By Dr. Kimberly Madison, DNP, AGPCNP-BC, WCC & Jade Trevino, BSN

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Dr. Madison: The Mentor's Perspective
There's a phase in every entrepreneurial journey that no one really talks about, the "messy middle." It's the period after the initial excitement has faded but before the big, visible wins have materialized. This is the phase where the real work happens, and it is powered not by fleeting motivation, but by a disciplined and resilient mindset. This month, I witnessed our intern, Jade, navigate the messy middle with incredible introspection and courage. She confronted one of the most difficult truths for any new founder: the psychological friction that makes it a thousand times harder to complete a task for your own business than it is to do the exact same task for someone else. Her reflection this month is a powerful testament to the internal work required to transition from an employee's mindset to a founder's. It’s a lesson in learning to show up for yourself with the same non-negotiable commitment you've always given to others.

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Jade Trevino, BSN, RN
Mindset Over Motivation
This month taught me that mindset matters more than motivation when it comes to showing up for myself and my goals.

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This past month, I attended Ashley Kirkwood’s Your First Corporate Tour. This in-person, one-day conference was exciting and full of valuable lessons. I had applied as a volunteer several weeks before, and to my surprise, I was selected. I learned about creating a business-to-business offer for my business, but even more importantly, I learned how to get out of my own way. Ashley shared a framework for identifying and reframing limiting beliefs. During the conference, I practiced recognizing those thoughts and shifting them quickly. This mindset work will be essential as I continue to grow.

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While I was there, I also worked up the nerve to network with some of the other attendees. I ended up meeting two nurses entrepreneurs that I have followed on social media for a long time. At first, I didn’t recognize them, but when we started talking, I realized who they were. It was such a good reminder that you never know who you will meet when you put yourself in the room.

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As I learn more about business, Kimberly often reminds me that there will likely be several iterations of my idea as I put the pieces together. This month, I decided to make a major change to my business model. The decision came from what I learned at the conference and the work I have been doing with my SBDC business advisor. Even though the change will have a positive impact, it feels a lot like starting over, and that feeling has left me a bit stuck. I am working through these emotions, and I know this is simply part of entrepreneurship.

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I also had the opportunity to work on a project for Mahogany Dermatology Nursing | Education | Research™ to help us execute the mission. For this project, I was asked to do research to help her reach out to her ideal client. While I was completing this assignment, I remembered that I had learned how to do this in a webinar I watched months ago. At that time, when I thought about applying it to my own business, all kinds of self-doubt came up, and I convinced myself it would be too difficult. However, when Kimberly asked me to do the same thing, I found it easy to figure out, and I was surprised by how straightforward it actually was. This reminded me of something Ashley said at the conference. She shared that people often ask her how she stays motivated to keep doing the work for her business. Her response was a reminder that we wake up and go to work every day. We are assigned tasks, we solve problems, and we get things done. We don’t wake up and decide we just won’t do the work. She said we should have the same level of commitment to ourselves that we give to building someone else’s business. That is the standard she holds herself to.

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Completing this project proved to me that I still have work to do on my mindset if I want to become a successful business owner.
Another big milestone this month was finishing my part of the systematic review that I started earlier this year. This was a huge win for both me and Kimberly. It was my very first time writing a research paper of this scale, and I had to dig deep to complete it. It was harder than I expected, but now that I’ve done it, I think it will take me less time to finish the next one. There are a few more steps before we can submit it for publication, and I can’t wait to share it with the world.

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What was most valuable or unexpected?
What I found most valuable and also unexpected this month was seeing, in real time, how everything I have learned since starting this internship is coming together in practice. In March, when I attended the Diversity in Dermatology conference, I was very nervous about talking to others about my business idea. I followed Kimberly’s advice and guidance. She reassured me that the more I practiced, the easier and more natural it would feel. She was right.

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At the conference I attended this month, I found it much easier to talk about my business plans, and I felt more confident. However, in one conversation, when the person responded, I knew immediately that the message I was trying to share was not clear. It showed me that I still need to improve how I communicate my business idea.

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Key takeaways and lessons learned:

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--It’s important to be introspective and evaluate your own thoughts and feelings, and to notice how your mindset may be holding you back from reaching your goals.

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--Work as hard for yourself as you would for someone else.

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--Keep showing up, and you will continue to grow.

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--I was reminded that motivation is fleeting. It’s the consistency that matters.

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How does this prepare me for my future in dermatology nursing?
All the lessons I’ve learned this month are paving the way for me to be successful in every area of dermatology nursing. I strengthened skills in verbal communication, writing, research, and follow-through, and business.

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Closing
This month reminded me that growth is often uncomfortable, but it is always necessary. Each experience, whether it felt like a win or a challenge, taught me something about resilience and the importance of believing in my own ideas. I am proud of the progress I’ve made and grateful for the support and encouragement I continue to receive. I look forward to carrying these lessons into next month and building on this foundation.

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Dr. Madison: Final Thoughts
Reading Jade’s reflection this month fills me with immense pride. The pivot she made in her business model is not a sign of being stuck; it is a sign of a savvy founder who is listening to the market and is brave enough to make a data-driven decision - a crucial step for every founder. Furthermore, the completion of her portion of the systematic review is a monumental achievement. It represents not just hard work, but the creation of the first piece of intellectual property she has co-created in this space. It is a tangible asset and a testament to her ability to push through immense challenges to produce high-caliber work. She is not just learning to be an entrepreneur; she is actively becoming one, one uncomfortable, necessary step at a time.

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Dr. Kimberly Madison, DNP, AGPCNP-BC, WCC
June was a busy month, and it marked the halfway point of the first year of Mahogany Dermatology Nursing | Education | Research™ Internship. These monthly reflections serve to be very helpful, humbling, and motivating. We’ve reached a significant number of milestones this year, and I couldn’t be more excited to know I shared them with so many people.  These shared experiences are exactly what I wanted. We keep track of tasks, accomplishments, agenda, resources, etc., using Notion. You may also find it helpful to organize your thoughts, communicate with your team, assign tasks for project management, and so much more, whether you start with a blank page or use one of 100s of templates. If you can think of it, Notion can probably do it, plus it integrates with many of your favorite apps and widgets to create an all-in-one experience.

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Ashley Kirkwood’s Your First Corporate Tour
While I didn’t attend Ashley Kirkwood’s in-person event, I did join a summit she held virtually, and I loved it and her! Her energy is infectious. If you’ve watched any of my recent YouTube videos in the Aesthetics for NPs and Entrepreneurs Playlist, you’ve likely heard us recommend the idea of offering tiered options for your services and goods. The idea came from Ashley, and it’s brilliant. Additionally, I learned how to keep an audience engaged, how to simplify that engagement during a 1+ hour virtual experience, and more ways to pitch to corporate clients. I particularly love these coaching sessions because we always talk about the numbers. Ashley shared that she went from earning $40,000 to $80,000 per speaking engagement. Until you know something’s possible, you don’t know to reach for it.

When it comes to offering tiered pricing, it allows you to show your client that you’re willing to work with them, helps you address common objections to your offer, and helps increase the likelihood they will be a returning client. On YouTube, I spend more time talking about barriers and opportunities in business for NPs. On the Mahogany Dermatology blog, I cover more clinical content. If you haven’t checked out our YouTube channel, and that’s of interest to you, I invite you to subscribe so you’ll be notified when we release new videos and when we record LIVE on batch content days where I can answer your questions in real time. Jade was very smart in offering her time by volunteering; it’s economical, strategic, and mutually beneficial for all parties involved. In short, it gets you in the room.

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Black AI Literacy Week
Black AI Literacy Week changed my life. All the dreams and plans I wanted to do found an immediate pathway to implementation and execution. There is so much more to AI than drafting emails, creating SOPs, brainstorming ideas, and creating handouts for patients/clients. I would have never been able to learn everything I learned in the 5-days and 12+ hours each day from people with varied backgrounds on my own. Another example of why it’s so important to be in community. Normally, my research and utilization of AI is on the provider end with lots of attention on how to improve transparency, trust, adoption in clinical practice and for entrepreneurs, and digital literacy amongst the public. During Black AI Literacy Week, I was able to hear from patients and how they use AI to interact with the system (nurses specifically), gather information for preventative care, and how caregivers are using it for children on the Autism spectrum and older parents. We heard from people in every sector, including lawyers, project managers, educators, ministers, scholars, executives, engineers, and more addressing utilization, barriers to adoption, and areas of concern, legislation, racism, and innovation. I created my first app in less than 60 minutes and that led to a major brainstorming session on several other applications.

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I’ve continued my work with them and a co-working group as both a student and an early adopter, eager to help healthcare professionals and entrepreneurs increase our digital literacy, confidence, and adoption. Patients are already using AI (my parents included), so it’s critical that we can educate them on safety, options, and credibility, to start. This is an important area of interest at Mahogany Dermatology Nursing | Education | Research™ as it's part of our mission: to increase access to dermatology nursing education with a specific emphasis on skin of color, business acumen, and digital fluency. AI helps us achieve every single pillar. As Jade mentioned, our first peer-reviewed article together is about the use of AI to increase access to dermatologic care in provider shortage areas, which offers a critical analysis of the latest evidence-based data to address solutions in both nursing education and execution. Stay tuned, there’s more to come in the August reflection.

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State of Nursing Education
I wrote and published The State of Nursing Education: Pathways, Purpose, and the Future of Cosmetic & Dermatology Practice, the first white paper by Mahogany Dermatology Nursing | Education | Research™. For us to move forward with the mission, I had to take the time to address gaps in not only dermatology nursing education but in nursing education and training. There are so many questions when it comes to nursing education, training, clinical practice, entrepreneurial opportunities, and gaps in research that I felt it important to address so my peers can not only understand their options, have a framework to follow, but also so they can spend less time answering the same questions and more time working on their business.

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This report helps aspiring clinicians understand the differences in educational pathways, prerequisites, clinical training hours, certification, and licensure requirements, median compensation for physicians, nurse practitioners (NPs), and physician associates (PAs) in dermatology. A bulk of the reports discuss the different nursing degrees, areas of practice, doctoral research, the nuances of nursing practice, and our relationship to the patient. Inspired by a mother asking for advice for her high school aged daughter who wants to practice cosmetics, I provided a pathway for gaining experience at her age all the way to those practicing in a different speciality as experienced NPs. The reports closes by taking a look at the macro healthcare market and what that means for NPs who specialize in cosmetics and entrepreneurship, both what we can learn and offer them. You can access your free copy here.

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Society of Dermatology Physician Associates 2025 Summer Conference
I had the pleasure of attending both the Society of Dermatology Physician Associates (SDPA) 2025 Summer Conference and the Black Health Connect Conference back home in the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia). My conference week started on Capitol Hill with the SDPA for their Hill Day, where we spoke to congressional staffers to get support for current and pending legislation. I shared my experience in a previous article here. The SDPA’s home address is in Northern Virginia and they are the first to host a dermatology conference in my hometown since I entered the world of dermatology. It was a delightful experience and we were so happy to see the DMV on the map and collaborate with them as we hosted the DMV Dermatology NP + PA Group’s Summer Mixer.

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DMV Dermatology NP + PA Group Summer Mixer
We held our DMV Dermatology NP + PA Group Summer Mixer in DC with the company of our new friend, Dr. Tim Reed, PhD, founder of We Rock Cancer. Since I’ve already shared our experience in this recent article, I will just add how much I was pleased to see how well everyone got along, the high level of engagement, and the amount of gratitude. This particular mixer embodied the very foundation of the work we’re doing in nursing. I was deeply moved by the new connections and the possibility of everyone maintaining those relationships. I’m excited to see what they do next!

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I founded the DMV Dermatology NP + PA Group in October of 2023. I was inspired by a good friend and fellow member of DNPs of Color, Dr. Patrice Kiesling, DNP, FNP-C, who founded a private Facebook page for NPs in Colorado. When I was a traveler in Colorado, she let me join, and I was blown away by the camaraderie and value given. I was particularly interested in their casual, in-person meetings that would occur on a Saturday morning, especially after the isolation of the pandemic. Later that same year, I attended the Sunrise Dermatology and Procedures Conference where I was inspired by Dr. Patricia Delgado and the Florida delegation who also created a close-knit community; an experience I documented here. On the heels of being inspired by both women, I founded the DMV Dermatology NP + PA Group, a networking group for NPs, PAs, and students who practice or desire to practice in DC, MD, or VA in medical, surgical, or cosmetic dermatology. As I had seen in Colorado, my initial vision was to have occasional meet-ups for fun and companionship, but with the support of Shanna Miranti, PA-C, Dr. Yasmin Mathlin, MD, DNP, DCNP, Arcutis, and Sun Pharma, we started hosting sponsored Meet & Greets, which helped us grow the group and our visibility in the community. Since its inception, we’ve grown with the addition of advisors: Caleb Runyon, MSN, FNP-C (Blacksburg, VA), Derek Tatum, PA-C (Richmond, VA), and Ali Belvin (Atlanta). With the addition of Ali, we not only gained a third advisor, but our first sister group: DERM NPs and PAs of Atlanta (Sept 2024). Ali has been kind enough to share her experience through nursing and NP school, a dermatology externship, and her dermatology capstone. We like to call the Surgical Dermatology NPPA Group our cousins, founded by a good friend and fellow DMV resident, Dr. Theresa Talens, DNP. Dr. Talens is also the founder of P.U.L.S.E Dermatology, a platform for beginning and advanced surgical techniques.

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Black Health Connect Conference
The Black Health Connect (BHC) Conference was everything I thought it would be and more! It started with my unplanned meeting of Craig Nelson, Michelle Obama’s brother and VP of the National Basketball Association of Coaches - yes, that Michelle and that NBA. I arrived early to the host hotel because my calendar was still in Central Standard Time. I recognized Craig as he strolled to the front to wait for his peers. He was kind enough to engage in a conversation about podcasting, healthcare in our community, and himself! Of course, I recognized him from TV, but more recently his podcast with Michelle: IMO which you can find on YouTube. I’ve already uploaded a review of my time at both the SDPA and BHC Conferences on my Youtube channel which you can view here.

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Black Health Connect Mission and Purpose: BHC was founded by pharmacist, Dr. Duclas Charles, PharmD who believes we can get more done when we're at the same table. The mission of Black Health Connect is to create a vibrant digital and physical community for Black healthcare professionals. The organization aims to build an interdisciplinary and intergenerational network to foster career advancement, advocate for increased diversity in healthcare, and improve health equity. Through its initiatives, Black Health Connect works to eliminate barriers to career growth, amplify Black leadership in the medical field, and bridge gaps in access to quality care for historically marginalized communities.

Black Health Con is Black Health Connect's premier annual conference. The theme for the 2025 event was “Find Your Community: Now More Than Ever,” emphasizing the importance of connection, collaboration, and mutual support in creating a more equitable healthcare landscape. The conference was designed to be an immersive experience for Black healthcare professionals, thought leaders, and innovators.The agenda included: Educational and Professional Development: Inspiring keynotes, engaging panel discussions, and hands-on workshops where attendees could earn continuing education credits.

Networking and Career Growth: Exclusive mixers, a leadership brunch, and numerous opportunities to connect with mentors, recruiters, and peers.

Business and Innovation: A business and health expo hall that showcased healthcare companies (including Black Girl Vitamins) and startups dedicated to advancing Black health.

Community Engagement: A community health fair aimed at serving the local D.C. population.

Celebration of Excellence: The Black Health Ball, a gala that honored the achievements of the organization's "40 Under 40" list of rising stars and leaders in healthcare. Notable honorees have included professionals like cosmetic dermatology nurse practitioner Jess Beaugris and the American Heart Association's Vice President of Community Impact, Dr. Angelica Hardee. In essence, Black Health Con in D.C. is positioned as a key movement for Black healthcare professionals to unite, share experiences, and empower each other to drive lasting change in the industry.

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Shout out to the organizers for creating an immersive cultural experience (and ongoing access to the community) and my internet friends turned friends in real life, all powerhouse women in their own right:

--Jasmine Cofield, MS, PA-C, DMSc and MBA Candidate | Medical Director of Focus Forward and Founder of Physician Assistants of Color

--Dr. Selena Gilles, DNP, ANP-BC, CNEcl ANEF, FNYAM, FADLN, FNAP, FAANP, FAAN | Associate Dean University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

--Dr. Kamila Barnes, DNP, FNP-C, RN, FADLN, FNYAM | Founder Barnes Health Affiliates, LLC and Associate Dean of Entry into Nursing Practice at the Pacific College of Health and Science

--Kira Stewart, PA-C | Founder of World’s Best Care: Telemedicine, Aesthetics & Functional Medicine

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Nursing Aesthetics: An Introductory Guide for Nurse Practitioners and Entrepreneurs
I rounded out the end of the month by publishing my newest book: Nursing Aesthetics: An Introductory Guide for Nurse Practitioners and Entrepreneurs. I’ve been writing e-books since 2023, but this is my first paperback book that is also available as an e-book. When the year started, I had no plans of writing this book, in fact, I was in the middle of finishing Dermatology DNP Project Ideas. But, the idea presented itself during my business sales coaching program when I made my pivot towards Nurse Practitioners who specialize in cosmetics and dermatology and it helps address a critical gap in knowledge. There’s a been a trend for over twenty years now of people attending nursing and NP school solely to practice aesthetics. The problems surrounding this singular focus:

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--Lack of oversight and ethical practice in the specialty, which is open to non-medical professionals

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--Lack of a regulatory body for both nurses and nurse practitioners by NPs

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--Lack of guidance and education for advanced practice nurses in aesthetics

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--Lack of education and mentorship when it comes to marketing, sales, financial literacy, and running a profitable business

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--Lack of diversity in dermatology nursing education

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And with the introduction of AI and significant increase in entrepreneurship following the pandemic, the need to address the gaps is a top priority. Nursing Aesthetics, The State of Nursing Education, and the Alliance for Cosmetic Nurse Practitioners™, helps to address these gaps and more in nursing education.
I learned a lot writing and publishing this book and look forward to helping the members of the Alliance do the same. I ask that you consider gifting a copy to your children, mentees and students!

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With the help of Jade, my 2 accountability partners, my community, and my family I’ve been able to move from being a Dream to a Doer. At this stage in my life and my practice, it’s exciting to say, we’re just getting started!

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About the Authors

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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