Meet Amber, Plastic Surgery Photographer & Marketing Specialist

Monique Ramsey (00:04):
Welcome everyone to The La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast. I'm your hostess, Monique Ramsey, and today you get to meet one of our wonderful team members. You would see her when you're getting maybe your imaging done before thinking about a rhinoplasty, or you would see her for your before pictures before surgery or your after pictures, your post-ops, or if you're in our weight loss program, she'd take your pictures there too. So she's also though on the marketing team, and so she helps create content for social media and she's just so fun. And if you haven't met her yet, you're going to meet her now. And her name is Amber. So welcome Amber.

Amber (00:43):
Hi. Thank you for having me. It's so weird being on the other side.

Monique Ramsey (00:48):
Yeah, I know. You've always got the camera in your hand and you have the cutest little reels that you do that you involved. She's so cute. She gets the staff involved and sometimes they're dancing and I don't know, how do you come up with all those things?

Amber (01:03):
It's usually like what's trending right now, but trying to make it for us for plastic surgery world. And then I just invite the nurses. They say they don't like it, but I think they, Loki have fun. I mean, you can tell they're having fun.

Monique Ramsey (01:19):
So what led you to come to La Jolla Cosmetic? You've been here almost a year or about? Are we at a year?

Amber (01:27):
Yeah, like a year and a half I think. I know.

Monique Ramsey (01:31):
So what was your main, what did you do before and why did you think that this would be a fun job?

Amber (01:38):
Well, before this I used to work as a photographer at a photo studio, but then I wanted to do more creative stuff and then this was the perfect job. I can take photos, I can do videos. We work on the podcast sometimes I help them set up everything. Everyone here is so nice. The doctors are so nice. The nurses are so fun. The media team, a little bit of everything.

Monique Ramsey (02:03):
A little bit of everything. So have you always been into photography? Was that a passion of yours?

Amber (02:09):
Yeah, for as long as I can remember. I actually remember the first camera I got, it was like a small Barbie camera. And people are going to find out how old I am, but it was like a film camera and I was like eight years old. So I was taking photos of everything. I didn't know anything about light composition, so all the photos came out black.

Monique Ramsey (02:31):
Oh, you're kidding. It's a Barbie camera, so.

Amber (02:35):
Yeah. But then I got a digital camera and then I went to school. I learned about composition, iso, all the technical stuff.

Monique Ramsey (02:43):
Well, and I think one of the key things, and you're so good at it, is a before and after, let's say we're looking at somebody's profile, if the chin is just slightly up in the one picture and not the other, you're not really comparing apples and apples, especially if you're trying to look at somebody's neck and maybe they've had a face and neck lift, and if they're in the after their neck is up a little or they're down in the first picture, it's like, okay, well, it's like somebody's trying to mess around. So really having a perfect profile or having things exactly at the right distance is really important because that's how then clinically as a consumer, you can really assess the before and after. And like you said, the lighting too. That's a really important thing.

Amber (03:29):
Yeah, the lighting plays a big role in showing before and after photos. And then as you said, it has to be the same angle every single time. I think people think it's so easy to take photos, it's just one click, but it's not. It's finding the right angles and then taking the same angles all over.

Monique Ramsey (03:48):
It's not just on that one photo. It's on all the photos that day. And in six weeks and in six months, right?

Amber (03:56):
Yeah. Even one year from now, it has to be the same angle.

Monique Ramsey (04:00):
How do you help make patients feel comfortable in that photo process?

Amber (04:04):
Well, I try to just talk to them, get to know them, and then I assure them that no one's going to open the door. It's just going to be me and them. No one's going to see their photos unless they give us consent. So we just like to keep it super private just for them.

Monique Ramsey (04:19):
I think that's something that even if you're saying, yeah, sure, show everybody, it's still like you want it to be.

Amber (04:25):
You want to hide something.

Monique Ramsey (04:27):
And have it kind of classy. And like you say, it's anonymous too, so.

Amber (04:30):
And then even if they have tattoos or birth marks, we can get rid of those. We remove those just for extra privacy, which is always nice. That's a good idea.

Monique Ramsey (04:40):
Yeah. Cuz if you have a big falcon on your back.

Amber (04:42):
Yeah, exactly.

Monique Ramsey (04:43):
Oh, I know her.

Amber (04:44):
Exactly.

Monique Ramsey (04:46):
The patients, so when we do see a tattoo, that means that patient has said it's fine.

Amber (04:50):
Yeah, it's fine. They don't mind showing that. Or now we have this dress idea or the bikini. If they want a little more privacy, but they want to share their results, that's a nice way to share them too.

Monique Ramsey (05:02):
So tell everybody about what you have in there.

Amber (05:05):
Yeah, so for breast augmentation photos, we do bikinis before and after in case you don't want to share everything with the world. Or we have some dresses for lipo tummy tucks, so they're tight dresses. You can really tell the difference.

Monique Ramsey (05:20):
Yeah, I saw one recently.

Amber (05:23):
Oh, for a skinny shot too.

Monique Ramsey (05:25):
Yeah, she was in a beige dress. And before I was like, wow. And that's a really nice way, even I think if you're the patient yourself, you want to kind of see what a difference in the same piece of clothing, which I think is fun.

Amber (05:38):
And it's super helpful because it's always the same dress that we have here and we provide for you.

Monique Ramsey (05:42):
That's true. That's true. So part of what you do, so you're in the photo room with patients, but then you're also helping out with social media. And so did you have any background in that or how did you pick up all those skills?

Amber (05:56):
I used to work at a marketing and media agencies, so I kind of learned, but it wasn't until I started working here that I fully merged into that world.

Monique Ramsey (06:09):
Threw you in the pool, right?

Amber (06:10):
Yeah. You just were like, okay, got it.

Monique Ramsey (06:17):
I'll do it. Just kidding.

Amber (06:18):
Yeah. I mean, you're such a trooper. No, I mean, always having an amazing team helps you, Gretchen are always super creative, so it's always nice to have that support.

Monique Ramsey (06:28):
And then we've got Hannah behind the scenes.

Amber (06:30):
Oh true

Monique Ramsey (06:31):
Podcast producer and helps put out all that content every time, every Tuesday this podcast comes out a new episode.

Amber (06:39):
Those captions too.

Monique Ramsey (06:40):
I know the captions, it's more work than people think, honestly. But I think it's wonderful content and I think it's fun when patients get to see the behind the scenes or learning a fact about plastic surgery that they didn't know before or meeting another person on the team or meeting a patient. I think it's fun to have content that's diverse for everybody or following the doctors around.

Amber (07:05):
And it can also what they be fun. It doesn't have to be like, I'm learning something in a boring way. It can be fun.

Monique Ramsey (07:11):
That's true. So now that you kind of are in the aesthetic side of the business, not marketing for a restaurant or marketing for a clothing store, what do you think about the aesthetic side and what have you learned so far? And is there anything that surprised you?

Amber (07:28):
I learned that it's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. We're not trying to sell you something like you need light bulb. We're trying to show you the experience that you can get. So it's about you wanting to come and visit us. It's also hard because we cannot just show nudity on social media. So you got to get creative and show you what you can look like without showing.

Monique Ramsey (07:53):
How to show it without showing it.

Amber (07:54):
Yeah, exactly. Which can be tricky. And then we also have those fun videos. Also talk about plastic surgery without talking about plastic surgery. So it's, I'm still learning, not going to lie, but it's been fun so far.

Monique Ramsey (08:10):
Well, I think you bring such a fun spark of creativity and sometimes when you're newer in an industry, you come up with a fresh perspective. And I think for patients to get to know the nursing team or get to know people in the back office, they don't get to see everybody all the time. And so it's nice to have those light moments that they can get to know us because they haven't had surgery with us before. And you're following us and you want to know, do I think I could vibe with these people? Are these my people can help take care of me? Not only are the doctors good and they're going to be giving me the results I'm looking for, but also what do I think about these people? And sometimes it's not until you meet them and sometimes you're, do I want to pick up the phone yet for the consult or maybe kind of meeting us on social media or meeting us in the podcast is a sort of a way to get you to the next step as like, oh, okay. I think these are pretty normal people and they have good ethics and they seem nice. And I think that's the one thing in the years that I've been with the surgery center is whether it's the staff or it's the patients, is that they all say everybody was so nice. I felt so comfortable. And I think you're a really big part of that because they have to feel comfortable when they have their clothes off. But yeah, I think you have done a great job of bringing that to the patients through the social media.

Amber (09:44):
But I do agree that showcasing our stuff or here our doctor, he's so fun. Having them be part of our staff will help them maybe, how you say, make that call.

Monique Ramsey (09:56):
Especially if you've never done something like this before, you might've gone to your primary care doctor, that's different than saying, this is something I want to change about myself, improve my confidence. And it's a little bit humbling. And so you don't want to be judged when you get there. And so I think that's maybe the big thing that you're so good at conveying is that we're just people like you and we have all our own insecurities and we want things fixed and it's okay. And we're here to help you and support you throughout that. So tell me a little bit about you. Tell me where you grew up.

Amber (10:32):
Well, I grew up in Mexico in case people were wondering where my accent is from. I get that question a lot here. But yeah, so I grew up in Mexico and then I moved here three, four years ago I think now. And I love it here. San Diego is so different, so nice. You can go everywhere. The people are so nice.

Monique Ramsey (10:53):
Where in Mexico?

Amber (10:54):
It's called Mexicali. It's like two hours from here. And it's a desert. It's so hot. Don't go there in summer.

Monique Ramsey (11:04):
So you like San Diego then?

Amber (11:06):
Yeah, I love San Diego it has everything.

Monique Ramsey (11:09):
Oh, that's good. So tell me, now that you've been here for four or five years in San Diego, what are some of the fun things you enjoy doing when you're not working at our job? What are you doing and how are you enjoying the city?

Amber (11:25):
Well, I like to go out to eat. There's so many places in here I went Coronado too, like the bike ride. It's so nice. And then what else I like to do? I like to go out dancing, doing pottery. There's so many things you can do here. Go to Balboa Park, visit the museums. So many options. Endless options.

Monique Ramsey (11:46):
That's true. I mean, I was just out at the in Coronado, speaking of Coronado. It's so fun to go down there. They have the Lambs players theater, and so my mom and I like to go down there. They do different musicals and we had so much fun. We saw a great musical, which was actually a movie. I'm like, why does this song seem familiar? Well, it was a movie. It was a movie in 2007, so it was a long time ago. But yeah, it was really good and it was like when you're down there and it was a beautiful day and it's fun to go down and kind explore another part of the city.

Amber (12:21):
Exactly.

Monique Ramsey (12:22):
Yeah. Do you have siblings?

Amber (12:25):
I do have one brother, younger brother. He lives in Mexicali. I don't get to see him very often, but it's fun when I do.

Monique Ramsey (12:33):
Oh, that's nice. So when it's winter time, it's not maybe as hot to go down there.

Amber (12:39):
Yeah, exactly. That's a good time to visit.

Monique Ramsey (12:41):
Tell me about one of the posts that you did and then we'll link it in the show notes. That was your favorite one to do.

Amber (12:50):
So I love the last one that we did, the LOVE. That was so fun.

Monique Ramsey (12:54):
Oh, that was really cute.

Amber (12:56):
But that was also the one where when we were dancing vibes check on the nurses.

Monique Ramsey (13:02):
That was so cute. I saw it. I'm like scrolling on Instagram at night and I'm like, oh yeah. I'm like, what's happening? So tell everybody what you did.

Amber (13:13):
So it was Christmas and we had this mean girl song and we will walk towards any nurse and we start playing it and dancing, and if they dance, they pass the vibe check. It was so fun, and some of them were confused. I was just there dancing by myself and some of them enjoying.

Monique Ramsey (13:31):
They're like, what's happening right now?

Amber (13:33):
It was really cute.

Monique Ramsey (13:35):
It ended up really cute. So we'll put a link to that because it was very cute and it shows your personality. I think you're so sweet, but you're pretty quiet, and so it's fun to see your personality come out in these fun little social media reels for our audience. Throw us a, if you have an idea for something you want us to do, Amber will probably say yes. She'll probably say yes, right.. Oh no, you might. You might.

Amber (14:00):
Okay.

Monique Ramsey (14:01):
Totally putting you on the spot. Let's see. I think you and Gretchen are really good at finding, like you said, things that are trending. So I mean, how much fun can you have at a job, right? Yeah. So anyway, well thanks everybody for listening. It was super fun to meet you, Amber, and thanks for coming on and letting us grill you on your job and what you do, but I think you're such a special part of our team and our patients love you. Our staff loves you, our doctors love you. So what more could you want? Right?

Amber (14:36):
I love everyone here too. It's so fun here.

Monique Ramsey (14:39):
We are so happy to have you. And so for everybody out there listening, please subscribe. We would love to just know that you're going to put on your notifications and every Tuesday it'll be like there's a new episode and that you'll listen to us or you'll watch us on YouTube. And if you don't know if you're a Spotify user, you can watch us on Spotify on video also. So that's kind of fun. I think most people listen to us maybe on Apple podcast, but I'm a Spotify girl, so it's fun that that's where the video is as well. Also, before I wrap it up, we want everybody to know that if you're a subscriber, you can, you just need to show our team that you are a subscriber of the podcast and we'll give you $25 off of $50 or more of elastin any of the products in our office. Amber, have you used any of the products?

Amber (15:30):
Oh yeah, I love them.

Monique Ramsey (15:32):
Which one's your favorite?

Amber (15:33):
Their eye cream is so good. The HA serum.

Monique Ramsey (15:37):
I love the HA serum. I don't know if we're selling that yet, but I think we're going to have to go. No, no, no, because I think we could make it happen. I think we could start a little HA serum revolution and then make it happen. I think we can. Yeah. No, I love it. I love to put it on before I put on makeup. It's so great. It's so hydrating. Yeah. So for all you out there, 25 off of 50 or more, so half off of the first 50, right? So it can't go wrong. Before we go, Amber, tell us is there anything that you want to share with the audience and maybe request?

Amber (16:14):
Yeah, so I would love to invite the audience to send us some after photos so we can just show everyone your amazing results. You don't even have to show your face. It could just be your body. And then Monique will add my email, so you can just send it to me and then we'll show them to everyone on our social media.

Monique Ramsey (16:35):
Yeah, I would love that. I think that'd be fun to see if you're out at Balboa Park, like you said, or if you're at the beach or you're at yoga class, whatever.

Amber (16:44):
Exactly.

Monique Ramsey (16:45):
Just to see you out enjoying your results. I think that's part of it, and I think it's fun to see other people who've maybe done what you're thinking about doing and seeing them

Amber (16:54):
Out there in the wild.

Monique Ramsey (16:55):
Out there in the wild.

Amber (16:56):
Living their best life.

Monique Ramsey (16:58):
Living your best life. Exactly. Exactly. Well, and our whole little slogan is where dreams become real. And I think you have a dream in your head and then we help make it happen, but then you're out enjoying it. We don't always get to see, so it'd be nice to have everybody out there send us your pictures.

Amber (17:19):
Yeah, don't be shy.

Monique Ramsey (17:20):
Don't be shy. Exactly right. Well thanks for listening, and we'll put in the show notes that link to those fun videos, the LOVE and the vibe check with the nurses and we will see you all on the next one. Bye.

Announcer (17:36):
Take a screenshot of this podcast episode with your phone and show it at your consultation or appointment or mention the promo code PODCAST to receive $25 off any service or product of $50 or more at La Jolla Cosmetic. La Jolla Cosmetic is located just off the I-5 San Diego Freeway in the Ximed Building on the Scripps Memorial Hospital campus. To learn more, go to ljcsc.com or follow the team on Instagram @ljcsc. The La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast is a production of The Axis, theaxis.io.