Dr Michelle Lee of PERK Plastic Surgery: Why We Need More Women Founders & Here Is What We Are Doing To Make That Happen
An Interview With Jerome Knyszewski
More women should become founders so that we can influence future generations to come! Female representation is one of the only ways to shift the expectation of what a founder looks like in the future. It’s important that younger generations do not automatically associate leadership roles with the male gender. Let’s eliminate the stereotypes that tell women what they can and cannot do!
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Michelle Lee, a board-certified and award-winning plastic surgeon practicing in Beverly Hills. In 2020, she starred in E! Entertainment’s reboot of Dr. 90210, the first ever all female plastic surgeon show, and most recently she has been developing a new medical-grade skincare line, PERK POTIONS. Dr. Lee founded PERK Plastic Surgery in Beverly Hills to create a natural and effortless aesthetic experience for her discerning clients. She refined her talents at the world’s finest medical institutions such as Harvard, UCLA and University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Lee shares her love of scalpels and skiing with her husband, renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Bjorn Lobo. To find out more about Dr. Lee’s work, please visit www.perkplasticsurgery.com.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Before I had ambitions to become a plastic surgeon, I was a double major in English and piano performance at UCLA. I actually played piano throughout my entire childhood and adolescence — for a total of 18 years. Once I got into UCLA, I was on my way to becoming a concert pianist, but after performing all over the world, I felt that it could be quite a lonely profession. So I decided to switch gears and study medicine!
There is no doubt music gives me a certain creative edge in the aesthetics industry. Music and aesthetics at the end of the day are both art forms. Performing a surgery is much like performing a symphony!
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The same year I founded PERK plastic surgery, I happened to be casted as the new generation of Dr. 90210 on E! Entertainment. The underlying message of the revamped series centers around female empowerment. What I particularly love about the show was that the producers chose to showcase four leading women in a male-dominated field to further shed light on the fact that only 15% of the plastic surgeon population is female! Dr. 90210 gave me an amazing opportunity to showcase my work, and most importantly, set an example for aspiring female surgeons and other women in science.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Prior to PERK, I learned a lot about medicine but nothing about running a business! The very first time a client tried to pay for a service we realized we didn’t have a credit card processor to accept their payment. The lesson I took away from this experience is that running a successful business is all in the details. Something as simple as keeping a checklist helps significantly with managing day-to-day tasks.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
There are so many people who helped me along the way. However, when I was trying to decide on the location of my business, I was definitely apprehensive at first about starting a plastic surgery practice in Beverly Hills, the most saturated aesthetics market in the world. I remember discussing my apprehension with an old friend of mine who suggested that being in a saturated market may actually be a good thing. I followed my dear friend’s advice, and to this day, I’m so glad I did. While it may be true that entering a highly competitive realm in your industry is a challenging path to take, I’ve found that it was critical to my success! The competition continually forces me to be innovative, unique and ahead of the game.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishmi. Although the title is a bit misleading, the central thesis is that we aren’t defined by our experiences, but by the meaning we give to them. I, too, am a firm believer that we create the future we want!
Do you have a favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life or your work?
“In order to have, you have to do, in order to do, you have to be.”
Thinking backwards, in order to have a world-class company that is a thought leader in the aesthetic industry, we must first do so by providing cutting edge services to our clients. In order to do just that, everyone at PERK must be completely dedicated, meticulous, and passionate!
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
By making people feel good in their own skin.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
Women still face this prevalent outdated societal expectation that, in order to be successful, we must choose between having a career or family. Women are still given the advice that it is difficult to balance the two and that in order to be a good mother or wife, you must sacrifice your career and passions. While balancing both a career and family can be challenging at times, especially as a surgeon or founder, achieving this feat is certainly not impossible.
Can you share with our readers what you are doing to help empower women to become founders?
After I founded PERK, two female residents from my residency program at Case Western decided to start their own individual practice. The best way to empower fellow women to become founders is by showing them that it can be done and providing mentorship!
This might be intuitive to you but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
More women should become founders so that we can influence future generations to come! Female representation is one of the only ways to shift the expectation of what a founder looks like in the future. It’s important that younger generations do not automatically associate leadership roles with the male gender. Let’s eliminate the stereotypes that tell women what they can and cannot do!
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share 5 things that can be done or should be done to help empower more women to become founders? If you can, please share an example or story for each.
- More female representation
According to the EY report, only 20% of founders are female, which interestingly corresponds to the statistic that only 15% of plastic surgeons are female.
We should give women in all industries a stronger platform in order to be recognized, like more media opportunities and coverage. For example, a reality show like Dr. 90210 is the perfect platform to set an example for all aspiring females in medicine and science.
2. Mentorship
I look to other women who founded successful businesses and also managed to balance work and family life. Stories like theirs continue to inspire me in my own life and career.
3. Providing resources and growth opportunities for women
There should be more resources for women on an institutional level.
Like classes on women in business, or more access to courses that focus on how to balance work and family life.
Resources like support groups for women in business are very important too. I am part of a support group for female surgeons who have founded their own practices and started their own business ventures. It is not only very helpful for those of us who are already doing the work, but also to those who have aspirations to become female founders in the medical field.
4. Women supporting other women
The female perspective comes with understanding other women and the structural issues we face. In other words, the uniquely female experience unites us! Therefore, it is important to support one another and have empathy for one another. When one woman succeeds, we all succeed! One woman’s success means that we are all one step closer to permanently shattering the proverbial ‘glass ceiling.’
5. & a message of encouragement to all of the aspiring women founders out there!
Never let anyone, or societal expectations for that matter, set limitations for you!
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Less self-criticism.
We live in an age where we stare at ourselves during Zoom meetings, see filtered versions of reality in almost every photo and self-isolate more than ever before. In other words, we have plenty of time to scrutinize ourselves! It’s important to remember that beauty is not about perfection — whatever perfection may look like to you. Beauty is about confidence.
Something I see all too often is a client absolutely consumed by something they feel self-conscious about. A physical attribute should never deter you from what you want to do in life. True beauty is authenticity! We should learn to embrace our individuality. Our unique qualities are what make us beautiful and what make us stand out from the rest.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. With persistence and authenticity, she cultivated Spanx from just an idea to a product that transformed an entire industry. I find her perseverance and success to be super inspiring!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can see some of my work and more about my business philosophies on my website www.perkplasticsurgery.com. Keep up with my busy life and newest business venture, PERK POTIONS, by following @drmichelleleeperk or @perkplasticsurgery on Instagram and @DrMichelleLee on Twitter!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
