Who's That Gal: Christine McMackin, MSN, FNP, NP-C, Certified Advanced Aesthetic Specialist

Name: Christine McMackin
Age: 44
Occupation: Nurse Practitioner, Co-Founder of New England Skin Center
Currently living in: Cohasset, MA
Hometown: Cohasset, MA
Currently reading: The Crone Women of Age, Wisdom, and Power By Barbara G. Walker
Favorite workout: Yoga and weight training
I never leave home without: My journal

Let’s start with the basics. WHAT DREW YOU TO A CAREER IN HEALTHCARE?

I went into healthcare and nursing to work in the field of aesthetics and cosmetics. I started working as a makeup artist in LA on motion pictures in the late nineties. As I went to start the makeup of one of the cast members, I noticed bruises on her neck and arms. She was also very nervous and flinched when I went to start her makeup. I realized at that moment that it was my job not just to do her makeup, but to make her experience with me to be one of love and healing. We worked together for the entire length of the shoot. Every time I touched her it was with love, compassion and strength.

Around the same time, I did the makeup for a teenage girl’s senior prom who burnt half of her face in a fire when she was young. I evened out her skin tone (she lost the pigment in her skin on the half that was burnt), and I created eyebrows and eyelashes for her. When she saw her face, beautiful even skin tone, full eyebrows and fabulous eyelashes, it was the face she knew and loved before the accident looking back at her. If I could give those two women a renewed sense of self, ownership of their bodies and the experience of love with just makeup, I knew I would be able to do that on a much deeper level through cosmetic and reconstructive medicine.

FROM AN EDUCATION IN FINE ARTS TO BECOMING A MAKE-UP ARTIST AND AESTHETICIAN, WHAT CHANGED THAT YOU WANT TO BECOME A NURSE PRACTITIONER?

I have always loved beauty and used my creativity to create beauty in the things around me. For as long as I can remember I have been interested in skin health. I would take my allowance as a little girl and spend it on skincare and makeup products. I remember in the 80’s when AHA first came out, I was probably the only 12 year old purchasing anti-aging creams. I did all my friends’ makeup in middle and high school, practicing the looks we saw in magazines and creating wild looks from my imagination.

As a visual learner and artist, studying art history was the perfect way to understand the world. As an art history student you’re not only learning the development of specific artistic techniques, but how those techniques and the images they render reflect the world, culture, and political and social climate they were created in.

Upon graduation with my degree in Art History and Fine Arts, I knew I wanted to deepen my understanding of the skin and attended aesthetic school. I was fortunate to be the first class, over 20 years ago, in the field of medical aesthetics, which is the fusion of traditional aesthetic practice with the emerging field of medical cosmetics. Beauty and medicine have been interwoven throughout my entire career. I then became a nurse practitioner for autonomy and control over how I want to work in the world.

What was it like to go back to school and change your career path?

I was a registered nurse for 5 years prior to getting my degree as a Nurse Practitioner. All my years of nursing have been within the realm of cosmetic and reconstructive medicine. My first nursing job was on a limb-salvage unit where I ran the wound team. After that I went to work at the oldest free-standing cosmetic center in the country. There I worked in the OR, assisting in cosmetic surgery cases, as well as in the medspa, performing skin care services, injectables and operating lasers. I have always worked within the field and feel extremely fortunate to have been working within the industry for over 20 years, in numerous and diverse capacities.

After college in New York you moved out to the West Coast to work and then pursue further education. What brought you back to the East Coast?

I moved out to the west coast with the dream of being a Hollywood makeup artist. I moved to LA in 1999, grateful I was there prior to the advent of social media and the internet. I hit the pavement with the newspaper classified section and started taking small makeup jobs. I attended the Studio Makeup Academy on the Paramount lot to learn special effects makeup for film, TV and print. Being part of the Paramount team was amazing and afforded me the opportunity to work on numbers television shows. Being in LA all through my 20s was fantastic; the celebrities, the beauty, the freedom, the young and the old following their dreams, the creative energy, the parties. It was all a very magical time in my life. That being said, I am extremely close with my family who all were still on the East Coast. I had been in LA for almost 10 years and knew that I was either going to stay on the west coast forever or move back east and create a life there, closer to my family.

I have many dreams and when I accomplish one, I move on to another. I dreamed of moving to LA to become a makeup artist and I did it. I went to the Oscars, partied at the Playboy Mansion, put mascara on famous faces, rode four wheelers in the desert, went to Mexico and Vegas on weekend trips. I moved to LA not knowing a soul, lived in a hotel for a month, had no money and no job, nothing but belief in myself and a positive attitude. I did it and was happy to move on to the next adventure in my life. I moved back east to be closer to my family, attend nursing school and take all I had done as a makeup artist and skin health expert to the next level.

Tell us about the New England Skin Center!

New England Skin Center (NESC) is about spreading love and creating beauty. Individuality, the uniqueness that makes us all beautiful, is celebrated here. As mothers and professionals we know how hard it is to carve out the time to practice self love and self care. When our guests walk into our clinic, we know the sacrifices they’ve made to be there and we honor that. Each and every one of our treatments is individualized to each of our guest’s personal and diverse goals. NESC is about building trusting, long term relationships with our guests.

How did you meet your business partner and what was the decision process for starting the New England Skin Care Center together?

Tobi and I met through mutual friends. As you may imagine, the beauty industry can be very superficial and competitive, especially now that it is so popular. When Tobi and I met it was love at first sight. Tobi is an extremely talented nurse, incredible wife and mother, who has no time for any of the drama and gossip many people in this industry thrive on. I am a private person by nature and avoid drama and gossip in my personal and professional life. I simply want to love well and work well in this world, as does Tobi. Both Tobi and I had been working for plastic surgeons and often talked about how amazing it would be for us to start a practice together where we could create the culture to reflect our beliefs and best practices. We had no formal business plan; just a deep love and respect for what we do, one another and our guests.

What are the key things you’ve learned since starting your business?

We have learned that not everyone has our best interests at heart. We are nurses, not trained businesswomen. Our first instinct is to trust you but that is not the case in the business world. We have learned to be tougher without changing who we are. We know now to get everything in writing and never sign anything without our lawyer looking at it.

Any quick tips or words of encouragement for someone else thinking about a substantial career change or starting their own business?

Just do it. Believe in yourself. There will never be a perfect time to start a business--if you wait for it to be perfect, you will wait forever. Surround yourself with a tight circle of people you love and trust. I know at the end of the day I can count on myself and Tobi to do what needs to be done.

How do you balance your career and your personal life?

Balancing work and personal life is an ongoing, everyday commitment. I am blessed to work with some of my favorite people: Tobi, Sandy and Jessica. Three women I love, admire and call my dearest friends. When I go to work it’s a girls party with the people I love most. I feel deeply fulfilled personally from my work. I also have the most amazing clients who fill my days with joy. The hardest part is turning off work when I come home and being mentally/emotionally present for my son and husband.

What’s next for New England Skin Center? What’s next for you personally?

We will continue to spread love and create beauty. We are committed to ongoing education and developing our craft. Continuing education is extremely important to us. Attending aesthetic conferences, trainings and learning from leaders in our industry illustrates our desire to always be better. By focusing on our growth we compete with ourselves and do not worry about the competition. All our attention goes into providing our guests with a fabulous experience and exceptional results.

Lastly, can you tell the JUGS audience one piece of advice for taking care of your skin long term?

Invest in medical grade skin care that has the ability to change your skin from the inside out. The skin you want is under the skin you have, and medical grade skincare uncovers that healthy, flawless, illuminate skin. And wear your sunscreen!

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Julia Blanchard is a content contributor for JUGs by night, by day she works at Amazon on some of Alexa’s feature expansion programs. You can follow her @jcblanchard6 on Instagram.