Today we’d like to introduce you to Hayli Wells.
Hi Hayli, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My passion for skin started over 15 years ago because of my own struggle with hormonal acne. I spent years trying different products and treatments without ever really understanding what my skin needed or why I was breaking out in the first place.
Eventually, I found an esthetician who completely changed my skin and, in a lot of ways, my life. Acne is such a personal thing when you’re the one dealing with it. It can affect how you see yourself, how comfortable you feel around other people, and it can honestly take up so much of your mental space. I know because I lived it.
Once I finally had someone who helped me understand my skin and gave me the right guidance and support, something just clicked. I knew I wanted to be able to do that for other people. I wanted to help people stop guessing, understand what their skin actually needs, and finally feel like they have a plan that makes sense.
That eventually led me to become an esthetician and, in August of 2023, I opened Aeri Aesthetics Skin Studio. I started small and built my business one client at a time. Over the last three years, I’ve continued to learn, grow, and invest in my education, along with more advanced treatments and technology.
Acne will always be especially important to me because of my own experience, but over time my work has grown to include concerns like hyperpigmentation, scarring, sensitive skin, and healthy aging.
The more I worked with different clients and different skin concerns, the more interested I became in the connection between what we see happening on the skin and what may be going on internally. Sometimes you can have the best skincare routine and treatments, but there may be other pieces of the puzzle that need to be addressed too. That really changed the way I started looking at skin and how I wanted to care for my clients.
Through my relationship with the nurse practitioners at Embracing Functional Wellness, we realized that our approaches worked really well together. We shared the same idea that skin, aesthetics, and overall wellness don’t always need to be treated as completely separate things. That shared vision is now becoming Align Well Med Spa. We are preparing to open our own location where we can bring aesthetics, skin health, and wellness together under one roof very soon.
It’s pretty crazy to look back and realize that all of this started because I was just trying to figure out my own acne. Something I struggled with for years ended up leading me to a career I genuinely love and gave me the opportunity to help other people who are looking for the same kind of guidance I once needed.
For me, it’s never been just about making someone’s skin look better. I want my clients to understand their skin, feel like they’re being listened to, and know that their treatment plan was created for them, not just pulled from a one-size-fits-all approach.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely hasn’t always been a smooth road. Starting a business, building a clientele from the ground up, and trying to wear all the hats was incredibly difficult, especially as a first-time business owner. I wasn’t just the esthetician. I was also the receptionist, the marketing department, the social media manager, the bookkeeper, and everything else that came with running a business.
I learned so much, especially during that first year. I’m naturally a perfectionist, and I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to do everything right the first time. Owning a business taught me pretty quickly that it just doesn’t work that way. There is a learning curve to almost everything, and sometimes you have to make mistakes, adjust, and figure things out as you go.
One of the biggest lessons for me has been learning to give myself grace. I had to become comfortable with not having all the answers and recognize that learning along the way doesn’t mean I’m failing. It means I’m growing.
Looking back, I’m grateful for those challenges because they’ve made me a much more confident business owner. I still hold myself to a high standard, but I’ve learned that growth doesn’t require perfection. Sometimes it just requires being willing to keep going, keep learning, and do things a little better than you did the day before.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work is centered around corrective, results-driven skincare, with a special focus on acne, hyperpigmentation, acne scarring, sensitive or compromised skin, and healthy aging. Acne will always be especially important to me because of my own experience with it and because it’s ultimately what led me into this career.
One of the biggest things that sets my approach apart is how individualized it is. I don’t believe there is one perfect skincare routine, treatment plan, or timeline that works for everyone. I take into consideration not only what I see happening within someone’s skin, but also their lifestyle, schedule, budget, goals, and even how much time they realistically want to spend on their skincare every day.
Some clients have the time and desire for a more involved routine and frequent appointments, while others need something simple that fits into a very busy life. My job is to meet them where they are. I’ve learned how to be flexible and adjust treatment plans without losing sight of the end goal. There are often multiple ways to get someone where we want their skin to be, and I really enjoy figuring out what approach makes the most sense for that particular person.
I also think what sets my work apart is recognizing when the skin may be telling us that there is more going on beneath the surface. There are times when topical skincare and treatments can only take us so far. Hormones, nutrition, stress, gut health, and other internal factors can all influence what we see happening externally. While my role as an esthetician is focused on the skin, working alongside the nurse practitioners at Embracing Functional Wellness gives us the ability to collaborate when a client may benefit from looking deeper into those internal factors.
That collaboration is something I’m especially excited to expand through Align Well Med Spa. It allows us to combine my knowledge of the skin with their functional wellness and medical expertise, while each of us stays within our respective areas of practice. Instead of continuing to throw products or treatments at a concern that may have an internal component, we can look at the person more comprehensively and determine what kind of support makes the most sense.
I work with chemical peels, microneedling, plasma technology, LED therapy, and other advanced modalities, but I don’t believe the treatment itself should ever be the focus. The focus is always the individual in front of me and what makes sense for their skin and their life at that particular point in time.
What I’m most proud of is the trust my clients have placed in me and the results we’ve been able to achieve together, especially when we’ve had to adjust, think outside the box, or take a different approach than originally planned. Skin is constantly changing, and life is constantly changing, so I believe a good treatment plan should be able to change with it.
Ultimately, I want my clients to have a plan that is personalized, realistic, and sustainable. With Align Well, we’ll be able to take that philosophy even further by bringing skin, aesthetics, and functional wellness together and looking at both what is happening on the outside and, when appropriate, what may be contributing from within.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
There are several people who have played a huge role in getting me to where I am today, but my husband has been there through every part of it. When I first started thinking seriously about opening my own business, I questioned whether it was the right decision and whether I was ready for everything that came with it. He was the one who kept encouraging me to go for it. When I would overthink things or start questioning myself, he reminded me of why I wanted to do this in the first place. I truly don’t know if I would have taken that leap without his encouragement, and he has continued to support me through every stage of the business since.
My family has also been a big part of this journey. Building a business takes a lot of time, energy, and sacrifice, and their support and understanding have given me the space to pursue something that means so much to me.
And then there are my clients. They are obviously the reason I’ve been able to turn something I love into a growing business, but over the years, many of those relationships have become so much more than just skincare. When you spend that kind of one-on-one time with people, you get to know each other. I know about their families, their careers, their celebrations, and the difficult seasons of their lives, and they know about mine too. I genuinely care about what is happening in their lives, and I’ve been fortunate to have clients who genuinely care about mine as well.
That connection is one of the things I value most about what I do. Some of my clients have been with me since the very beginning. They’ve trusted me with their skin, referred their friends and family, shared my work, left reviews, celebrated my growth, and encouraged me as I’ve taken each new step in my business. In many ways, I feel like we’ve grown together.
I may be the person behind the business, but it certainly hasn’t been built by me alone. The support of my husband and family, along with the relationships I’ve built with my clients, has played such an important role in getting me here. And those relationships are something I hope I never lose, no matter how much the business grows.
Pricing:
- Custom facials are $150 and all inclusive.
- Consultations are $55, but is credited toward their first service
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aeriskin.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aeri_aesthetics
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aeriskin
