Dr. Katie Lau

REFORMING THE NORMS OF THE MEDICINAL AESTHETICS MARKET WITH HER PERCEPTIVE APPROACH

Is there any industry where women have not been able to make an astounding impact out of their presence? The obvious answer is — no! Here and there, we are witnessing women with indomitable spirits emerging as exemplary leaders, trend-setters, innovators, revolutionaries and a lot more. In the world of disruptors, female leaders are excelling with their intuitive and inspiring approach that has caused a stir across the business fraternity. Making a fervent search in the profound pool of women entrepreneurs who are transitioning into outstanding groundbreakers, we have brought to you a vignette of a sportswoman turned doctor.

Though her childhood dreams never induced her to become a doctor one day, the detour in her career trajectory proved to be the most substantial happening, as she claimed. The prominence that she owns today is the result of her unwavering hard work, perseverance, and single-mindedness, making her the perfect fit to be featured in this special edition

This exclusive cover story depicts the success story of globally reckoned aesthetic medical practitioner— Dr Katie Lau. Her well-acclaimed clinic is located in Hong Kong but has become a credible one-stop destination for non-invasive cosmetic procedures. Her journey as an aesthetician began after she graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 2006. After which, she commenced an internship at a public hospital while pursuing training on basic surgical procedures. As Katie was actively engaged there, she acquired extensive experience that was about to become a stepping stone to her prospects.

After a few years, her endeavours to add substance to the cosmetic space propelled her to start a career trajectory here in 2011. She started by collaborating with various organizations as medical practitioner to get a deep dive into the nuances of this space. And after she had bagged years of enriched experience while working with worldclass professionals, Katie decided to serve this space singlehandedly.

She incorporated Dr Katie Clinic from scratch in 2017 to serve her patients with heart and soul. Since embarking upon an entrepreneurial journey, her focal point has always been — ensuring a balance in her personal and professional life while uplifting her clinic’s service standards in leaps and bounds, and making sheer justice to her global reputation with every case she handles.

Though medical aesthetics is quite a competitive market where the Hong Kong Government doesn’t even allow promotion or marketing of such services, Katie wanted to create a stable pool of patients who could always reach her out for the excellence with which she serves every single individual who steps inside her clinic. And today, owing to the ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing only, she has become a worldwide recognized aesthetic practitioner..

CONTRIBUTION TO THE ATHLETIC REALM
Katie Lau is not only an adept and eminent medical practitioner. She also possesses yet another identity as a seasoned athlete who aced in swimming competitions at national and international levels. Earlier, she was a swimmer who began her competitive training at the age of 8 only. Her dedicated hard work paid off when she became a recipient of a 4×100m Freestyle Relay silver medal in Hiroshima Asian Games 1994.

She is also recognized in the 100 meters Butterfly swim race who performed incredibly as a Hong Kong record holder for nine consecutive years, from 1993 to 2002. In the year 1993, she was ranked 16th as the world’s phenomenal female swimmer that granted her the acknowledgement of being the first Hong Kong Swimmer to be enlisted in the world ranking.

Addressing her marvellous journey as a woman athlete, Katie affirms that sportsmanship is an indispensable part of her DNA and active participation in sports has inspired her career as a medical practitioner in many ways. She proceeded ahead to reveal, “Being a sportswoman, I never intended to seek a comfortable, desk job. My high energy levels always stimulated me to do something out–of–the–box, pushing me beyond my boundaries. Hence, broadening my horizons, I decided to become a aesthetic physician, where I can dedicate my time and stamina to transform the lives of millions of people affirmatively.”

WHY DR KATIE CLINIC?
The cosmetic clinic incepted by Katie Lau is not just a place where people get the transformation of their physical features, but owing to her compassionate nature, patients leave the clinic with altered personalities too. Katie reminisced about the time when she became adamant to choose aesthetic practice as her ultimate resort, claiming it to be her best decision ever. She aspired to commit her skills to healing people that gives her a sense of contentment and relief. Her efforts were never just to prescribe some medicine to patients but to allow them to feel elated by healing their psychological structure too. This is what immensely motivated her to pursue a successful career in the medical aesthetics market.

While practising in this space for years, Katie realized that a large number of the ‘imperfections’ pinpointed by her patients were the outcomes of many societal or other external factors. Peer pressure was the most common cause behind people knocking on the doors of aesthetics doctors. She avidly believes while focus on beautifying external features, fixing internal issues is equally instrumental for personality development. With this noble intention only, she calmly counsels her patients with some insightful talks and customized plans to amplify their highs and lessen their lows.

Moreover, while proactively working in private institutions to gain experience allowed Katie to identify some pain points where many players were heavily into promoting tech advances, rather than rendering apposite solutions to patients. Many private clinic owners were not even from medical backgrounds, which showcase their business-centric attitude. But Katie setup her venture with values that revolve around the holistic care of patients. Starting this clinic, she strives to establish a newfangled aesthetic philosophy where patients’ overall well-being has to be the priority.

Katie’s intriguing vision is all about treating a human being as an individual who needs utmost care, attention and compassion, in lieu of dealing with him as a body with structural deformities. The phenomenal female entrepreneur takes extreme delight in being a game-changer in the space with her ‘human- centric’ ideology. Acknowledging her job as of a sculptor who can remodel someone’s external appearance alongside mending his mental chaos is what she relishes the most and what we would define as her venture’s differentiating factor too!

INSIGHTS INTO WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN ENTREPRENEURIAL SPACE
When asked to share her thoughts on women’s active participation in the business world, Katie Lau states, “The world is changing at a faster pace. Today, women’s roles isn’t limited to household chores and taking care of family only. I have seen cultures that support men sitting at home and taking care of their children where women steps out of their homes to earn bread and butter.

Undoubtedly, it is so interesting to watch. For establishing this sort of liberty, our education systems have proved to be significant and gender equality has started being accepted at every nook and corner of the world. Women have their own sets of strengths, where their emotional power help them overcome any barriers they face. Definitely, the business world could be benefited in countless ways by more and more involvement of women enthusiasts.”

SYNCING WITH MARKET TRENDS
Keeping abreast of patients’ demands and market trends is also an aspect at which Katie’s Clinic is cutting an edge. Apart from expanding her clinic’s operating facility to a bigger area, she is persistently into bringing new technological solutions to add substance to her efforts.

Such as hair rejuvenation treatment, skin, gynecological tightening treatments etc. have attained mass popularity nowadays, where the founder has launched tech-laced services that can make a difference for patients, both males and females, in dire need of relevant services. Just like this, many-body remodeling treatments have been introduced by her lately, and it will keep scaling up in future.

LEADERSHIP STYLE
For Katie, being empathetic and considerate are the factors that define her leadership. She never feels like a boss at her workstation, rather behave like a mentor or motivator that encourages her team to give their level best while performing. She always maintains an ebullient environment at her workplace which her employees relish the most, and prefers her clinic to serve above its peers.

GLIMPSES OF THE FUTURE OUTLOOKS
Apart from redefining the way aesthetic medicine works, she aspires to set benchmarks across the industry. For her, business expansion has never been on her bucket list, but dispensing the seeds of her acquired knowledge and experience via classes, seminars, etc. is definitely what she will be dedicating a majority of her time in future.

On that note, she wishes to write a book and start her own YouTube Channel, where she can share her know-how’s, indepth insights, patients stories, different scenarios or encounters and many more. Indeed, her future plans are quite commendable where she wants to bring her knowledge of better use to this world.

A token of advice to fellow entrepreneurs
“I am an avid believer of the ‘no pain no gain’ philosophy as for me, hard work always does it all. I have seen diligent efforts transforming into impressively successful careers for many. Also, if you want to reach greater heights, you owe to sacrifice your comfort for it.

As the modern world sees surging numbers of women entrepreneurs, we all should collaboratively offer an equal platform to both towards progress. Nature has bestowed unique capabilities to both genders, hence; they should identify and utilize them in their favour accordingly.” Dr. Katie Lau ( The Founder of Dr. Katie Clinic)

ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOLADES SO FAR
Katie’s motto has always been fixated on — once her patient, a friend for life! And her actions resonating with this motto have efficiently helped her earn faith of her patients. The impact scale of her venture can be evaluated from the fact that if a patient enters her clinic for dermatological rectification, he and even his respective family members couldn’t help but notice the flow of positivity pouring into their lives.

The amount of magnified confidence and optimism is quite visible among the patients who have reached Katie for their respective concerns, grabbing eyeballs across the industry. It is quite an exhilarating recognition in itself. And for the influential female leader, the most considerable achievement she takes pride in is her love and support from her patients.

Not just this, the leading lady has attained several recognitions in the form of international awards from across the countries such as the UK and the USA. Also, she happened to be a proud speaker at the Korea Derma Annual Meeting in December 2020. Here, she spotlighted her wisdom on “Skin Saving Pearls: Combating What’s Under And Above The Mask.”