As the primary Black girl to show 3D areola tattooing, she’s altering lives and the trade.
Dominique Spillman is redefining magnificence, therapeutic, and innovation. A board-certified member of the Society of Everlasting Beauty Professionals (SPCP) and founding father of Valencia’s World of Magnificence in Oak Garden, Illinois, she helps folks really feel complete once more by paramedical tattooing. From 3D areola restoration for breast most cancers survivors to scar remedies for trauma sufferers, Dominique’s artistry restores confidence and dignity. As the primary Black girl to show 3D areola tattooing nationally, she’s breaking boundaries. By her new platform, VLUX AI Collective, she’s empowering magnificence and med spa professionals to embrace AI, streamline enterprise, and construct steadiness of their lives.
What impressed you to focus on paramedical tattooing for most cancers survivors?
I started my profession in magnificence again in 2013 doing make-up and brows, however discovering paramedical tattooing fully shifted my function. My first 3D areola restoration was for a girl who had survived breast most cancers. When she appeared within the mirror after her process, she burst into tears and mentioned, “I lastly really feel like myself once more.”
That second modified every thing for me. I noticed that I may use my artistry to assist folks heal, not simply bodily, however emotionally. That’s when I discovered my calling: to revive confidence the place it was misplaced and remind folks that magnificence may also be therapeutic.
How do the areola tattoos and scar remedies you present assist sufferers emotionally of their restoration?
For a lot of survivors, bodily therapeutic is simply half the journey. Even after reconstruction, scars or the absence of nipples can function a day by day reminder of trauma. My aim is to assist shut that emotional hole.
As somebody who works intently with breast most cancers survivors, what do you want extra folks understood concerning the emotional therapeutic course of after reconstruction?
I want extra folks understood that therapeutic doesn’t cease when the surgical procedure is over. Reconstruction restores kind, nevertheless it doesn’t at all times restore identification that’s the place the emotional work begins. So a lot of my shoppers inform me they anticipated to really feel “complete” as soon as their procedures have been carried out, however once they appeared within the mirror and didn’t see nipples or nonetheless noticed scars, it felt like a chunk of them was lacking.
The emotional therapeutic course of is deeply private. It’s concerning the bodily it’s about feeling female once more, assured once more, your self once more. Once I tattoo an areola, it could appear like a small element, nevertheless it carries a lot that means. It’s a visible reminder that survival and sweetness can coexist. What I do helps shut that emotional loop. It’s the ultimate step in a journey that claims, “You made it by, and now you get to really feel such as you once more.”
You made historical past as the primary Black girl within the nation to show 3D areola tattooing at a convention. Inform us about that have.
That was such a robust chapter in my journey. I used to be invited to talk on the Everlasting Make-up Girls of Colour (PMU-WOC) Convention in 2023 in Atlanta, the place I led a stay workshop demonstrating my 3D areola tattooing method. Throughout that convention, I realized that I used to be truly the primary Black girl within the nation to ever train 3D areola tattooing in a convention setting and that realization was surreal.
I didn’t know I used to be making historical past till I used to be already standing in it. I used to be invited again to talk on the subsequent PMU-WOC Convention in 2024 in Cancún, Mexico, the place I taught one other workshop. Over these two years, I taught greater than 300 college students and shared methods that would change how they serve survivors in their very own communities.
Illustration issues. When ladies of coloration see somebody who seems to be like them main and innovating in a medical-aesthetic house, it reinforces the reality that we belong right here too.
You’re additionally the founding father of VLUX AI Collective. How did that come about?
The thought for VLUX AI Collective was born from my very own experiences as a busy entrepreneur. Like many magnificence professionals, I used to be carrying each hat, artist, scheduler, marketer, customer support rep and I knew one thing needed to change. I began experimenting with AI instruments to assist streamline my enterprise operations, and it was eye-opening.
I noticed that if I may train different magnificence and med spa professionals tips on how to use expertise to simplify their processes, I may assist them keep away from the burnout I as soon as felt. That’s how the imaginative and prescient for VLUX AI Collective got here to life.
This system continues to be being developed,and my mission is obvious: to assist magnificence entrepreneurs construct smarter methods that give them again their time, cut back overwhelm, and allow them to concentrate on what they love most—serving shoppers. As soon as launched, the Collective will embrace coaching on automation, AI-powered advertising and marketing, and enterprise group designed particularly for the everlasting make-up and med spa industries.
What recommendation would you give to ladies who need to innovate in magnificence and wellness?
Don’t look forward to permission simply begin. Innovation comes from the braveness to do one thing completely different. In the event you see a necessity that isn’t being met, you is perhaps the one meant to fill it.Continue to learn. Whether or not it’s mastering your method, understanding expertise, or constructing higher methods, development ought to at all times be a part of your course of. And most significantly, keep in mind that you belong in each house you stroll into. If there isn’t a seat for you on the desk, carry your personal after which invite others to sit down with you. Illustration is energy, and the second you embrace your distinctive voice, you begin altering the sport for everybody who comes after you.
