“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”
– Henry David Thoreau
If this quote speaks to you, you most likely will have a heart nudge to continue reading.
Do you ever wonder how some women seem to “live the dream,” get “it” all done while appearing totally put together and yet being AUTHENTICALLY who they really are?! Sometimes women feel the need to “code switch,” or be someone besides who they authentically are so we don’t “stick out too much” or sometimes we even downplay our fabulousness thinking if we truly shine with all our might others might feel bad. Why do we do that and how do we own our capability and exactly who we were made to be…..how do we live the life we envision?
Ajles.life had the honor of speaking with Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Sheila Nazarian who is not only a superstar doctor, an entrepreneur, wife, mother and an immigrant who has stood in the fire to create the life she envisioned and own her own capability.
So, grab a cup of your favorite something to sip and be inspired by entrepreneur, influencer, philosopher, and all around courageous deep thinker of a woman, Dr. Sheila Nazarian.
The empowered woman you see in Dr. Nazarian did not initially present that way as a young child. Super skinny, with the largest parts of her being her knees and elbows, she created a visual target for her being teased a lot in grade school. She didn’t feel beautiful and felt like people were friends with her only to copy her homework. Sheila had a strong desire to do a really good job, follow the rules, and steered away from taking risks.
One risk that she couldn’t avoid though was the family escape from Iran on the back of a pickup truck when she was just seven years old. She reminisces that she came to the country not speaking English with hairy legs and a mustache – a recipe for not being “cool.” Despite not being cool in the eyes of her peers, Sheila maintained an inner sense of security even though she remembers feeling a deep need for approval. She wished for more acceptance and yet had the understanding that peer approval just wasn’t there at that time in her life.
A defining moment at the age of 16 shifted quite a few things for the young Sheila Nazarian.
Her mom passed away from breast cancer. The always driven and hardworking teen now wanted to make her mom even more proud. She had the hard lesson that “life is really short” shoved in her face, and now the desire to accomplish everything and anything she could with the time she had left was burning deep within her bones.
After this, Dr. Nazarian always worked very hard. She became more and more elevated in her education and while she states she may not have been “the smartest person” in medical school, she was always the hardest working person. Dr. Nazarian established strong referrals, relationships, and demonstrated qualities that evoked people to believe in her. She attests the pathway to success in a competitive field is really all about who will pick up the phone and make a phone call on your behalf.
Through her life experiences, Dr. Nazarian has evolved from the young girl who feared risks to an empowered woman with “Risk” as a seemingly new middle name.
She took the leap in a residency match before the rank list was listed and said “yes” to an engagement just shortly after meeting her guy, aka prestigious neurosurgeon. As it turns out, taking risks looks really fabulous on Dr. Sheila Nazarian. Fast forward now to 15 years of marriage and 3 children later (all 3 born during residency by the way), she not only has a thriving plastic surgery practice but also has completed a business school program for physicians, and continues to empower, educate, and inspire others through her podcasts, Instagram, and YouTube platforms.
The question that comes to mind when speaking to this amazing woman is – just how does she do it all? So we asked her, and she elegantly and confidently shares her wisdom from within:
“…know your strengths and own what you’re good at…then tell people. How can we help people if we don’t tell them what we are good at,” states Dr.Nazarian. She also shares that she owns her intelligence and high IQ as well as her ability to stay at a very high functioning and organized level throughout the day – none of this done in a bragging way but more so in an unapologetic stating a fact way. Dr. Nazarian advises us to know our goals, know our weaknesses, know when to ask for help, and know when to rely completely on your own decisions despite others telling you to stop.
She inspires us all with her words of courage and boldness to not care what others think about you – especially when they would rather see you fail than succeed. Dr. Nazarian advocates knowing what you’re capable of and accepting nothing less than your best. She is honest and authentic with her clients and often speaks up for natural beauty and a “less is more” approach in her surgical practice.
Our talk with Dr Nazarian could have lasted for hours and we wanted it to. It’s a bit hard to end a conversation with a woman with such a wealth of knowledge to share and words infused with confident courage.
You can view our whole interview with Dr. Nazarian for continued inspiration, beauty tips, and straight up good sense philosophy on living authentically and going confidently in the direction of your dreams HERE:
You can find more of Dr. Sheila Nazarian on Instagram, YouTube, and theskinspot.com.