hey sS'ers, kim here. long time since i've written a post - i've been busy with quite a few big game changing projects in the works! more announcements about this about all that to come soon, but i wanted to share a little bit about something we've been doing at sS that i'm very excited about, and how will inspire you in some way. :) HOW ACNE GAVE ME A SENSE OF PURPOSE IN LIFE many of you may know my story, that i founded sS after finding the regular 'spa' facial world boring. when i was part of the opening team at remede spa (within san francisco's st. regis hotel) all the way back in 2005, i was at the highest end, 5-star luxury hotel spa in the city. it was beautiful, we had thorough training and regularly had high profile clients. i also had a great work/life flow: my workweek consisted of wednesday to sunday like this: i'd take bikram class at funky door yoga on new montgomery st. at 12noon, get into work by 2pm to have a leisurely homemade lunch, before starting my 3-9pm work shift. however, i felt unfulfilled with my work. after i found acne, and saw, with time, how well the work worked, i felt inspired, of service to my community, and finally, TRULY FULFILLED.. because what i was actually slanging now was empowerment to the people - not just short-lived relaxation, a feel good face rub or expensive diamond creams. fast forward 12 years later (!), it's now 2017 and i've had skinSALVATION for 9 years now. i know that our work is truly life changing and amazing, and i'm ready to layer on the next level of fulfillment, in service to our community. FULLFILLMENT : THE NEXT LEVEL in order to do that, i've committed to donating a portion of our clinic profits to legit, charitable organizations every month. in years past, my donations were random, but since this january, with the help of my team at sS SF, we've been making it a regular + structured thing. we are also doing our best to create the time and space to physically volunteer individually or as a group, whenever we can. check out the photo above, of team sS at dress for success just last friday! HOW WE'VE BEEN WALKING OUR TALK so far this year, we've supported the following charities. we'll promise to write more in depth about why we've chosen these particular ones, and our personal connection to them. EMPACT NORTHWEST (international medical crisis support - my best friend, tamara, used to run this org, and is still involved) PLANNED PARENTHOOD (in honor of mike pence - duh) ACLU (in honor of donald trump - duh) DRESS FOR SUCCESS (the team volunteered there this friday, it was super fun!) UNITED WAY OF GENESEE COUNTY (in support of the flint, michigan water crisis) AMERICARES COLEMAN ADVOCATES FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AIDS LIFECYCLE (in support of many friends doing the ride AS I TYPE, like RIGHT NOW!) RIDE FOR A REASON (to support oakland's public schools) LA CASA DE LAS MADRES (a local + kick ass org that provides shelter, advocacy and support services to women, teens, and children exposed to and at risk of abuse and domestic violence) DALY CITY YOUTH HEALTH CENTER (i grew up partly within the daly city school system, and have very good friends that have served as marriage + family therapists there) GRATITUDE TO YOU with your continued support of my business - buying products, coming in for treatments, tipping your sS estheticians (to be closer in line with the hourly compensation rate they'd normally make at standard spas & salons), doing what we tell you to do to clear up and telling all your friends about us - we can continue supporting our acne-prone community to be healthier and happier - and on a larger, more impactful humanitarian level - these charities, for years to come. THE BIKE PHOTO ok so you may have stumbled upon this blog piece from our instagram post, and want to know what's up with these super pro looking bikers. they are 3 friends of friends of sS that we've allocated our june donations to, to ride the grueling, uber challenging AIDS lifecycle for us, so we don't have to train like crazy, haha. (if you don't know about it, participants ride a bicycle from SF to LA over the course of a week to raise money for AIDS research + support). they are now on day 5 of 7, but it's never too late to send some $$ love their way! if anything, i'm happy to just raise awareness about this amazing cause, and shine the spotlight on some of the real-life brave riders i know that are doing it. one of them is an sS'ers sibling, another is an sS'ers best friend, and the other a cool strong-legged friend of theirs! feel free to support each one of them with this link here, here and here :D OUR (acne-safe) THANK YOU, TO YOU! i like to think that our sS'ers are on the same wavelength as us on these kinds of things, so if you donate your time OR money to any of the charities we tell you about, show us your confirmation (even it's just one hour, or $5!) and we'll give you an sS gift as our (acne-safe) high-five to you! SO MUCH GRATITUDE TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU for putting your faith into our process, and allowing us to do the important, life-changing and fulfilling work we love to do. we very much appreciate the opportunity to make this our everyday, giving us purpose in life :)