A woman can wear many different hats—wife, mom, sister, friend, student, health care worker, the list goes on. For Kami Misra, her list includes wife, mother of three, clinical director at Chapter Aesthetic Studio, passionate skin care advocate for people of color and more!

“Before having kids, I had perfect skin,” Kami says. “I didn’t even wear makeup for my wedding.” As someone who now struggles with melasma, a hyperpigmentation of the skin where the face becomes dotted with spots and blotches, Kami understands the importance of good skin care. 

“There’s not really a cure for melasma,” Kami says. Therefore, she went on a long journey in search of treatments that would help her skin look and feel better. After a dermatologist misdiagnosed her skin type, she was given the wrong treatments. In short, it made her melasma worse. “At first, I was thinking it was just me. Then, the more I researched it—like five years after having this issue—I realized that they treated my skin improperly.”

Through additional self-research and multiple trips across the country to visit other physicians, she found that her skin type was extremely unrepresented. Those with Indian, Asian, Latino and Black skin types, or similar, were and are still being misdiagnosed and mistreated. 

Now, through Chapter Aesthetic, Kami is using her experience and voice to speak up and support these underrepresented skin types. “I’ll be vocal and ask lots of questions to get the right treatments for people,” Kami says. “I’ll bring more awareness and education to skin care companies so that they can inform their consumers. It starts with educating the providers.”

Even though Kami has now found a good regimen for her skin, her journey was still extensive and exhausting. Between running her kids to Taekwondo, making sure they got good grades and putting nice meals on the table, sometimes her skin care took the back burner—which means she put herself on the back burner. “I enjoy being a mom and a wife,” Kami says, beaming. “It’s great to do all that, but you have to put yourself first. For the first 10 years of my marriage, I was number five on the list. I realized I was not happy with who I was.”

Eventually, Kami learned that once she put herself first and was happy, everyone else around her was happy too. “People will treat you not the way you want to be treated but the way you expect to be treated. Skin care is a way for us to show ourselves that we matter.” Taking those 10 minutes in front of her sink every night not only to take care of her skin but also herself has helped Kami build her confidence and become a happier woman.

So, no matter if you wear a mom hat, a wife hat or a work hat, the most important thing that you can wear is the “me” hat. Like Kami says, “Put yourself first! When you’re happy, everyone around you will be happy too!” ::

Kami’s Top Tips for Good Skin Care

• Cleanse your face at night. (Even if you don’t wear makeup!)
• Cleanse your face in the morning. (Wash off all that sweat and oil.)
• Moisturize twice a day.  (It’s like water for your body—necessary!)

Kami’s “Bare Minimum” Steps for Healthier Skin 

• Exfoliate a few times a week. (Unearth those dead skin cells for more radiant, youthful skin.)
• Use retinol at night. (This helps fight acne and fine lines.)
• Use SPF during the day. (Sun exposure causes most of our skin’s aging.)