Vanity Rose Rooted Skin Deep brings care to postoperative clients and owner Jennifer Black’s mission is providing a relaxed environment filled with comfort. Her vow is ensuring patients receive top-notch post-op lymphatic drainage massage after cosmetic or health-related surgery.
“It went from an ant to elephant overnight,” Vanity Rose Rooted Skin Deep owner, Jennifer Black proudly says. “It was non-stop”.
Black understands the importance of quality care because she has experienced the impact of an operation.
“What we go through, through surgery you have to dig deep to get through the recovery,” said Black.
While her business is known for post-op care for cosmetic surgery patients, Black said her calling is caring for breast cancer patients and people who suffer from lymphedema, a condition that causes swelling in the body from an abnormal accumulation on a lymph node.
“Breast cancer survivors are close to my heart because my dad’s mother had breast cancer,” Black said.
So how did the Vanity Rose owner get her start? Like many entrepreneurs, she felt pushed to the limit at a former job. Black was working at BioMerieux as a production operator and data entry specialist. Feeling unappreciated, overworked, and underpaid, she decided to jump into the beauty industry as an eyelash stylist.
“This ain’t me,” she said of her work at BioMerieux.
I see myself as more, I prayed for two years and I did a lot, but I still needed confirmation from God,” said Black.
Black credits her grandmother for giving her the push she needed, when she told her she should have quit her job much earlier.
She put in her two-weeks notice and pulled all her money out of a 401k, which totaled $35,000. She paid her rent for one year and went back to school. Black received her certification as a licensed esthetician from Salon Professional Academy and opened her business Lashing Avenue in May of 2017.
Everything was going great, and then boom, the COIVD-19 pandemic hit.
Black says she had to pause like so many others. But she didn’t sit idle. She got on her laptop and started researching and planning her next move.
“I have two boys. I have to make sure they have a roof over their head,” said Black.
Black decided to rebrand her business. She wanted to provide a service where she could connect with people, and offer a service “that has substance and is meaningful.”
“I think the pandemic pulled the soul out of everyone; [it enabled them] to put their mind at pause [and] create things that they already had in them,” said Black.
She went to Atlanta where she trained under Dr. Andrew Jimerson commonly known as Dr. Curves and received her certification in postoperative care. The massage therapist was now trained and qualified. It was time to find a location for her new business.
“It was really scary to find a location in the middle of the pandemic,” said Black.
She moved to a rental space in Bridgeton and gave her new location a complete makeover. Lavender paint and gold asymmetrical design accent walls give Vanity Rose “a perfect sophisticated, yet girly touch,” Black said.
With a little grit and sweat equity, Vanity Rose Rooted Skin Deep was open for business. Black connected with local plastic surgeons and medical doctors. Several said they heard of the care she was providing and began sending her postoperative patients. From there, “things just took off.”
“It went from an ant to elephant overnight,” Black says. “It was non-stop”.
Her staff sees about 20 patients a day, providing specialized massages that ease pain and help release fluid buildup that is common after surgery.
“I ask God to please keep me humble,” she said.
Vanity Rose also offers post-surgery compression garments, to help with the healing process and swelling.
In January 2022, she received a phlebotomy license, which is the process of making a puncture in a vein, usually in the arm, for the purpose of drawing blood, and she is planning to go back to school to become a paramedic.
The entrepreneur plans to open a second location in the Kansas City area in 2023.
“Whatever your goals are, do them. Life is too short not to go after what you want out of it,” she said.
For more information visit Vanity Rose Rooted Skin Deep at www.vanityrosersd.com.
