The Mahogany Dermatology Nursing | Education | Research™ Internship Month 7 Reflection: From Student to Contributor

Jade Trevino, BSN, RN

This month felt like a shift. For the first time, I wasn’t just participating in the work. I was being asked to lead and contribute. And while I’ve been working toward that, it still felt surreal to see it materialize.

In July, I officially joined Diversity in Dermatology (DID) as the Blog Chair. I had been asked a few months ago if I would be interested, but the appointment required approval from the leadership team. Now that it’s official, I’ve been welcomed in as a leader and contributor. In this role, I’ll oversee content strategy for the blog and work with contributors to ensure articles align with DID’s mission of promoting representation and access in dermatology. I’ve already submitted my first article under this new title, which is now published!

It’s hard to describe how full circle this moment feels. It all started because I raised my hand and offered to write one article. That one action led to this opportunity. Now I’m a published contributor, a blog chair, and part of something much bigger than myself. It’s a reminder that visibility starts with small, bold moves.

This month, I also co-authored a print magazine article with Dr. Kimberly Madison, DNP. The piece was written under a tight deadline and came with very specific requirements. It stretched me, not because the topic was unfamiliar, but because I had to show up and perform under pressure. I was able to submit my section ahead of schedule, and I truly enjoyed the writing process. It made me realize how much I want to do more of this kind of work. Writing for real-world publications and contributing to the field in a way that extends beyond bedside care is something I truly value.

Another highlight was watching Kimberly launch the Alliance of Cosmetic Nurse Practitioners (ACNP). I got to witness the behind-the-scenes effort it takes to build something new: branding, strategy, content, and community-building. I was invited to support this new membership platform by teaching live workshops and engaging with the members. This will be the first time I’ve ever delivered live virtual presentations, and I’m both excited and nervous. Next month, I’ll be teaching four workshops for the ACNP community, and I already know the skills I gain will help shape my future as a nurse educator and leader.

Finally, I continued reflecting on how my business model is evolving. I’ve been navigating the transition from B2C to B2B, and this month brought clarity about who I want to serve and how. Kimberly helped me reframe what was feeling like stagnation into a normal part of the process: listening, testing, and refining.

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Key Takeaways This Month

● Leadership is often the result of small, consistent steps.

● Writing and teaching are two ways I can amplify my voice and make an impact.

● Growth doesn’t always feel like momentum. It can also look like stillness, clarity, and decision-making.

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Looking Ahead to Next Month

● Present four live workshops for the ACNP membership community

● Finalize and submit a new blog post for Diversity in Dermatology

● Continue refining my hybrid B2B/B2C business model

● Support Kimberly and the members of the ACNP community

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Closing Reflection

This month marked a turning point. I moved from asking questions to answering them. From pitching myself to being asked to contribute. From drafting ideas to delivering. It’s a reminder that you don’t have to wait until you feel ready. You just have to start. When you keep showing up, the opportunities eventually meet you where you are.

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Dr. Kimberly Madison, DNP

As a mentor, there is no greater joy than to witness the growth and confidence of your mentee. Seeing Jade call herself a nurse educator and leader marks a significant milestone in her professional journey: moving beyond direct patient care positions you to support other clinicians to improve their knowledge, confidence, leadership, and influence. The long-term consequence of these actions to support the clinician, leads to improved patient trust, rapport, and health outcomes. Despite the messaging in nursing and NP school, we’re able to help patients at a higher caliber and with greater sustainability when we step away from the patient to use our voice and amplify our message. This can be achieved immediately by taking the first step, without getting another degree or another certification. Nevertheless, our thirst for learning continues.

As I reflect on the first half of the year, specifically how it started, I’m hard pressed to remember every single goal, but this isn’t what I expected. I didn’t foresee most of what I’ve experienced this year, instead, it’s been much better!

“Tell God your plans and watch him laugh.”

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Pivot With Purpose

When I announced the internship, it was to help me publish peer-reviewed articles and launch my telehealth practice. Jade primarily signed on to get exposure to building an online business and explore innovative ways to specialize in dermatology. However, my business idea pivoted during Your Biggest Launch Ever – the business sales accelerator program I participated in all year – and so did the internship. You can see that in the messaging from calling Jade the Mahogany Telederm Nurse Intern to the Mahogany Dermatology Nurse Intern for 2025. To Jade’s credit, she adapted quickly and has been a huge supporter offering both critique and praise (invaluable feedback for any founder).

I started Your Biggest Launch Ever with two ideas. I applied because I wanted someone to tell me to just pick one and focus on it. Aspiring entrepreneurs and multi-hyphenates experience this problem of having more ideas than we have time. Multi-millionaires and billionaires advise you to hyperfocus on one thing, prove yourself, and then consider starting another business or diversifying your attention. I struggled with this for a long-time until I discovered the term multi-hyphenate and learned I wasn’t alone – there are more people with multiple ideas who implement them all at once. In rooms with other multi-hyphenates, I feel seen and heard. In rooms with those who advise to hyperfocus, I feel convicted.

Both ideas were aimed at supporting entrepreneurs and nurses wanting to transition into dermatology, neither of which were the telehealth practice. I pivoted. The minute I submitted my payment for Your Biggest Launch Ever, I immediately picked one idea to develop during the course, which at the time was sold as 8-weeks long. We would later find out that we would have access to the community and the team for 6 months, and the course content for a lifetime.

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Always, under promise and overdeliver.

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About a month into the course, I started analyzing my business plan based on my framework for a profitable business:

1. Can it earn repeat monthly revenue?

2. Can it scale to be larger than me?

3. Can it attract a buyer in the future?

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Over the course of a 1.5 months, I received access to some data that caught my attention. It highlighted some problems and gaps in our industry, it reminded me of what we value as solutions, and my potential contributions, specifically for Nurse Practitioners who specialize in cosmetics and entrepreneurship. I pivoted again. Then, I started testing my idea in the market with my ideal clients, desired partners, my community of entrepreneurs, and my coaches. During Your Biggest Launch Ever, we learned how to develop an idea and launch it from the ground up. The amount of momentum and building I was able to accomplish is directly related to faith, communicating the vision God gave me, having a team, being disciplined, asking the right questions, aligning with accountability partners, and leveraging my business acumen.

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Staying Consistent & Persistent

I have been learning about business for nearly ten years now, since I started NP school in 2016.   Something I only recently learned to appreciate. Similarly, to the way we make small investments on a frequent basis, those small investments on any given day appear insignificant/arbitrary. But, when we stay consistent and persistent over the course of time, we realize those small investments add up, and we reap the benefits of what is called compound interests. This is why we stress getting started NOW rather than waiting for the perfect time, there is no perfect time. You cannot time the market. Instead, it is better to have time in the market. And there’s no better time than right now.

Just like in medicine and nursing where we are required to maintain continuing education (CE) hours, we continue to invest in lifelong learning as entrepreneurs. You don’t have to wait to complete your degree, earn another certification, get the perfect job, or study for ten years to become an expert. You become an expert by doing the work, over and over and over. You have to keep showing up every day.

When I pivoted my business plan and my offer, my target audience pivoted too. This is a scary time for any entrepreneur because you feel like you’re starting over (something Jade is experiencing now) and you focus on the time you already spent.

“You’re either going to spend time or money but you can only get one of them back.”

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You can feel like the time you spent was wasted or will be wasted if you abandon an original plan or audience. The first time I experienced this fear was as an undergraduate biology student. The semester was half way over and my grade for a particular course was not where it needed to be. Afraid of starting over and not wanting my time to be in vain, I completed the semester instead of withdrawing from the course. Wrong decision. I wasn’t able to change that bad grade to a good one and my GPA suffered, for a long time. It doesn’t take much to improve a good GPA, but it takes a long time to correct a bad one. My advice now? Withdraw and start over. After that experience I learned, it would have been easier and faster to discard the 2-3 months and start over, compared to the years and additional degrees/debt I had to earn to make up for it.

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Don’t make decisions based on fear.

Life and business has taught me that, you never waste time, you only learn lessons. Those lessons become testimonies and those testimonies become the hope someone needs to keep going. They also become your intellectual property you can share for free or offer as a paid consultant, mentor or coach. People don’t want to just hear about your successes, they really want to hear about your failures and how you overcame them so they can have the tools to overcome theirs. Embrace failure. Embrace the pivot.

Fortunately, at this time, my business coach was also pivoting and sharing her experience, concerns, data analytics, and strategies publicly. Her role modeling served as a great framework for me to incorporate and it helped alleviate decision fatigue, imposter syndrome, and my perspective about what it really means to start over. I didn’t start over, the business just evolved into the next iteration. So did I.

Every business will take on different iterations. Start now so you can get to the next one of yours.

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The Alliance of Cosmetic Nurse Practitioners

Mahogany Dermatology Nursing | Education | Research™ exists to address gaps in access to dermatology nursing education, with a specific emphasis on skin of color, business acumen and digital fluency, a mission born from my personal experiences. The Alliance of Cosmetic Nurse Practitioners™ is one way we achieve our mission, an idea that came from my conversations with you all, knowledge of the data, and understanding of problem solving. Over the last twenty years, aspiring clinicians have been applying to nursing and nurse practitioner (NP) school solely to practice cosmetics. As I previously wrote about in the article, "How do I get into aesthetics?" the lack of structured oversight for this particular NP has led to a large number of Cosmetic NP Entrepreneurs closing their business, changing specialties, or leaving the healthcare industry.

There was no regulatory body or professional organization speaking directly to the Advance Practice Nurse who specializes in cosmetics AND entrepreneurship, founded on the 9 pillars of Advance Nursing Practice, and offering ongoing mentorship and coaching when it comes to 1. nursing practice and graduate education, 2. cosmetics, and 3. business for the employee and the employer.

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This is problematic for two reasons:

1. Nursing is more than cosmetics.

2. You have to sacrifice so much of your time away from your family, money, health, life, and go through so much stress just to deliver care that I don’t want you to go through all that not be able to reap the reward of your efforts. We work too hard for that.

A number of dermatology and cosmetic NPs have achieved a great deal of success, by their own accounts. But they also expressed there were certain opportunities that were difficult to obtain by themselves. These stories are very similar to watching a bunch of really good scrimmage games, separately, all in different neighborhoods. I love a good scrimmage game as much as the next person, but then I thought, what if we put all these remarkable, high achieving, compassionate NPs in one stadium? We’d have the Olympics! Who doesn’t love the Olympics? I thought, maybe I should be the lady who builds the stadium.

The Alliance of Cosmetic Nurse Practitioners™ is for Nurse Practitioners who want to build a business on the side or start their own empire. Understanding the reason NPs do this is critical to supporting us the way we need to be supported. We pick up where your weekend course, on-demand training, or academic program leaves off by providing weekly ongoing mentorship and coaching. No one program can teach you everything and your first question is never your last question. So where do you go when you need help?

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Everyone needs help.

Entrepreneurship is lonely. You don’t know what you don’t know. We are much more powerful together, than we are separately. Beyond NPs, there is an entire industry of professionals serving the same clientele. When you understand that the objective isto become business owners and investors instead of employees and self-employed, then you recognize that it behooves us to be in the room where ideas are birthed, where investments are being made, and where we can keep each other in business.

When we’re all in the room, we can create businesses that solve problems for one another. This allows us to keep each other in business. Instead of simply targeting large brands and venture capital firms, we utilize our resources to make small investments that accumulate over time, benefiting those who appreciate and value our education, clinical training, and contributions to medicine.

Far too long, NPs have been overlooked as revenue generators, thought leaders, and innovators. Fortunately, that has gradually been changing over the decades. Many nurses and NPs have achieved millionaire status, managed million-dollar budgets and stock portfolios, and enjoyed 8-figure exits from their businesses.  But these stories are not told enough. Some of those NPs don’t like or want the spotlight or attention. Respectfully, that is their right. But then those of you reading this don’t know what’s truly possible as a nurse or NP. We seek to change that, but we can’t do it alone. We need you.

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The Alliance of Cosmetic Nurse Practitioners. Est. 2025.

So, we launched the Alliance, welcoming Founding Members who were gifted lifetime designation as a Founding Member and access to the Founding Member rate for the lifetime of their membership as long as they remain in good standing. We welcomed prospects with a huge launch, my first ever, and it felt like opening the doors to a storefront. It was exhilarating, humbling, and relieving. The culmination of years of work and extreme patience was realized. I learned how to clear my calendar during that time, to ask for understanding and specific support from my family, and to trust my instincts! The overarching feeling is joy. I did what I sought out to do, and I love that for myself. Your Biggest Launch Ever prepared us well both physically and psychologically. Everything we were taught to expect was spot on, and I couldn’t be more grateful. Managing expectations is everything for patients and entrepreneurs.

“We can’t control the outcome, but we can control our efforts.” – Jasmine Star

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About the Author

Dr. Kimberly Madison, DNP, AGPCNP-BC, WCC, is a Board-Certified, Doctorally-prepared Nurse Practitioner, educator, and author dedicated to advancing dermatology nursing education and research with an emphasis on skin of color. As the founder of Mahogany Dermatology Nursing | Education | Research™ and the Alliance of Cosmetic Nurse Practitioners™, she expands access to dermatology research, business acumen, and innovation while also leading professional groups and mentoring clinicians. Through her engaging and informative social media content and peer-reviewed research, Dr. Madison empowers nurses and healthcare professionals to excel in dermatology and improve patient care.

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Jade Dupree Trevino, BSN, RN

I am a dedicated dermatology professional with over a decade of experience as a Dermatology Medical Assistant, Registered Nurse, and Clinical Nurse Coordinator. Passionate about education and inclusivity in dermatology, I joined the Mahogany Dermatology Nursing | Education | Research™ Internship to expand my knowledge and contribute to the field I love. Through this blog, I aim to share my journey as a source of inspiration for those exploring nontraditional paths in dermatology. I’m excited to help create innovative educational resources and encourage others to discover their purpose in this dynamic specialty.

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