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The spa recently celebrated its one-year anniversary as the go-to resource for a wide range of personal appearance services, including surgical weight loss, laser hair removal, tattoo removal, body contouring, skin tightening and renewal, facials and injectables. Dr. Dominick Artuso performs SmartLipo at the Eastchester facility. He is also a Bariatric weight loss surgeon and offers free consultations at New Image Laser and Med Spa.
Bonci, the CEO and vice president, transitioned to a new career after working for 20 years in public relations and marketing. She joined Dr. Artuso five years ago in October at his surgical weight loss facility in Dobbs Ferry. She learned laser surgery, cellulite reduction, tattoo removal, and laser hair removal and contemplated her next career move.
She set forth with a business plan to create her own identity in enhancing the appearance of others, and the timing, location and concept worked out perfectly.
“At a certain age, I feel like you better change your career or you’re going to be stuck,’’ Bonci said. “I flipped over because I was at that mark. I thought if I don’t change something now, I’m going to be stuck. I see a lot of my friends stuck now, and employers don’t want to hire people in their late 40s and 50s. I did this with the doctors, and they believed in me. It was the most wonderful move I’ve ever made.”
Bonci said business success was evident within six months. She serviced family and friends first. She joined several clubs, such as the Scarsdale Women’s Club, the National Association of Professional Women and the Eastchester-Tuckahoe Chamber of Commerce. She also hosted a weekly talk show on a Greenwich radio station, and worked with QVC and ShopNBC to promote laser skin care products. Bonci, who started working as a cosmetologist nearly 30 years ago, saw business ramp up quickly. She knew she was on to something.
“It was always my vision to have a place like this,’’ Bonci said. “I think being a woman in her late 40s, that had a lot to do with it. I had a lot of friends who would go to New York City for one thing, and then go to New Jersey for something else. As I was aging, I was looking to put things in place that I would want.”
As she brought on staff and polished her image-making skills, Bonci also stayed true to her marketing roots. She recently was a judge and sponsor for the Miss Westchester and Miss Hudson Valley Pageant. She’s also been involved with charity events for the American Cancer Society, The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer, Gilda’s Club Westchester, The Autistic Foundation of Westchester and the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.
The daily operation of the spa, however, is Bonci’s primary focus. There are few businesses that provide the depth and scope of services at New Image, and she’s adding more. A cosmetic dentist will join her team later this year.
The reward, Bonci said, is seeing the smiles on clients when they leave the facility.
“It’s a matter of when they come in, they look and feel one way and they leave a totally different person,’’ she said. “When they go through the process, they’re like ‘I need to get this done.’ It’s gratifying to know that I can change a person’s appearance, and their outlook.”
