Dr. Kristina Zakhary Offers Advice for Entrepreneurs on Making it Through a Crisis like COVID-19

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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: It's Calgary's podcast on the Canada's podcast network.
[00:06] SPEAKER_00: Hello, this is Mario Ponding, and this is coming to you today with Calgary's podcast.
[00:11] SPEAKER_00: A member of Canada's podcast network where we talk to the entrepreneurs who are making
[00:16] SPEAKER_00: it happen in Calgary, Alberta, so you can listen, discover, and engage.
[00:21] SPEAKER_00: Today's guest is Dr. Shostina Zachary, who is a facial surgeon and a wide-angle plastic
[00:28] SPEAKER_00: surgeon in Calgary.
[00:29] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today, Kristina.
[00:31] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
[00:33] SPEAKER_00: So Kristina, let me just start by asking you a little bit about what you do.
[00:38] SPEAKER_00: Let's start from there.
[00:39] SPEAKER_01: Hey, great.
[00:40] SPEAKER_01: So I'm a facial plastic and reconstructive surgery specialist, so that means that my training
[00:46] SPEAKER_01: was in ear nose and throat head and neck surgery, and then I did further fellowship training
[00:51] SPEAKER_01: in facial plastic and reconstructive surgery.
[00:54] SPEAKER_01: I am board certified with the American Academy of...
[00:57] SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, the American Board.
[00:58] SPEAKER_01: I'm board certified with the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery,
[01:02] SPEAKER_01: and you exclusively cosmetic surgery of the face and neck, and that includes things like
[01:08] SPEAKER_01: nose, jobs, face lips, ear tucking, and then the non-surgical things like injections of
[01:13] SPEAKER_01: neuromodulator, things like Botox, and then also injections of fillers, non-surgical treatments
[01:19] SPEAKER_01: of the face for any sort of non-surgical treatment of face for any sort of cosmetic edification
[01:24] SPEAKER_01: reasons.
[01:25] SPEAKER_01: And then I also have a small, also side practice of Alberta healthcare-covered cases that
[01:31] SPEAKER_01: have to do with facial plastic surgery.
[01:33] SPEAKER_01: So for example, removing and reconstructive facial skin cancers, broken noses, and the
[01:41] SPEAKER_01: life.
[01:42] SPEAKER_01: So anything that involves facial plastic and reconstructive surgery from a more medical approach
[01:46] SPEAKER_01: is also what I do.
[01:47] SPEAKER_00: Tell me, first of all, how long have you been doing this?
[01:51] SPEAKER_01: It's been 15 years, and it's hard to leave that it passed so quickly.
[01:54] SPEAKER_01: I feel like I started yesterday, but it's been 15 years.
[01:58] SPEAKER_00: And how did you get involved in this?
[02:00] SPEAKER_00: More importantly, why did you get involved in this?
[02:03] SPEAKER_01: Well, I just love making people feel their best, and one of the ways to do that is to
[02:08] SPEAKER_01: make them look their best.
[02:09] SPEAKER_01: And so while I was going through medical school and residency, I discovered that one of
[02:13] SPEAKER_01: the sub-specialties of older airingology had a neck surgery with facial plastic surgery
[02:18] SPEAKER_01: and I decided to pursue it.
[02:20] SPEAKER_01: And it's just my passion.
[02:22] SPEAKER_01: It's my life's passion.
[02:23] SPEAKER_01: I love doing it.
[02:24] SPEAKER_01: I really get such a reward from seeing happy patients after their procedures, and it just
[02:31] SPEAKER_01: drives me and fuels me to continue.
[02:34] SPEAKER_00: Okay, super that.
[02:35] SPEAKER_00: What's your vision for the business as you look forward?
[02:41] SPEAKER_01: I have just a philosophy of patients for life.
[02:45] SPEAKER_01: I like to create good relationships with my patients.
[02:48] SPEAKER_01: I want to be all things beauty for my patients, so starting from the non-surgical going to
[02:53] SPEAKER_01: the surgical and then just going through the different phases of their aging and things
[02:59] SPEAKER_01: like that.
[03:00] SPEAKER_01: The average patient will have about three surgeries with the same surgeon over a 22-year
[03:05] SPEAKER_01: lifetime.
[03:07] SPEAKER_01: And I just feel like that's really good to develop relationship and just go through all
[03:11] SPEAKER_01: those phases with the same person.
[03:12] SPEAKER_01: And that's my goal.
[03:15] SPEAKER_01: It should be all things beauty for that person.
[03:18] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[03:18] SPEAKER_00: Is there medical background in your family?
[03:21] SPEAKER_01: Actually, no.
[03:22] SPEAKER_01: All my family's engineers.
[03:24] SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
[03:25] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so, you know, there were a little bit disappointed that I didn't go into engineering,
[03:29] SPEAKER_01: but I think I won back there, cried in me by going to medicine.
[03:35] SPEAKER_00: Okay, super that.
[03:36] SPEAKER_00: What's been the biggest challenge you've faced over those years in setting up your business
[03:40] SPEAKER_00: and operating your business?
[03:43] SPEAKER_01: There were about two or three main challenges.
[03:46] SPEAKER_01: The first was when I decided to break out on my own and have my own clinic, it was in
[03:52] SPEAKER_01: the beginning of 2008.
[03:53] SPEAKER_01: And we all know exactly what happened in 2008.
[03:55] SPEAKER_01: It was that big recession.
[03:57] SPEAKER_01: So my own business in that year was a big challenge.
[04:01] SPEAKER_01: But you know what, with every challenge, there is an opportunity and it really allowed
[04:06] SPEAKER_01: me to hone in on skills that I didn't even know I had.
[04:09] SPEAKER_01: So, things like, you know, HR, marketing, just even secretary work.
[04:15] SPEAKER_01: I had to be all things during that time because it was a time of being lean and having to
[04:22] SPEAKER_01: do more with little and it just made me, you know, really appreciate what it takes to
[04:30] SPEAKER_01: run a business.
[04:31] SPEAKER_01: Before that, I was renting a room in a spa and I had, oh, the spa had a secretary already
[04:37] SPEAKER_01: built in for me.
[04:38] SPEAKER_01: So, I was very well taken care of.
[04:41] SPEAKER_01: But then when I wanted to start on my own, it really made me appreciate what it takes
[04:44] SPEAKER_01: to run a business.
[04:45] SPEAKER_01: So, that was the first major challenge and thankfully I got through it and there were
[04:50] SPEAKER_01: a lot of people in my corner, the first of which are my parents and my sister.
[04:54] SPEAKER_01: They really, you know, dug in, helped me out.
[04:57] SPEAKER_01: They literally came to my office and were like, before we opened the floor, they were
[05:00] SPEAKER_01: like on our hands and knees rubbing the floor.
[05:02] SPEAKER_01: You know, I just had so many good people in my corner and I thank God for that.
[05:07] SPEAKER_01: The second challenge was in 2018, so about two years ago, I got diagnosed with breast
[05:13] SPEAKER_01: cancer and somehow had to carry on.
[05:16] SPEAKER_01: I couldn't stop the business as they say the show must go on.
[05:19] SPEAKER_01: So I didn't stop the business.
[05:23] SPEAKER_01: I continued, despite having to go through chemotherapy, bilateral mastectomies and reconstruction.
[05:30] SPEAKER_01: And then I found out I was bracket one positive, which is the same thing as Angelina Joichi.
[05:34] SPEAKER_01: She has that too.
[05:35] SPEAKER_01: So I had to do preventative surgery to remove my girly bits before they got, you know,
[05:41] SPEAKER_01: affected with cancer as well.
[05:43] SPEAKER_01: So I went through about four different major surgeries in, from 2018 to 2019 and the
[05:49] SPEAKER_01: whole time, the business continued.
[05:51] SPEAKER_01: So I went between chemotherapy sessions, I come to work and I do the non-surgical aspect
[05:58] SPEAKER_01: of my business and then right after my major mastectomy surgery, I took maybe four weeks
[06:05] SPEAKER_01: off and then I came back and I was, came back like, doing surgeries and everything.
[06:11] SPEAKER_01: And again, another major challenge with a major opportunity and that was just to see
[06:17] SPEAKER_01: my, you know, result and how strong I could be and not, you know, get into the cycle
[06:23] SPEAKER_01: if you want to start for yourself and staying at home, you know, whatever anybody needs to
[06:27] SPEAKER_01: do, I need to get back to work.
[06:29] SPEAKER_01: So, you know, that was the major opportunity there was to build my strength, I think,
[06:36] SPEAKER_01: and just keep going.
[06:38] SPEAKER_00: Okay, what's up?
[06:39] SPEAKER_00: Over the years, what's the best piece of advice you received about the Bannonter printer?
[06:46] SPEAKER_01: So the best piece of advice, the hands down, was from my teacher from Montreal from the
[06:52] SPEAKER_01: Yale University, Dr. Neville Panouse.
[06:55] SPEAKER_01: And he said, start now and perfect it later.
[06:59] SPEAKER_01: So that means if you have a dream, if you have a vision for a business that you want
[07:03] SPEAKER_01: to establish and build, don't wait for the perfect moment, the perfect moment will never
[07:08] SPEAKER_01: show itself.
[07:09] SPEAKER_01: So, start, just start, do whatever you can do to start, take that first step.
[07:14] SPEAKER_01: If it even means just writing a business plan or designing a website that, you know,
[07:20] SPEAKER_01: or design the content for the website, if you don't know how to design a website, just
[07:23] SPEAKER_01: start, take the first step.
[07:25] SPEAKER_01: And the rest will just slow it.
[07:27] SPEAKER_01: You'll see how easily the rest will flow once you take that first step.
[07:32] SPEAKER_01: So start now, perfect it later.
[07:34] SPEAKER_00: Okay, interesting.
[07:36] SPEAKER_00: As we head into this coronavirus situation right now, how has that impacted your business?
[07:43] SPEAKER_01: Huge.
[07:45] SPEAKER_01: We are almost 100% cosmetic elective surgery.
[07:50] SPEAKER_01: And even the non-cosmetic portion, even though reconstructive portion is elective, is
[07:54] SPEAKER_01: not life or death in most cases for my business.
[07:58] SPEAKER_01: So we have been completely shut down since, I think it's March 23rd.
[08:03] SPEAKER_01: So no contact with patients.
[08:06] SPEAKER_01: Now I have, again, just seen the silver lining.
[08:10] SPEAKER_01: I have started doing online consultations and they have been working out amazingly.
[08:16] SPEAKER_01: So we've been using things like Zoom, FaceTime, Skype, and it's good because we can develop
[08:24] SPEAKER_01: a relationship with our patients, even though they're not directly in front of us using
[08:28] SPEAKER_01: technology that has been around this whole time, just haven't taken advantage of it.
[08:33] SPEAKER_01: So I think even after this COVID crisis is done, I'll continue to do virtual consultations
[08:40] SPEAKER_01: because it's been really working out great and patients love it.
[08:44] SPEAKER_00: Okay, you stole my next question.
[08:46] SPEAKER_00: I was going to ask you about the silver lining in light of obviously the challenges that
[08:51] SPEAKER_00: you've overcome.
[08:52] SPEAKER_00: But if you had some advice or a message to fellow entrepreneurs to help them through
[08:59] SPEAKER_00: this experience that we're facing now in this crisis, what would you say to them?
[09:04] SPEAKER_01: First thing I would say is now is not the time to panic or get depressed.
[09:09] SPEAKER_01: It's just not the time for a business owner, manager to get depressed and feel sorry for
[09:15] SPEAKER_01: yourself and rest on your laurels.
[09:16] SPEAKER_01: This is a time for planning or future thoughts.
[09:20] SPEAKER_01: So sit down budget, see if you can contact any of your vendors and negotiate different
[09:26] SPEAKER_01: payment terms.
[09:27] SPEAKER_01: See if you can contact any landlords that can give you any deferments on your lease, make
[09:33] SPEAKER_01: a business plan for 13 weeks out because when this crisis is over, you're going to be busy.
[09:39] SPEAKER_01: People are going to come back.
[09:41] SPEAKER_01: They have been in quarantine for so long.
[09:43] SPEAKER_01: They're going to want to reward themselves by going out.
[09:45] SPEAKER_01: They want to go to restaurants, movie theaters.
[09:48] SPEAKER_01: They want to come and do cosmetic procedures.
[09:50] SPEAKER_01: They want to feel good.
[09:52] SPEAKER_01: So you're going to be busy.
[09:54] SPEAKER_01: So plan for it from now and try to cut out things that are superfluous that you don't
[09:59] SPEAKER_01: need.
[09:59] SPEAKER_01: So see where the fluff is.
[10:01] SPEAKER_01: Cut that out and just really plan for the future because you know that there's an end
[10:07] SPEAKER_01: point to this and it's going to be over and you're going to be busy again.
[10:11] SPEAKER_01: So now is the time for future planning.
[10:14] SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm going to switch gears here and ask you a few personal questions.
[10:19] SPEAKER_00: Okay, let me just start by asking you know, where do you find that work life balance and
[10:25] SPEAKER_00: like what kind of other interest do you have besides work?
[10:30] SPEAKER_01: I don't think that a work life balance is very easy to achieve.
[10:34] SPEAKER_01: It's taken me a good 15 years to achieve it and it's taken me cancer to achieve it to
[10:39] SPEAKER_01: be honest because before I was all about work and I have two little kids, I have two little
[10:44] SPEAKER_01: twins at home and a family and I was really neglecting them to be honest before I got hit
[10:50] SPEAKER_01: with cancer and then after I got the cancer really hit me that you know who's there for
[10:56] SPEAKER_01: you and your family's there for you and they're the reason that I continue to fight and
[11:02] SPEAKER_01: live and so that's when I started to develop work life balance.
[11:07] SPEAKER_01: So what that means is really making an effort to prioritize your family life.
[11:14] SPEAKER_01: Leave work earlier than you would have normally start work a little later.
[11:18] SPEAKER_01: It's okay. It's okay.
[11:19] SPEAKER_01: People will still be there.
[11:20] SPEAKER_01: Your clients will still be there.
[11:22] SPEAKER_01: My patients are very, very much understanding and they came back even some of them left
[11:28] SPEAKER_01: when they came back.
[11:29] SPEAKER_01: So it takes effort and it takes a lot of determination.
[11:33] SPEAKER_01: You have to want to do it.
[11:35] SPEAKER_01: It's not good.
[11:36] SPEAKER_01: Otherwise you just get lost in the business because the business is really like a child.
[11:39] SPEAKER_01: You need to nurture it.
[11:41] SPEAKER_01: You need to build it.
[11:42] SPEAKER_01: You can grow it and encourage it to keep growing.
[11:44] SPEAKER_01: So it can really take over your whole entire life unless you really make an effort.
[11:48] SPEAKER_01: So that's the first thing that I did is I started to make an effort to prioritize my family life
[11:52] SPEAKER_01: and it's really improved my family life.
[11:55] SPEAKER_01: Thank God.
[11:56] SPEAKER_01: You know my kids are much happier now that I do things with them.
[12:00] SPEAKER_01: I do homework with them.
[12:01] SPEAKER_01: We go for walks.
[12:02] SPEAKER_01: My husband and I take them for walks.
[12:03] SPEAKER_01: So they get a lot more of my attention.
[12:07] SPEAKER_01: And what's the other part of the question?
[12:09] SPEAKER_00: Well, I just wonder what kind of things you do.
[12:11] SPEAKER_00: Like what kind of hobbies do you have?
[12:14] SPEAKER_01: I really like to go on nature walks when possible, when the weather allows.
[12:19] SPEAKER_01: Here in Calgary it's called the lot.
[12:21] SPEAKER_01: But when it when weather allows nature walks,
[12:22] SPEAKER_01: I really like to connect with nature.
[12:25] SPEAKER_01: It really rejuvenates.
[12:26] SPEAKER_01: You know, it just revives me inside.
[12:29] SPEAKER_01: I like to read a very religious, so I read the Bible.
[12:32] SPEAKER_01: I just really like to connect and meditate.
[12:37] SPEAKER_01: My favorite thing of all time is just playing with my kids.
[12:40] SPEAKER_01: I will never have this time again while they're little, so I just enjoy it.
[12:45] SPEAKER_00: If you weren't doing what you're doing now,
[12:49] SPEAKER_00: what profession or career do you think you'd be involved in?
[12:53] SPEAKER_00: Engineering, perhaps?
[12:55] SPEAKER_01: Not that good in physics.
[12:57] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[12:59] SPEAKER_01: I know it's hard to say because I've always thought about that.
[13:03] SPEAKER_01: What would I do if I wasn't doing medicine?
[13:05] SPEAKER_01: Really nothing else I'm good at.
[13:06] SPEAKER_01: I'm really not good at anything else.
[13:09] SPEAKER_01: I know that I'm good at this and I have a passion for it.
[13:12] SPEAKER_01: And so maybe something else in artistic, something artistic.
[13:17] SPEAKER_01: I can never answer that question because I don't feel like I'm good at anything else.
[13:21] SPEAKER_01: I have the passion for anything else.
[13:24] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[13:26] SPEAKER_00: You had one word to describe yourself.
[13:29] SPEAKER_00: What would it be in life?
[13:31] SPEAKER_01: Let's have to be one word.
[13:32] SPEAKER_01: Can I use two words?
[13:33] SPEAKER_00: Okay, use two.
[13:34] SPEAKER_01: Okay, the first is loyal.
[13:37] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[13:38] SPEAKER_01: Loyalty is my number one value that I have.
[13:42] SPEAKER_01: So I give it and I expect it.
[13:45] SPEAKER_01: So that would be number one.
[13:46] SPEAKER_01: Number two is tenacious.
[13:47] SPEAKER_01: I don't let anything get me down.
[13:49] SPEAKER_01: I might be down for a minute, but then I'm back up.
[13:52] SPEAKER_01: And I have this infectious, you know, optimism.
[13:57] SPEAKER_01: And so I try to keep on the bright side.
[14:01] SPEAKER_01: And so tenacious and loyal.
[14:04] SPEAKER_01: Those are my two.
[14:05] SPEAKER_00: Okay, super.
[14:06] SPEAKER_00: And do you have a routine that you follow every day?
[14:10] SPEAKER_01: Now or before COVID?
[14:12] SPEAKER_00: They before COVID.
[14:13] SPEAKER_01: Okay, yes, I do.
[14:15] SPEAKER_01: So the first thing I do in the morning is I try to meditate before the kids are up.
[14:20] SPEAKER_01: I try to like, you know, just pray for the day.
[14:22] SPEAKER_01: Make, you know, make sure I think I find five things that I'm thankful for.
[14:27] SPEAKER_01: The second thing I do is I wake up and we go down with the kids and make breakfast for them.
[14:31] SPEAKER_01: I feed them breakfast.
[14:32] SPEAKER_01: And then the nanny takes over and I come to work.
[14:36] SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we have a huddle at work.
[14:38] SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we don't because sometimes it's so busy.
[14:40] SPEAKER_01: Can't have the huddle, but then we see patients all day long at around four o'clock.
[14:46] SPEAKER_01: I start winding down, come home.
[14:48] SPEAKER_01: Spend time with the kids.
[14:50] SPEAKER_01: Play with them.
[14:50] SPEAKER_01: If weather permits, we go outside and do like a nice little nature walk outside with the kids.
[14:55] SPEAKER_01: And my husband and then come home and have dinner.
[14:58] SPEAKER_01: Then it's the night time routine with the kiddos.
[15:01] SPEAKER_01: And then we do this whole thing over again the next day.
[15:03] SPEAKER_00: Okay, super.
[15:05] SPEAKER_00: Now if you think of about a place that you've traveled to,
[15:08] SPEAKER_00: that's one of your favorite places of all time that you've been to, what would it be?
[15:14] SPEAKER_01: Definitely Ghana, West Africa.
[15:16] SPEAKER_00: Wow.
[15:16] SPEAKER_01: I mentioned that my parents are engineers.
[15:19] SPEAKER_01: And so I had the privilege and the luck to be able to travel with them whenever they went
[15:25] SPEAKER_01: on their projects overseas.
[15:28] SPEAKER_01: And my father was stationed in Ghana, West Africa for about 10 years.
[15:33] SPEAKER_01: And I was lucky enough that I was able to do a lot of humanitarian work whenever I went.
[15:39] SPEAKER_01: So one year I did, I went on a humanitarian ship that took doctors to
[15:45] SPEAKER_01: underserved areas that wouldn't have access to medical care otherwise.
[15:51] SPEAKER_01: And so that was I think the single best experience of my medical life.
[15:56] SPEAKER_01: You know, it was just really rewarding.
[15:59] SPEAKER_01: I was able to participate in actual care for underserved people.
[16:05] SPEAKER_01: And so that was, and then I made a lot of great friends.
[16:08] SPEAKER_01: I made lifetime friendships from that experience,
[16:12] SPEAKER_01: not just that experience over the 10 years every summer I would go
[16:14] SPEAKER_01: with my sister and my mom.
[16:17] SPEAKER_01: And I made lifetime friends' friendships out of that out of those visits.
[16:22] SPEAKER_00: Okay, speaking of travel, I'm going to present a scenario to you.
[16:26] SPEAKER_00: There's a small beautiful tropical island in the middle of the ocean with only one
[16:31] SPEAKER_00: phone booth and no technology.
[16:33] SPEAKER_00: We're going to drop you off there.
[16:36] SPEAKER_00: And you can stay there as long as you want.
[16:40] SPEAKER_00: You can make the phone call though to us and we're going to come pick you up.
[16:43] SPEAKER_00: So how long would you last there?
[16:46] SPEAKER_00: And secondly, you know, what would you think you'd be doing at that time while you're there?
[16:52] SPEAKER_01: Okay, so I have a question for you.
[16:53] SPEAKER_01: Am I alone or can I deal with my family?
[16:56] SPEAKER_00: You're alone.
[16:57] SPEAKER_01: Oh, I've lost two seconds.
[16:59] SPEAKER_01: I pick up that phone immediately.
[17:01] SPEAKER_01: I do not enjoy anything if my kids are not around.
[17:05] SPEAKER_01: So I would come back immediately.
[17:08] SPEAKER_01: But if I could be there with my kids then I would be there forever.
[17:11] SPEAKER_01: I don't need technology.
[17:13] SPEAKER_01: I'd be on the beach, standing myself.
[17:15] SPEAKER_01: I would just be enjoying the experience of being there on the beautiful tropical island.
[17:21] SPEAKER_00: Okay, super.
[17:21] SPEAKER_00: Then thanks for joining us today, Christina.
[17:24] SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
[17:25] SPEAKER_01: It's really fun.
[17:26] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for taking the time today to listen to Calgary's podcast on Canada's podcast network.
[17:33] SPEAKER_00: We hope you enjoyed the show today.
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[17:47] SPEAKER_00: You can also check out what other entrepreneurs are doing across the country.
[17:52] SPEAKER_00: See you next time.