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Improving Diversity in Aesthetics The founders of the Black Aesthetics Advisory Board provide practical tips on how the industry can band together to help improve diversity within the field and support both practitioners and patients with skin of colour The latest Black Lives Matter movement has created a conversation. It’s made individuals of all backgrounds reflect on the diversity of their workplace and entire industries are encouraging their communities to think about how they can influence positive change. For the first time, recent surveys conducted by the Black Aesthetics Advisory Board (BAAB) highlight the specific areas that need most attention for progress, which are unique to aesthetics.1-3 Some of the notable results have been highlighted on the previous page4 and now it’s up to every member of the aesthetic community to be a part of this conversation and work together to result in change. This, BAAB founders Dija Ayodele, Dr Ifeoma Ejikeme, Dr Tijion Esho and Dr Amiee Vyas say, will not just be beneficial for black patients and practitioners. They believe it will also benefit those of all backgrounds and will create more business for clinics and companies, as well as aiding the overall progress our ever-evolving field. Dr Vyas explains, “The UK, especially places like London, has a very diverse population and our surveys highlight that the aesthetics field is leaving out a large section of our society, which is concerning.” Dr Vyas continues, “Leaving out this part of the population is an issue because it means patients are not engaging with the field and
practitioners don’t feel welcomed. It’s also a negative for our businesses – we could be expanding our services and tapping into this market if we were all catering to these patients appropriately.” The below advice from the BAAB founders explores how the aesthetic community can make small improvements to implement big changes, thus becoming more inclusive of people from all ethnicities.
Improve education The surveys highlight that although many practitioners want to improve their knowledge, there is a lack of training available to them when it comes to treating darker skin types.1 Ayodele says, “There is a real need for practitioners to undergo more training on how they can better serve the entire population. For example, there is a lack of understanding of how skin concerns present differently in black skin vs. white skin, or what problems skin-of-colour patients commonly face.” Dr Vyas adds that in her experience, often darker skin types are just briefly mentioned by training providers as a risk, without going into much detail. “I had to take it upon myself to do my own research with in-depth literature reviews so I could provide a better service for my patients with skin of colour –
Black Aesthetics Advisory Board founders
Dija Ayodele
Dr Amiee Vyas
Dr Ifeoma Ejikeme
Dr Tijion Esho
in the absence of formal education I really urge my colleagues to do the same. Since doing this, and by voicing my knowledge to my patient base, I now have 50% skin-ofcolour patients and am a trainer for distributor AestheticSource, which offers skin-of-colour education as a priority,” she says. Although Dr Vyas has seen improvements in this area, she and the other BAAB founders believe more needs to be done. This, they say, is the responsibility of aesthetic companies, universities and training providers, as well as practitioners, who need to be active in voicing that they need this education. Dr Ejikeme highlights, “If the aesthetic community has the knowledge, understanding, tools and know-how, then they are going to provide a good service to all their patients. And this is not just the right thing to do, but it can also be profitable for your clinic too.”
Change marketing and branding approaches Have you ever looked at how your clinic appears from the eyes of your patients? What do your website, social media channels and emails say about you and the services you offer? Does it look like you cater to skin-of-colour patients? It might be time for a change, the BAAB founders say. “As a whole, black patients feel underrepresented,”1 says Ayodele, “So, marketing and branding for not only clinics but aesthetic products needs to be a lot more inclusive to patients of all skin types to show that there are treatments available to them. This is not just having a token black women image here and there, but companies should include a wide variety of skin tone imagery from the whitest of white to the darkest of dark.” Dr Ejikeme also believes that aesthetic product companies need to supply clinics with marketing materials that cover wider
Reproduced from Aesthetics | Volume 7/Issue 10 - September 2020
