By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter
Charia Mam has a life goal — she would like to bring out the beauty in everyone and have all people realize their full potential.
Mam owns Hue Aesthetics in Bellevue, where she offers a full range of injectables, dermo-fillers, Botox, medical grade facials, plasma rich platelets, or PRP’s and more. Mam’s partner, Brooke Evans, owns the Hue Aesthetics in Louisville.
“I developed a following in my years of working in this profession, and my patients come through word of mouth and patients I have treated before,” Mam said. “I worked in Lexington, and now I am back in this area, and I have to say, I really love Kentucky!”
Her Hue Aesthetics is located at 102 Fairfield Avenue, and the entrance is in the back. The office has an ambiance that is immediately relaxing. The rich colors of gold and green work in harmony with the incense, and patients are greeted by Jordan, a pleasant person who will make sure the patients are comfortable as they wait.
The recommended first visit is a consultation, according to Mam.
“My verbiage is not, what are you here for, or what can I do for you,” she said. “Before I do that, I want to give you the latest information on our procedures, and what they can expect, and once they are empowered by knowledge and information, they feel comfortable making their own educated decisions.”
There isn’t a set limit on how long the consultation will last.
“I know I can make people look pretty, because I have the skill to make you look pretty,” Mam explained. “But it is the whole person that matters.”
Mam is a nurse practitioner, and Brooke is a physician’s assistant. Each year they spend hundreds of dollars on training seminars so that they can learn the latest techniques and information about their profession.
“We learn everything we can, because we want to give you the best, safest treatment we can, and that is because excellence is what we stand for,” she stated. “It is not required, but seeking out high level training from the top experts in our field is exciting, and we love it.”
There are several rooms that are for different functions. One little nook is a coffee station, one is for consultation, another is for the medical grade facials, and one is where Mam works her magic.
“We are women, we have different stories, different insecurities,” she said. “We can help you to be the best version of yourself you can be.”
Mam’s story is at once difficult and inspiring. She was born in Cambodia, at a time when the country was in upheaval and a very dangerous place to be under the Khmer Rouge leadership. After living under the brutal regime, they knew they had to escape. As a child in diapers, she and her family had a harrowing escape to Thailand to avoid the certain death that killed her grandparents and several aunts and uncles. Her mother carried her on her hip while shepherding three other children through dense jungle, avoiding snipers and wild animals. Finally in Thailand they were able to join up with a group who helped them get to the United States and be reunited with an uncle who taught college in Oxford.
Once in Oxford, Mam and her siblings were able to go to school, and she went on to graduate from college, and eventually get her masters. Her father insisted on the importance of education, and because she arrived in the States at such a young age, it was easier for her to learn English, although her parents spoke a different language at home.
“My dad told us, they can take away everything, but they can’t take away from you what you have learned,” she said.
Mam sometimes wonders why she had a life like she did, but that is her story, and she is happy that her immediate family survived, and happy to be where she is.
“Our model of care is medical aesthetics, so we follow the medical model of aesthetics of care which includes a full medical history,” she said. “We really take the time to go over your history and medications, any prior issues, or upcoming issues. I’m not afraid to say no. Sometimes I know that you’re nervous and I will tell you to go home and think about having a procedure. You are in the best hands. I don’t want you to be treated until you are 100 percent ready.”
There are pillows strategically placed in the office with gold lips on it, and Mam said she is known in the business as the ‘Lippy Queen”, because she is so good with lips. She admitted she is also good at building derrieres. People tend to refer to her as Cha Cha, and she likes that.
“I kind of think of ‘Charia’ as young, impressionable, someone who has been through a lot, and ‘Cha Cha’ is more of a finished product; happy!” she explained.
Mam said she and Brooke had a clear vision to be successful leaders, and their business, Hue Aesthetics, is their tool to give back, and be helpers to the community, radiating hope.
She told how everyday she envisions a beautiful energy space, where people can come and laugh and be joyful, and take a little stress off their lives; a place that will activate happiness, health, and prosperity.
“Brooke and I want to empower women not only in here but in the entrepreneurial space, to give hope to women like myself and Brooke who had visions of creating a space to empower women to give back,” she said. “I want people to feel my honesty, my integrity, and who I am. I want to be a part of Northern Kentucky. I want to feel that I contributed something to the community, maybe with fundraisers, and collaboration. I want people to find their hue — their glow.”