Jessica Dervie is one of the Esthetics Managers at the Nature of Beauty Spa located in Minneapolis Minnesota and has been working the field since 2013.
My family has gone to her before and they love her! Dervie’s personality and hard work is really what gets people coming back.
Tell me about yourself?
“I was born and raised in Minnesota, grew up in Woodbury, Minnesota and have been obsessed with skin since I can remember!”
What is your skin story?
“I always had bad skin, & have tried everything from accutane, to antibiotics, & every oral and topical prescription known to man! I was finally put on a combination of birth control and spironolactone when I was 16 and stayed on it through my entire 20’s! Acne problem = solved… right? Well fast forward a few years, I went to college at St. Catherine’s for nursing. Worked for several years at Hennepin county and then did home care specializing in wound care, during which my fascination with skin was rediscovered!”
What made you want to become an Esthetician?
“I started having many health issues, fatigue, IBS, endometriosis, and food allergies arising. After not being satisfied with the non-answers I was being given by western doctors, I started exploring and going to different naturopaths, acupuncturists, and other TCM therapists trying to figure out what was going on. I gained a lot of insight into how our body is a system of checks and balances and how it all works together.
They emphasize the importance of finding the root of the problem instead of just slapping a bandaid on the symptom. So I decided to get off the birth control & spironolactone and do a detox! Which went well for a while, however wasn’t really sustainable and slowly my skin started to break out again. I was flung back into my skin obsession, and my friend who had gone through similar things and helped me navigate some of my health issues convinced me to go back to school for esthetics.”
How important are clean, better for you products?
“I think clean skincare is more important than we even realize. It’s equivalent to a healthy diet, because what you put in/on is what you get out! Our skin is our largest organ and if medications can be absorbed transdermally through patches and creams then every single ingredient in our personal care products matter, especially since we use them daily!
If you have cancer causing, endocrine disrupting ingredients being mixed together and slathered on daily, we need to realize the impact this has on our health.
It’s hard because it’s not like one time using naughty ingredients and you’re in the cancer ward. It is a lifetime of use and soon your body can no longer fight off this accumulation of toxins. So prevention is key! There are so many products out there that are safe, effective and luxurious, there is no need to compromise safety!
One book I highly recommend is Not Just A Pretty Face. It changed my whole perspective on ingredients.”
What do you recommend people do who are shopping on a budget?
“I like to tell people to download the Think Dirty app on their phones and go shopping! this app will give you a toxicity rating of any product or ingredient you enter and is hugely helpful if you are shopping at a place where you’re unsure, unlike Nature of Beauty where we have done all the work for you 🙂
Shopping on our website doesn’t have to be expensive You will find that natural products actually last a lot longer because the ingredients are so much more effective!
Also we vote with our dollars so if you’ve noticed the increasing trend in organic and natural lines even at big box stores like target? That is because there is an increased demand.
So when we all stop buying the toxic crap the companies will either change/improve their formulas or go out of business.”
How did you discover Nature of Beauty?
My friends was in the process of buying The Nature of Beauty, and taught me a lot about how the chemicals we put on our body and use in our homes affect our health. This is when I started connecting the dots with how our skin is really just a road map of what is going on inside!
Lastly, what is your ultimate goal as an esthetician?
“We are giant walking petri dishes, and just basically a host for a magnificent micro-biome that needs to be balanced to be healthy. I knew I had to share my experience and lessons with other people and to this day my job is not a job it’s the best decision I ever made! I love helping people look and feel their best and will always have a soft spot and passion for my acne clients!”
Jessica’s favorite product- Brand New Day by One Love Organics
“It is great because it’s a small company who makes everything in a small hand made batches and is eco certified, it has papaya and pineapple enzymes and organic sweet pea flour to exfoliate both physically and enzymatically. Enzymes are only activated when they are wet, and will only remove the dead skin, so they won’t penetrate healthy skin which can cause irritation.”
My family’s personal experiences with Jessica have been amazing and they have said that she always goes the extra mile while working with them. She knows so much about her work and everything that goes into it!
I will link The Nature of Beauty website and some more information below.
Website: https://natureofbeautyspa.com/
Services Provided: https://natureofbeautyspa.com/collections
Ingredients They Avoid: https://www.natureofbeauty.com/pages/ingredients-we-avoid
Maggie B. Beauty 
Great interview! She seems like a well-respected and trusted professional in her field. I can relate to her skin story a little too! I originally went on birth control in order to try to tame my acne because honestly nothing was working and the constant upkeep on it was making it worse and more tired from being treated so much. I think what has made a HUGE difference in the way my skin reacts is getting rid of dairy in my diet! It really is about what you eat and now I can see that my skin has calmed down and does not get irritated as much as it used to due to dairy. Overall, I love all of the advice she offers and how big of an emphasis she puts on skin because it really is something we need to start taking seriously in terms of self-care.
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This was a really good interview, I think you asked interested and well-put questions! I have been interested in skin care in the past, but always thought that it was too expensive of a venture to really do much about. Reading this, I now know that healthy skincare doesn’t have to be expensive. I’d like to try out her services sometime. I’ve learned so much reading your blog, I hope you continue it!
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Your best post by a landslide!
Not only did it feature valuable information, it provided the information in a focused, accessible format. I was genuinely intrigued to read further. This interview also tells us a lot about who YOU are, since Jessica’s values clearly line up with your own. I applaud her for sharing personal anecdotes with us so we can learn more about skin care.
Fantastic Job, Maggie!
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Thank you very much, I appreciate that!
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That’s weird, I though birth control had like the opposite effect. I know it’s primarily contraception but I thought some were hesitant to take it because it caused acne. I guess I couldn’t be more wrong though! I think there are some other negative side effects though.
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This is a great post. I like learning why people do what they do, especially when it’s something they’re passionate about.
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I love this. I can relate to her story so much!! Being prescribed with antibiotics for my acne (Woohoo clear skin) but then there comes a time when you have to stop taking the antibiotics.. (hello acne again) .. I then discovered the power of naturopaths and diet to clear my skin. Amazing. Loved this post!
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