Tiffany sits down with John Wheeler, CEO of Alpha Aesthetics Partners, for a personal look at leadership, hiring, culture, growth, and the early story behind Esthetic Center. This is Part One of a two-part conversation, focused on the beginnings of John’s journey and the foundation that eventually led to Alpha.

John shares how his career moved from ministry and wedding DJ work into the med spa world. What began as a marketing project for Dr. Rice slowly became a much bigger role, even though John was learning the industry from the ground up. He wrote website content by hand, studied treatments, interviewed Dr. Rice about lasers and injectables, and eventually stepped into managing Esthetic Center shortly before the new building opened.

Tiffany also revisits her own hiring story, from showing up determined to get in front of John to going through one of the most intense interviews of her life. For her, that process became proof of how intentional John was about hiring and why the culture at Esthetic Center felt different from anywhere she had worked before.

John explains why hiring is one of the few things a company can truly control. He talks about treating every opening like a casting call, listening to trusted team members, learning from early executive hiring mistakes, and choosing people who fit the culture, not just the resume.

The conversation also moves into the harder parts of building Esthetic Center: financial pressure, provider turnover, contractors waiting to be paid, and the need to get creative with marketing. From early digital ads to influencer campaigns, the team had to learn how to grow with limited resources.

This is a story about building something with intention, surviving the hard seasons, and creating a culture people actually want to be part of. Part Two continues the conversation and takes John’s story further into the growth of Alpha, leadership at scale, and what came next.