A New Face of Leadership at Skin Deep

Though new to Cookeville, Skin Deep owner Leah Carpenter has found a second home in the community surrounding her medical spa. 

“I’m originally from Maryville, TN. I now live in Montreal, Quebec, but my parents and brother, and sister in law, and a lot of my friends, are still in East Tennessee. When I decided that I wanted to do this acquisition/entrepreneurship route, I was looking everywhere for any investment that would be profitable. I was looking at moving companies, and a plumbing company – things that you wouldn’t necessarily think would align with me, but I was just trying to find a good, established business. At some point, I fell in love with the idea of acquiring a medispa,” Carpenter stated. 

“I wanted to find a business in Tennessee, but there were just so few of them available. So whenever Skin Deep popped up on my radar, it was just the perfect fit. I had 10 criteria that I was trying to vet everything with. Usually, I’d be lucky if a business checked off six or seven of them, but Skin Deep hit the mark on nearly all of them. Within 24 hours, I was on the phone with the Pippins (previous owners Stephenie and Michael Pippin), and everything just fell into place.” She added, “I hadn’t been to Cookville since 1999, and I didn’t really know what I was signing up for, but I’ve fallen in love with it. I’ve been blown away by this community of women leaders who are movers and shakers, making things happen in this city. These incredible women have welcomed me into their fold, and I’m so grateful.”

Though Leah has reshaped Skin Deep to match her own vision and aesthetic, she is quick to praise the work and lean on the knowledge of those who built the business. 

She said, “Dr. Michael Pippin stayed on as our Medical Director with a time limit for me to find his replacement. Stephanie (Pippin) has remained on board, and she loves it. She’s good at what she does, and the pressure of owning and running the business is now off her shoulders. Stephenie and Michael opened the first medispa in the region in 2010, so I truly appreciate their wisdom and for sticking around as I transitioned into owning Skin Deep.”

For those unfamiliar with the industry, I asked Leah to explain the difference between a traditional spa and Skin Deep. 

“A spa is where you go to have facials, massages, and similar experiences. With a medi spa, there’s going to be medical-grade products, medical-grade services that involve syringes and lasers that you can’t do without a medical director’s oversight, in addition to the luxury offerings of a traditional spa,” she said. “We offer all the relaxation of a normal spa, but we also have Botox, dermal fillers, Kybella, and quite a few services like that. We also have lasers for hair removal and sun spot removal, IPL (Intense Pulse Light – resurfaces and gives you that glassy skin appearance that everybody’s looking for these days, while minimizing sun spots), tattoo removal, and radio frequency micro needling – we treat all levels of the skin. From resolving scars caused by acne to helping with stretch marks, we can address a wide range of needs.”

As with any medical appointment, visiting a spa like Skin Deep can come with reservations and anxiety. I asked Leah about how her team addresses these with patients. 

She stated, “With every new client, we do a patient consultation and educate them, answer their questions, and make sure that they’re fully comfortable. We tell them what we would recommend, but they don’t have to do anything that they’re not fully comfortable with. If it comes down to anxiety or fear of needles or something like that, we actually have something called Pronox, which is kind of like laughing gas, but it wears off right away. So you’re fine to drive home. We make sure everyone who comes into Skin Deep is comfortable and at ease.”

To finish our interview, I asked Leah what she found most rewarding about owning Skin Deep. 

“People now have access to treatments that were once reserved for actors and actresses and movie stars and the wealthiest of the wealthy. This industry is now accessible to more people than ever. To meet each client where they are, we have different tiers of offerings and financing so that we don’t let cost or fear of cost be what keeps a client away from using the services we provide. Getting to see lives changed and confidence built at Skin Deep is so rewarding. We love serving EVERYONE in Cookeville and look forward to doing so for a very long time!”

-written by Andrew Buckner, photos by Olivia Merritt

For more information, visit https://www.skindeepcookeville.com.