not The Assethttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubROeKxiB9cPart 2: You Are More Than Your Credentialshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgeDPgIULLgPart 3: Your Post Count Is Not Your Position.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTnbZGEsU8kPart 4: Be Unmistakable in the Right Room Chapters 00:00 The Importance of Proof in Authority 02:51 Understanding Cultural Proof 05:11 The Role of Distribution in Authority 08:20 Building a Proof Map for Success 🎧 Listen On Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube Enjoyed This Episode? If this one made you think differently about your practice, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And if you want to talk about what your brand is actually signalling, connect with Your Host — Leslie Tracey (Founder, Diamond Hands Media | Author | GAIN Business Faculty) Via: 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslietracey_/

    12 min
  8. Episode 83: Your Post Count Is Not Your Position

    May 22

    Episode 83: Your Post Count Is Not Your Position

    Most professionals in this industry have been told the same thing: show up every day, post consistently, stay active. And so they do. But somewhere between all that activity and the authority they're working toward, something isn't connecting. The problem isn't effort. It's signal.   In Part 3 of How Authority Compounds, Leslie gets into the distinction most content advice skips entirely; the difference between being seen regularly and actually being known for something. The market doesn't reward the person who posts the most. It rewards the person whose thinking it can recognise, repeat, and trust. This episode walks through the two patterns she sees most in medical aesthetics leaders, why perfectionism is just as costly as overposting, and what it looks like to build a body of work that actually adds up to something. There's also a practical exercise that will show you, quickly and clearly, exactly what your last ten pieces of media are telling the market about you. This one is for the leader who is done being busy and ready to be known.   Don't skip this one. Part 3 of How Authority Compounds; a four-part series by Leslie Tracey Part 1: Visibility Is Not The Asset Part 2: You Are More Than Your Credentials   Enjoyed This Episode? If this one made you think differently about your practice, share it with one person who needs to hear it. And if you want to talk about what your brand is actually signalling, connect with Your Host — Leslie Tracey (Founder, Diamond Hands Media | Author | GAIN Business Faculty) Via: 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leslietracey_/

    16 min
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5
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27 Ratings

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Conversations with the founders, executives, and operators shaping the future of medical aesthetics. Hosted by Leslie Tracey, executive brand advisor and author of Be Intentional or Be Irrelevant.

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