Jordan Jacobs, RN - Aesthetic Injector in New York City

Eva Sheie (00:03):
The purpose of this podcast is simple. We want you to get to know your doctor before meeting them in person because you're making a life-changing decision, and time is scarce. The more you can learn about who your doctor is before you meet them, the better that first meeting will be. There's no substitute for an in-person appointment, but we hope this comes close. I'm your host, Eva Sheie, and you're listening to Meet the Doctor.

(00:32):
This is a great day and a great episode because today we have the first not doctor on Meet the Doctor, and I'm so excited to introduce Jordan Jacobs, who's an injector. And are you a nurse? Is that your training, Jordan?

Jordan Jacobs (00:46):
I am a registered nurse, yes.

Eva Sheie (00:48):
Okay. All right. So tell us about yourself and how you ended up here.

Jordan Jacobs (00:52):
Absolutely. First of all, thank you so much for having me. It's a huge honor to be on this podcast, Meet the Doctor, and I'm not a doctor yet, so <laugh>, thank you.

Eva Sheie (01:01):
Are you gonna be someday?

Jordan Jacobs (01:03):
It's a dream of mine to be a doctor. That was my original plan, but let's backtrack. So I am a registered nurse. I live in New York City originally I'm from Austin, Texas, which is where you are now. Are you originally from there?

Eva Sheie (01:19):
I'm not. I'm originally from New York, but then Minnesota and then Seattle, and then back to Texas.

Jordan Jacobs (01:27):
Yeah, so I was born and raised in Austin, Texas, and it was always my dream to live in New York City. So right when I turned 18 years old, right out of high school, I packed my bags and I went to New York City. I first attended St. John's University. I was in the pre-med track, and unfortunately I was kicked out after the first semester with a 1.6 gpa. I did not do well. Yeah, <laugh>. So becoming a doctor was my original plan, and you know, we had a few barriers. I became a mother quite early on in my life. I was 21 years old when I first got pregnant with my first daughter, and then I was 24 years old when I had my second daughter.

Eva Sheie (02:19):
I also have two daughters, Jordan.

Jordan Jacobs (02:21):
Oh really? How old are they?

Eva Sheie (02:23):
They're five and three, but I was 41 and 44 when I had them.

Jordan Jacobs (02:29):
<laugh>.

Eva Sheie (02:30):
So you and I are already like opposites of,

Jordan Jacobs (02:34):
We're literally opposites with everything. Yeah, Uhhuh. <laugh>, yeah. So mine are 10 and seven right now, and I'm really happy about this. Becoming a mother early on is really a great idea because once I'm 50, they'll start taking care of me, you know? <laugh>,

Eva Sheie (02:56):
Thinking ahead.

Jordan Jacobs (02:57):
Yeah, I mean, it was difficult early on and at that time, my goal was just to get a job or a career that I could support myself and my daughters with because I was a single mother. So I went to nursing school when my first daughter was one years old, and then I had my second daughter in nursing school a semester before graduating.

Eva Sheie (03:25):
You're doing this by yourself?

Jordan Jacobs (03:27):
By myself. In New York City. Everyone's in Austin. I'm single. Yeah, I was. It was really crazy.

Eva Sheie (03:34):
Yeah, these are really big challenges. And so did anyone give you maternity leave while you were doing this?

Jordan Jacobs (03:41):
Nursing school does not honor maternity leave. I was lucky that I didn't get kicked out. <laugh>,

Eva Sheie (03:48):
Right?

Jordan Jacobs (03:49):
Yeah. Yeah. They made some exceptions for me.

Eva Sheie (03:54):
So somewhere in here you found yourself interested in aesthetics. Was that the plan from the beginning or did you fall into it?

Jordan Jacobs (04:02):
My story is unique in that as well. So aesthetics was never on my mind. I didn't even know what Botox was. I just wanted to have a job that could support myself and my two children. And in New York City, it's hard to get into anything here if you don't have experience, they want people who have a full resume with, you know, they've done this because there's so many people to choose from here. So my expectation was I'll probably end up in a retirement home. Honestly, that's what I was expecting out of nursing school in New York City. But I posted my resume on Indeed.com, which is also based out of Austin, by the way. Are you familiar with indeed.com?

Eva Sheie (04:48):
Yeah.

Jordan Jacobs (04:48):
Yeah, yeah. To find jobs. So I had posted my resume on there and a plastic surgeon found my resume and reached out to me and asked me if I was interested in interviewing with him. And absolutely the answer is yes, <laugh>. Sure. So that's how I fell into the industry. They found me on indeed.com. I never once dreamt of becoming a nurse injector.

Eva Sheie (05:17):
I'm not sure if I'm more surprised at how that happened or that anything happened on Indeed at all, because it's, it's such a, it's just a mad house on there. So that's a success story all by itself. And so that plastic surgeon was in New York and found you on Indeed. And you went in and interviewed. And so how did you end up there?

Jordan Jacobs (05:43):
So Dr. David Funt, I love him to death. He's a very talented plastic surgeon based in Long Island, New York, and I went to the interview, he hired me immediately. At the time, my youngest one was eight months old. I was still breastfeeding. There were times after getting hired that I was pumping breast milk on the job. But Dr. Funt took me in and taught me everything that I know today. He's a very talented plastic surgeon and injector, and he worked as a medical director for Allergan and Merz and would advise people on complications. So let's say you had a vascular occlusion, they would call Dr Funt and he would advise them how to fix it.

Eva Sheie (06:35):
Wow. So that was an extension of your training. Then you were already a nurse, but then being able to work under him put you in a really interesting place. So what happened next?

Jordan Jacobs (06:49):
He set me up for success, so I assisted him in plastic surgery. I would sit there and during facelifts he would show me facial anatomy as he's doing a facelift. So I learned anatomy really quickly. Every day was like a cadaver course for me. Then on his non-surgical days, he would go through the anatomy again as an injector and go through all of the different products. Whenever he would take phone calls for these complications, I would listen in on them. And by the time I decided that I wanted, wanted to leave his practice, I had a ton of knowledge under my belt. And the reason why I decided to leave was not because I didn't love my job with him, but I wanted to have more freedom and more time with my daughters.

Eva Sheie (07:41):
So what year was this and how old were the girls then?

Jordan Jacobs (07:45):
I left him when my youngest was one and a half and my eldest was three. And this was back in 2017 or 18?

Eva Sheie (07:57):
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So what was your plan for going out on your own then? Did you have a space? Were you

Jordan Jacobs (08:04):
<laugh> That plan was a crazy one. So after I left Dr. David Funt, I took on 11 different positions across the New York City region. I was working for different doctors, different med spas, popups, everywhere, just to get recognized, to build my technique, to get that practice, the hands-on practice that you need so desperately as an injector. And it's a catch 22. No one wants to go to someone who's inexperienced, but you can't get experience until you're actually doing the job. So that was my way of getting my feet wet. I would work like half a day somewhere, half a day, somewhere else, pop in at another location, and my schedule was just crazy. I was driving from Long Island to upstate New York to New Jersey to Manhattan. It was wild.

Eva Sheie (09:01):
But it clearly worked

Jordan Jacobs (09:03):
Because it worked. <laugh>.

Eva Sheie (09:06):
Yeah. So fast forward as to where you are now. What does, what does your week look like now?

Jordan Jacobs (09:12):
I have my own practice and my schedule is in my control. So each week is different, each day is different. If I need to take off and be there for my daughters, I can, if I need to pick them up from school, if some, if one of them is sick, that's what my goal always was, to be available for them. So now I have a location in Manhattan and a location in upstate New York called Nyack. Mm-hmm.

Eva Sheie (09:40):
<affirmative>. And where's the Manhattan location?

Jordan Jacobs (09:44):
The Manhattan location is located off of 57th Street and eighth Avenue, just a few blocks away from Central Park.

Eva Sheie (09:52):
And how often are you going to Nyack then?

Jordan Jacobs (09:55):
It's random every day and every week is different. It's appointment only.

Eva Sheie (10:01):
But you do something a little different. Don't you have a membership, which is not what everybody else is doing, because why would you do things like everybody else does them, Jordan?

Jordan Jacobs (10:11):
Uh, yeah, I'm anti, uh, normal against standards kind of person. I'm very rebellious, <laugh>. So yeah, it's always been a dream of mine to have a membership based program for my patients because this is how I treat myself. I inject myself, no one else touches my face, and I don't inject myself on an annual basis or a six month, four month basis. I inject myself when it seems necessary, and that might be every other week, but it's not going to be a full treatment. So I offer memberships for Botox, fillers, thread lifting and skin rejuvenation, and basically it's just little tweaks. Any time that you feel like it's necessary to maintain that beautiful result. Yeah.

Eva Sheie (11:03):
So the approach that you use on yourself is the same approach that you use with everyone else.

Jordan Jacobs (11:09):
Exactly.

Eva Sheie (11:10):
Makes a lot of sense. I can see from your Instagram that you're doing some really interesting things that we might not all know about yet. So can you maybe speak to some of these trends like, well, there's some very interesting threads photos, and I wanna talk about threads, but <laugh>, I also see some, all injections happening in interesting locations like noses, butts necks so,

Jordan Jacobs (11:38):
And breast, did you see? See breast?

Eva Sheie (11:41):
Yes. There yet,

Jordan Jacobs (11:43):
<laugh>.

Eva Sheie (11:43):
Okay. So let's take those one at a time. Start with the breast. What are you doing?

Jordan Jacobs (11:49):
Oh man. The breast lift is insane. I'm using threads to reposition the breast non-surgically. This procedure takes me about 45 minutes. No anesthesia, no downtime. And for those of you who don't know what threads are, it's a surgical suture, the same suture that they use to sew up a wound in surgery. And it's made out of one of three materials. There's P D O, P L L A, and P C L. All of these are biodegradable materials, very well taken by the body. So whenever I'm lifting any part of the face or body, it has barbs on it and those barbs latch onto the tissue that I'm lifting. I place it beneath the lower pull of the breast and just yank it up. And within a month, they're fully healed and lifted, and you get about 12 to 18 months of a result from that.

Eva Sheie (12:50):
Can anybody do this or do you have to be a certain size for this to actually work?

Jordan Jacobs (12:56):
So common knowledge is that you can't lift breasts above a C cup. Some people say a B cup, but I did double Ds, and she's so happy with her result. It just depends on how much threads you're using, how many threads do they need, and we can make it happen.

Eva Sheie (13:18):
I can see how this would be really attractive to someone. I mean, even just if you're not even afraid of surgery, not everybody has time to deal with recovery. So if you could get even half the lift that you could get with surgery, but not have to go through recovery, that would be really attractive to a lot of people.

Jordan Jacobs (13:39):
Absolutely. A lot of people don't want to do surgery for many reasons, but I do tell my patients very honestly, if surgery is more appropriate for them, usually it's the more affordable route to go. Yeah. But sometimes they don't want to risk the anesthesia or they just don't have the time or you know, they're scared, whatever the reasons are. And the non-surgical approach does appeal to them more.

Eva Sheie (14:09):
Okay. So you're lifting breasts. This is not happening everywhere, by the way. You're also lifting butts with threads, right?

Jordan Jacobs (14:17):
Yes.

Eva Sheie (14:18):
Okay. How does that work?

Jordan Jacobs (14:21):
Same concept, barbed threads going beneath the cheek and anchoring it upward. The more we use, the more lift you get. Very easy and fast.

Eva Sheie (14:33):
I'm curious about your, your eye, because on Instagram, the photos that you're taking, is this all you taking? All these pictures?

Jordan Jacobs (14:42):
You mean my, the treatment photos that I'm posting?

Eva Sheie (14:44):
Yeah. Well, like everything that goes on, your Instagram is taken by you with your own phone, right?

Jordan Jacobs (14:49):
Yes. That's all by me. I edit them as well. Yes.

Eva Sheie (14:52):
Yeah. When you look at all of them together, you can see that an aesthetic starts to emerge, which is bold. But also to me, just having looked at, I don't know, a few thousand aesthetic Instagram profiles in my lifetime, that it's results driven. Is that a fair statement?

Jordan Jacobs (15:13):
Absolutely. I guarantee results for my patients. If they don't get a result or if they're unhappy with their result, I will keep treating them until they are satisfied. That is my guarantee with people.

Eva Sheie (15:28):
Does that ever backfired?

Jordan Jacobs (15:30):
Yes. There are some people that are never satisfied, and sometimes, like with B D D, body Dysmorphic disorder, they don't see themselves as others see them. So that's when you run into the biggest issue. If they do have a perfect result and they can't recognize it, then that does backfire on me. But otherwise, I try to fish out those types of people before I try, uh, I start treating them and the patients that I choose and that choose me, were usually on the same page and I can guarantee that result for them.

Eva Sheie (16:11):
I see a fair amount of men in your photos too, and I wonder what is the breakdown of men versus women that are in your patient base?

Jordan Jacobs (16:21):
It's honestly so small. It's like 5% of my patient population. I wish I had more.

Eva Sheie (16:28):
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, what do you see benefiting men in particular, the, the way that is, the way that you treat them different from the way that you approach women?

Jordan Jacobs (16:38):
Absolutely. With men, it's sexy to age, it's sexy to have a frown line and a forehead line and look kind of rugged, right? But with women, we want to preserve our youth and look as flawless as possible. So with a man, my main focus is usually functional or creating more masculinity for them. The jawline is a big thing. If we do Botox, I don't want to freeze them completely. I want to keep some of those lines behind to make them look more masculine. And skin quality is another thing that they do appreciate. They don't want to have laxity or saggy skin. They want it to stay tight.

Eva Sheie (17:23):
Are there still doctors around New York City or elsewhere that you're partnering with to take care of patients?

Jordan Jacobs (17:30):
Yes. Actually this is a big announcement. I am partnering with Dr. Jason Emer from LA and we are opening a new practice off of 57th Street and sixth Avenue, two blocks away from my current practice.

Eva Sheie (17:46):
So are you gonna close where you are now and move over there? Is that what's happening?

Jordan Jacobs (17:51):
We haven't made that final decision yet. It's still up for negotiation, but mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the new office is definitely opening.

Eva Sheie (18:00):
So you'll be seeing patients there and, and in your current space for a while and probably still in LA.

Jordan Jacobs (18:07):
Yes.

Eva Sheie (18:08):
Yeah. And I think Dr. Emer flies around to several different places. So New York is, is one of his usual stops and so you know, you'll be his home base. Is that how that's gonna work? A little bit?

Jordan Jacobs (18:23):
Exactly. He's been in, he's been practicing in New York for a few years now, and he has never had a home. Each time he comes here, he has to take all of his devices out of the storage unit and bring it to the room that he's renting. So now he has a home. This space that we're opening together will have all of the lasers that he loves, and we're going to focus on postoperative care because he is also doing surgery while he's in New York too.

Eva Sheie (18:49):
Mm-hmmm <affirmative>. And are, are you planning to, to take care of patients together? Like do cases together where you're leveraging each other's strengths with your patient?

Jordan Jacobs (18:59):
Absolutely. He has a lot to teach me. I'm not a device queen like he is so <laugh>, I can't wait to learn from him.

Eva Sheie (19:08):
Yeah. That's gonna be really exciting and fun to watch.

Jordan Jacobs (19:12):
Yeah.

Eva Sheie (19:13):
He had some great stories about New York when he was on the show and some of the things that he did when he was in school there. And so I think there's, I could not be more excited for you to do that. <laugh>, what a great opportunity.

Jordan Jacobs (19:27):
He's a lot of fun. Yeah, we have a lot of things in common.

Eva Sheie (19:31):
Yeah. I can see that there's a relentlessness about both of you that I definitely agree you have in common.

Jordan Jacobs (19:38):
And one thing that I really like about him, and that is that he's all about regenerative medicine. I am obsessed with regenerative medicine. I've been following biohackers on podcasts for years now, and I'm a big fan of Ben Greenfield and, and David Sinclair, the author of Lifespan. The main idea with that is aging is a choice. It's not inevitable. You can slow it down, you can prevent it, you can halt it. And that's all based off of our lifestyle choices and taking advantage of these new treatments that are available to us now. So N A D Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide, it's an IV vitamin therapy that I offer for my patients. Dr. Emer also offers this to his patients, and he requires it as part of his post-operative protocol for tissue healing. This vitamin is a coenzyme that creates new cellular attp. So it literally de ages each and every single one of our cells. Our body helps with brain function, mental clarity, it helps with tissue healing, circulation, every single organ. After I do it, I have better eyesight, I have better hearing, and I don't require as much sleep because I have all this new cellular energy. I really feel like it's a super vitamin. I feel like Spider-Man after doing it, and I think that everyone needs to implement N A D into their life on a regular basis.

Eva Sheie (21:16):
Is it commonly available or is that something that is still relatively difficult to find?

Jordan Jacobs (21:22):
Iff you're in a larger city, it is available, but it also is expensive. So oftentimes, although these treatments are available, it's a matter of can I afford it?

Eva Sheie (21:33):
Is it part of the membership that you do?

Jordan Jacobs (21:35):
I do offer unlimited N A D membership. Yes. Yes, I do.

Eva Sheie (21:41):
Interesting.

Jordan Jacobs (21:42):
<laugh>,

Eva Sheie (21:44):
How long does that take? Is it quick?

Jordan Jacobs (21:47):
You know what, I'm a very flexible person. So if my patient comes in and says, I want N A D, but I only have 20 minutes, then I'm going to alter my protocol for them. I'll put it at a smaller bag. I'll do a smaller dose and I'll get them out in 20 minutes. Same thing with the lips. If they say I want a lip treatment, but I want it only to be swollen for a few days, then we'll do a smaller treatment for them. It's based off of the patient's comfortability and whatever's going on in their lives.

Eva Sheie (22:16):
That approach is only something that comes with experience because, and also the flexibility that you are giving people with the membership enables you to do things that way. You know, you're not limited by artificial constraints like a schedule or a price tag. And I think that's really kind of refreshing. Jordan.

Jordan Jacobs (22:41):
Thank you. Yeah, I try to remain relatable to my patients. I want them to be able to approach me with honesty and tell me if something feels uncomfortable to them, and then we can create a solution together and meet each other halfway. It's a very intimate and personal relationship that I have with all the my patients.

Eva Sheie (23:05):
I also think that it makes it easier for people to have a relationship because you're committing to each other. You're committing to, to having them in your pool of people that you see, which that's not that hard to do, but changing the way you look and it and preventing aging, it's a process. It's not something that's done in one appointment here and there. So I think you're facilitating the relationship really well in a way that makes sense for what needs to happen.

Jordan Jacobs (23:35):
Thank you. I agree with you. It's a journey. It's, it's not a one-stop shop and sadly, a lot of times people want it to be a one-stop shop. They want instant gratification. Where in New York City, we have very little time and they want everything at once, but those are the patients that aren't right for me, because I don't feel comfortable approaching it that way. I want to make sure that we do everything in the right way to the patient's best interest and that we can achieve the result that I'm promising them.

Eva Sheie (24:09):
Is there anything else that you want patients to know about what it's like to come see you or work with you?

Jordan Jacobs (24:14):
It's a homey environment. It's not scary. I listen to all of your concerns and your needs and wants and, and I am fully committed to you.

Eva Sheie (24:27):
Excellent. If someone wants to reach out to you or learn more about your membership program or you yourself, Jordan, where should they go look for that information online?

Jordan Jacobs (24:40):
So I have a website, Jordan Jacobs nyc.com. It's a little outdated. My memberships are not on there. If you want to see my memberships, they are on my social media. I have one for Botox fillers, thread lifting and skin rejuvenation. And my Instagram is genuine injector.

Eva Sheie (25:00):
It's a gorgeous Instagram and it, it's a great follow. Even if we're not able to come see you in New York, there's a lot to be learned and a lot of inspiration here. So I will

Jordan Jacobs (25:10):
Thank you so much.

Eva Sheie (25:11):
I'm gonna follow you today,

Jordan Jacobs (25:13):
<laugh>. Thank you.

Eva Sheie (25:16):
One more <laugh>.

Jordan Jacobs (25:18):
<laugh>

Eva Sheie (25:19):
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us today, Jordan. I'm so glad that you were able to join us.

Jordan Jacobs (25:25):
It's my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Eva Sheie (25:32):
If you are considering making an appointment or are on your way to meet this doctor, be sure to let them know you heard them on the Meet the Doctor podcast. Check the show notes for links, including the doctor's website and Instagram to learn more. Are you a doctor or do you know a doctor who'd like to be on the Meet the Doctor podcast? Book your free recording session at Meet the Doctor podcast.com. Meet the Doctor is Made with Love in Austin, Texas and is a production of The Axis.