Hey guys, welcome back to Skin Anarchy. Today's episode is very special because we're going to be talking to a true expert in the space of skin health. She is truly accomplished in the, obviously, the medical field in her practice, but then also has a beautiful line called Zen Essentials, which I really, really love the whole range, and I can't wait to dive in. So without further ado, please welcome, Dr. Alexis Hazen. Welcome, Dr. Hayes.

I'm so excited to host you. Hi. It's so good to be here. And we've been looking forward to talking with each other for a long time. So I'm super excited to be here. Yeah. And it's been a long time in the making. And I'm glad we're doing this because I have so many questions for you. and I love the line and I can't wait to dive into all of it,

but I really kind of want to start with your... making and I'm glad we're doing this because I have so many questions for you and I love the line

and I can't wait to dive into all of it. But I really kind of want to start with your medical journey.

Like did you know you wanted to be a doctor like at an early age or how did you land into medicine?

Yeah. It's such it's kind of an interesting journey because what now when I look back and I put all the pieces together, I think I did kind of know, but I, I, on some part of me, didn't know. So I ended up going to college being a history major. When I graduated, I really didn't know what I wanted to do, but I had this vague idea that I wanted to do something in healthcare.

But I wasn't really thinking I wanted to be a doctor. So I, it was 87, and I worked for the New York City Department of Health doing AIDS education.

AIDS was a really big problem then, and we were doing prevention education for IV drug users among other things

and through that experience I sort of fell in love with the idea of medicine but meanwhile

I hadn't done pre-med so I applied to a post-bacclosate pre-med program and I also applied to the United States Peace Corps

and I got assigned to Honduras in the health sector. So I decided I probably wasn't something

I was going to do after med school. So I went to the Peace Corps and worked in the health sector

and then really got a lot of hands-on experience worked with local

health center doing everything from like giving vaccinations to doing talks in i was in honduras so it was

in spanish on health and disease prevention i did a latrine project water projects everything with

about the most basic health care.

And I came back, went to Brynmar for a year to get my pre-med requirements,

and then went to med school.

In med school, I sort of thought I would do something in international health,

because that was what my experience was. And then I fell in

love with surgery and specifically plastic surgery and ended up doing a residency in plastic

surgery and then a fellowship in microsurgery. But what brings it full circle is when I was a kid,

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