Cambri Gardner learned about the medical spa industry through her mother, a registered nurse working at a Colorado medical spa. Gardner now works alongside her mother at Roswell Aesthetics & Wellness, the business Gardner purchased in 2023 with the help of the nonprofit lender The Loan Fund.

Gardner had spent much of her professional career in sales and was ready for a change. “Sales was not fun for me,” said Gardner. “I really didn’t feel like I was benefiting people.”

In 2018, Gardner began working at a medical spa and was soon studying to obtain laser certification. Becoming an esthetician gave her a new sense of purpose, she said. “Seeing the changes that benefit people not just on the inside but on the outside, I felt was more life-changing for me.”

Five years later, Gardner had the opportunity to purchase a medical spa in Roswell, New Mexico. In 2023, Gardner leaped from practitioner to practicing business owner, changed the business name to Roswell Aesthetics, and brought her mother to Roswell to oversee the injectable side of the practice.

Gardner said the toughest part of the transition was obtaining financing. Without an ownership track record, the new business owner was limited by what traditional banks could offer. A banker referred her to the nonprofit lender The Loan Fund.

“The Loan Fund was super amazing and beneficial compared with what was being offered by the bank,” Gardner said. “When I was trying to go through the bank, they wanted to do a specific type of loan that I really didn’t want to do. It was a loan that involved the government and the interest rates were really high. But The Loan Fund was amazing. Our loan officer made it so much easier.”

Gardner’s five-employee business offers a variety of medical aesthetic services, including injectables, laser treatments, facials, peels, waxing, lashes, and body contouring. The daughter-mother team has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and has grown the business mostly through social media and word of mouth.

Working in other businesses was instructive for the first-time entrepreneur, and it has helped Gardner appreciate the professionals she employs.

“The best thing about all of it is not having to work for someone else and having the opportunity to lead a team and keep them happy. I’ve had so many bad experiences working for other people, and it’s taught me not to be like them. I have a really amazing team.”

Gardner said she asked herself whether the transition from employee-practitioner to business owner was worth it.

“It felt like it was so grueling, but I told myself that I would get through the process, put the work in, and it will pay off,” she said. “It’s hard being a business owner, but looking back on where I was and where I am now, it’s all worth it.”

The Loan Fund is a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides loans, training, and business consulting to entrepreneurs, business owners, and nonprofit organizations throughout New Mexico and the Navajo Nation. Learn more, and apply online.