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Welcome to Money Making Conversations.

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firsthand by marketing and branding expert Rashan

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McDonald. I will know he's giving me advice

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McDonald money Making Conversations.

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Here we go.

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I'm Rashan McDonald and I host this weekly

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Interviews and information that this show provides

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off for everyone.

0:38

It's time to stop reading other people's success stories

0:40

and start living your own.

0:42

My guess is.

0:43

Doctor Stephen Williams is a Board certified

0:45

plastic surgery in practice in the San Francisco

0:48

area at Tri.

0:48

Ballet Plastic Surgery.

0:50

He specialized in cosmetic face, body

0:52

and bretschwork. He is the leader in body

0:55

contour with techniques like minimal pain,

0:57

tommy tucks and fat transfer to

0:59

enhanced patient curves including hips,

1:02

buddocks, and breads. Doctor Steve Williams

1:04

is a passionate plastic surgery professional

1:07

with a decade of hands on expertise in plastic

1:09

and reconstruction surgery. He is the first

1:11

African American President elect of the American

1:14

Society of Plastic Surgery. Doctor

1:16

Merritives will be taking it on or on later

1:18

this year. Please welcome the Money Making Conversation

1:20

Mastic Class, Doctor Steph Williams.

1:22

How you doing, sir, I'm very

1:24

well. Thank you so much for having me on,

1:27

and it's an honor to be here.

1:28

I appreciate that. So you're on the West

1:30

coast, Yes, sir, tell

1:33

us a little history.

1:34

You know, usually suddenly become a plastic

1:36

surgery What inspired you?

1:38

Because I tell you little history of me.

1:40

I made my name as a stand

1:42

up comedian, as a sitcom writer,

1:44

but my degree is in mathematics, so

1:47

I didn't even think about doing this direction.

1:50

What got you in this area?

1:53

Yeah, so it's a great question.

1:55

As everyone knows, physicians,

1:58

we start kind of at an early age.

1:59

There's a lot of training, there's a lot of schooling.

2:01

We essentially give up our twenties to

2:04

kind of achieve, you know, what we want to do, and

2:07

my father was actually a physician. My

2:09

mom was a school teacher and my dad was a physician,

2:12

and he kind

2:15

of imbued. Both my

2:17

parents imbued that importance

2:19

of achievement and success

2:21

and striving. So I owe a lot to my family.

2:25

You know, throughout my education, my undergrad

2:27

years in medical school, I met some

2:29

very inspiring plastic surgeons and decided

2:32

that was something that really appealed to me.

2:34

Right, you know, but plastic surgery.

2:36

You know, like I said, you already

2:39

mentioned your father was in the medical profession,

2:41

But why plastic surgery?

2:43

Yeah, And so I think most doctors,

2:46

the way they choose what they're going to do

2:48

is they really find people

2:50

that they respect, people that they

2:53

look up to, people that they see themselves

2:55

in. And that process usually happens

2:57

in medical school, and that allows

3:00

people to identify the direction

3:02

they want to go.

3:03

Plastic surgery.

3:06

Was really one of those things that allowed

3:10

physicians to treat almost

3:13

every age of patient, for almost every element.

3:16

And when we think about plastic surgery, we think about the

3:18

cosmetic side, but plastic surgery is really

3:20

a lot more than that. There's cancer

3:23

reconstructions, there's congenital reconstructions,

3:25

reconstructions.

3:27

Because I think what you were saying to me, ra Sean,

3:29

is that we get caught up in the hype,

3:32

especially the Hollywood type of so many

3:34

people making these physical changes.

3:36

But beyond that

3:39

being depopularized version

3:41

of what plastic surgery your role

3:43

is far more reaching to the general community.

3:46

Correct, Absolutely, I

3:48

think that there's two ways to look at it. Plastic

3:50

surgery can help children

3:53

with congenital defects and can help people

3:55

who have injured their hands

3:58

or have had breast cancer, and

4:00

so really we're trained to operate

4:02

on all parts of the body and deal.

4:04

With multitude of issues.

4:06

But the other thing about cosmetic surgery, which

4:08

I think people are being to recognize, is it

4:10

really is part of one's

4:12

healing in one's whole self because

4:15

being able to look

4:17

on the outside the way you feel on the inside

4:20

is an important part of self identity

4:22

and being able to direct your life.

4:24

Well.

4:25

Really interesting because you really just educated me right

4:28

there because of the fact that about the

4:30

role and the perception

4:32

of what a plastic surgeon does. Because

4:35

we're so inundated with whether there's social

4:38

media, where there's people magazine, where's

4:40

ETV or entertainment tonight about

4:43

people who have want to look

4:45

like a Kim Kardashian or somebody

4:47

who has done multiple

4:50

surgeries that they don't, I mean plastic

4:52

surgeries, they don't look like themselves.

4:54

Do you Are you annoyed by that, doctor

4:56

Stephen Williams.

4:58

Well, I do think that the

5:00

public pays attention to the things that are,

5:03

you know, salacious and scandalous, and

5:05

that's that's a little bit of media and that's kind

5:07

of a little bit of natural human instinct to pay

5:09

attention to those things that you know

5:12

are shocking, and definitely

5:14

social media feeds upon that a little bit.

5:17

But I think it's important to recognize

5:19

that plastic surgeons, a good plastic surgeon

5:21

is a physician first, and that means that

5:23

we address all elements

5:26

of patient's health and patients care, and

5:28

it means that we have to listen to our patients, whether

5:30

it's I had breast cancer and I

5:32

need breast reconstruction, or

5:35

it's you know, I just don't feel

5:37

like myself and I want to be I want

5:39

my outside to look the way I feel inside.

5:41

Both are are very very important.

5:43

Parts, and it gets a little bit away from

5:45

the drama of you know,

5:47

I want to look like a Kardashian.

5:49

Right, because that does dominate. Like I said,

5:51

we do.

5:52

We deal with a world of you know,

5:54

digital hits, engagement at

5:58

people.

5:59

There you go, but you know, let's.

6:02

Go to the reality of I'm an African American

6:05

and so my perception is that plast surgery

6:07

is.

6:07

For white folks.

6:08

You know, yes, so you

6:12

yes, So you have hit on a very

6:15

very important topic.

6:19

Plastic surgery and social media is bad

6:21

in some ways, but social media.

6:22

Can be good in other ways.

6:23

Took plastic surgery has become

6:26

much more accepted across

6:28

the globe, across all ethnicities,

6:31

races, across men, women,

6:34

transgendered. Plastic surgery

6:36

is really being seen as a tool now

6:39

to align oneself,

6:42

to find interhealing, fulfillment,

6:45

those types of things. Now that doesn't mean that everyone

6:47

should try to look a certain way, but

6:51

increasingly, especially in the African American

6:53

community, there is a recognition

6:56

that this is something that you deserve,

6:58

this is something that you are a

7:01

person of value, and it's okay

7:03

to seek this. I've had many

7:06

many patients, and I

7:08

educated myself because I was shocked when

7:10

I know, I was shocked when I heard it too.

7:12

I had a patient say I didn't feel

7:14

like I deserved this.

7:15

I felt like I deserve

7:18

to look like this because of

7:20

life choices I had made, or just

7:22

because society said you're not supposed

7:24

to look the way you want to look. And

7:27

when I heard that, it really expanded

7:30

my mind that there really is this

7:32

concept, especially in African American

7:34

culture, and especially among African

7:37

American women, that they don't deserve to

7:40

look the way they want to look, they don't deserve to feel

7:42

the way they want to feel.

7:43

And that's something that I really want to change.

7:46

Well, you know, it's interesting because you

7:48

know what, I got to go to famous people

7:50

to reference plastic surgery, like sub

7:53

k A. Fox was probably

7:55

jumped out there in the African American community

7:57

as a person who publicized

8:00

plastic surgery, and I'll be frank, the

8:02

black community was shocked. I was like, Wow,

8:05

she can actually do that, because

8:07

in my mind, I felt you

8:09

would see scars. I felt that we couldn't

8:11

do those things. What led

8:14

to this being misinformed?

8:16

I guess you would say what

8:18

a black person or a person of color and

8:20

how we could participate when it comes to plastic

8:23

surgery.

8:24

Raseean, you're going deep today, I'll

8:26

say that, you know, it's that is

8:28

an incredibly incredibly complicated,

8:31

multifaceted question. You know,

8:34

that doesn't have one single answer.

8:36

You know, part of it probably is there's a

8:38

disenfranchisement of African

8:40

Americans in society, and that's been part of

8:43

American culture. There

8:45

is kind of this reinforcement that

8:49

things that are associated with affluence

8:52

or success right that,

8:54

you know, that isn't attainable or accessible

8:56

by our communities. The good thing

8:59

is some of the those stereotypes

9:01

and some of that, some of those barriers

9:03

are beginning to fall away. And I

9:05

think it's discussions like this that are really

9:07

helpful for everybody,

9:10

not just African Americans, but everybody to understand.

9:13

That they have a right to

9:17

feel the way they want to feel.

9:18

And your physical appearance is

9:20

an incredibly incredibly important part

9:23

of your psyche and your

9:25

emotional well being.

9:27

Right now, there age

9:29

limits.

9:30

I'm assuming that one should consider

9:33

I apologize. I just think because we're talking a couple

9:35

of things here. I'm talking about,

9:38

I guess, the Hollywood type, the physical,

9:40

the visual, the breast enhancement,

9:43

the buttocks, the hips, the curves.

9:45

Of Tommy Tucks. And then there's also

9:47

the side that you.

9:48

Said, Rashaan burns physical

9:51

deformities, and so I want to make sure

9:53

that I'm talking really clean right now.

9:55

I'm just talking about the change

9:58

because of the fact that one say they look normal,

10:01

they don't say why they make a these adjustments

10:03

physically and people being

10:05

impacted. And there's an age limit. Does

10:08

teenagers be involved in this? Are

10:11

there restrictions? As a doctor? How

10:13

do you move forward with these decision makings?

10:15

Doctor Wair?

10:15

Yeah, again, you're asking really really

10:18

fantastic questions. You

10:20

know, there is when

10:22

we're looking at patients, the first thing is safety,

10:25

and so we want to make sure that someone is healthy

10:27

enough for surgery. And it's not necessarily a number we

10:30

operate on all ages. It's really more you

10:33

know, what are your other medical problems? Is this

10:35

a safe procedure for you to undergo? But

10:38

the second thing that you hit upon is something

10:40

that again is really very much a

10:42

hot topic right now, which is, you

10:44

know, how young is too young? And

10:47

you know, social media really is driving

10:50

this pressure, especially

10:52

for young girls, that they have to look a certain way,

10:54

that they have to be a certain way to be successful,

10:57

and that is incredibly corrosive and

10:59

can be harmful, and as plastic

11:01

surgeons, it's important that we recognize

11:04

those negative influences to make sure

11:06

that we're protecting our patients,

11:08

not in a paternalistic way, but in an educational

11:11

way to say, you know, the

11:13

things that you see on social media, most

11:16

of that isn't real, and let's

11:18

talk about realistic expectations, and let's talk about

11:21

why you want to make changes in

11:24

my own personal practice, I'm very very

11:26

hesitant about operating on people

11:29

who are emotionally still

11:31

in a growth place.

11:32

And that's a nice way of saying maybe a little bit

11:34

immature.

11:35

And the reason why is because you want to make sure

11:37

people are making these decisions for the right reasons.

11:40

It's empowering and it's something that we want people

11:42

to do, but we want to make sure that

11:45

it's for the right reasons.

11:47

Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right

11:49

back with more money Making Conversations,

11:52

masterclass. Let

11:56

me tell you about the host of money Making

11:58

Conversations. I'm McDonald.

12:01

He's a social media influencer. Eighty

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12:12

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Welcome back to the Money Making Conversations

13:47

masterclass hosted by Rushan

13:49

McDonald.

13:50

Now, this is really interesting because I

13:53

when I it's called trendy, Doctor

13:55

Steven Williams, you know, people see this.

13:57

They want this.

13:58

I'm pretty sure that, like whenever it thinks there's

14:00

a request, people like

14:03

if balloons are hot, people want balloons. People want

14:05

to Ferrari, they wanted Ferrari. And this plastic

14:08

surgery arena. I'm pretty sure there are trends

14:11

and then people stop asking for it. How

14:13

does that cycle in and out? And what are

14:15

trends that are kind of like dropping as far

14:17

as plastic surgery requests?

14:19

Yeah, great question.

14:20

So the trend, I mean,

14:23

the thing that we're all kind of hearing about is a Brazilian

14:25

butt lift, and that's a little bit kind

14:27

of on the downward slide.

14:29

Steve Wood, what is a Bazilion

14:31

butt lift?

14:32

Yes, sir, I'm sorry, thank you. So it's

14:35

a great question because I'm.

14:36

Gonna be honest with you.

14:37

I see some people walking around

14:39

and I go that don't look real.

14:41

That don't look real, So educate me.

14:44

Yeah, and so the concept of the Brazilian butt

14:46

lift is taking fat from areas

14:48

of your body that you don't want it and moving those

14:50

living.

14:51

Fat cells to areas where you do right.

14:53

And you know, the Brazilian butt

14:55

lift focuses on the hips and buttocks, but as

14:58

a concept, we use fat t for

15:00

again in burn reconstruction, in breast reconstruction

15:03

we use it, and faceless we use it to rejuvenate hands.

15:05

It's a technique that's very, very powerful.

15:08

But when people say Brazilian butt lift, they're really referring

15:11

to kind of those additional curves around the

15:13

waistline, hips and buttocks, and

15:15

it's something that again was made popular

15:18

by a lot of kind of A listers

15:20

and heavy influencers, but

15:22

it's a really kind of current example

15:25

of that concept of that trend. And

15:28

it's that current example of people saying

15:31

I want to look like that person and

15:33

then maybe five or six years later

15:35

saying, well, maybe that was too much.

15:38

And so as plastic surgeons,

15:40

it's our job not to be these

15:43

gatekeepers for patients and say you

15:45

don't know what you want, and we're not going to let you do that,

15:47

because that's not the right thing either.

15:49

Especially again in the African American community,

15:52

we've had medical professionals maybe

15:55

have some negative influence about saying

15:57

what's right for us or what's wrong for us, But

16:01

to be their partner as a physician

16:04

to help them make those

16:06

right decisions and maybe dissociate a little bit

16:08

away from what's trending and

16:10

kind of dissect what their

16:12

motives are and why are you doing this? And maybe

16:15

it is for all the right reasons and we should definitely

16:17

do it, but maybe it's something that you're

16:19

going to look back on and not appreciate

16:21

in four or five years.

16:22

Well, you know that's always

16:25

you know, you look this way on Tuesday,

16:27

and then the following week you look

16:29

this way and it is

16:32

too much?

16:33

Is too much?

16:34

Now? I

16:37

don't know if you answered my question, but what are some of

16:39

the trends that was trending?

16:40

You mentioned the Brazilian butt lift.

16:42

Are the other trends that were trendy that

16:45

are not so trendy?

16:46

Now?

16:48

Yeah, I mean it's under constant evolution,

16:50

and things like social media have kind

16:52

of sped up that cycle of people,

16:56

you know, I want to look like that and then

16:58

saying Okay, maybe I don't want to look like that.

17:01

So social media it's always been something that's

17:03

there. I would point to rhinoplasty

17:05

trends in the seventies and eighties, where

17:07

everybody wanted this very kind of eurocentric

17:10

ski slope, very kind of done

17:12

looking nose. You

17:14

know, that was in trend for

17:16

probably fifteen years, twenty years,

17:18

maybe so much so that the

17:21

surgical device companies made little molds

17:23

that you could keep in your operating room

17:25

that were sterilizable, so you could put it next

17:27

to the patient's nose and say, have I created

17:30

this very standard looking nose?

17:33

And you and I look at think

17:35

about that now and say, well, that's crazy.

17:37

You know, why would anybody want Why would everybody

17:39

want the exact same nose? But

17:42

it's an example of that trend. It's example

17:44

of that social pressure for people to say,

17:47

this is what's associated with beauty, and I

17:49

want to align myself with that.

17:52

Social media has kind of put a little bit of gasoline

17:55

on that because again, it's very

17:57

insidious.

17:57

We all have pictures of perfect people in our pockets.

18:00

You can kind of pull out at any

18:02

point in the day and kind of reinforce

18:04

what we're supposed to look like. And

18:06

I say that very much in quotation marks.

18:09

But there is this kind of counter trend

18:13

about identity, and I think for the

18:15

African American community that's really important.

18:17

And so some of the things that are really popular

18:19

right now or are kind of the ethnocentric

18:21

nos for example, and that's in some ways

18:24

a counter trend to the one

18:27

size fits all saying I

18:29

want to look like I'm African American

18:31

still, but there are some small things or

18:34

some larger things that I want to change, but don't

18:36

make me look like I'm not African America

18:38

or I'm not Asian American.

18:40

Well, you know, I did mention Vivaca and fact,

18:43

but we know the king in the Black community

18:45

of plastic surgeon with Michael Jackson. Yes,

18:48

And then it became one of the Michael

18:50

Jackson knows. People wanted to get the Michael

18:52

Jackson knows.

18:53

And that was really popular. And so it comes.

18:55

Into that you're kind of

18:57

like the UFO person.

18:59

You know, they're really aliens out there.

19:02

The Michael Jackson Knows was just a dominant

19:05

part of the conversation.

19:07

You know, an example,

19:09

an example of too much right,

19:11

because you know, professionally

19:14

as a plastic surgeon that knows was a

19:16

disaster.

19:17

You know why why you say that, Doctor Steve

19:19

Williams.

19:20

Yeah, and so you know, the first

19:22

he's had he had several rhinoplast He's

19:24

had several operations, and

19:27

you know, I think the first few were conservative

19:30

and reasonable. But

19:32

this was kind of an example of someone

19:34

saying, I want to chase this ideal

19:38

at any cost, and you

19:41

know, maybe not getting great advice

19:43

because clearly, you

19:45

know again I we

19:48

it's all.

19:48

It's relatively clear in.

19:49

The plastic story community that there were some substantial

19:51

issues with that nose, including skin

19:54

breakthrough, including breathing

19:56

problems because it was overdone.

20:00

And it's all in this effort to chase

20:02

this image of perfection that he had.

20:05

And you know, the downside

20:07

about celebrity and wealth is you can

20:09

find enough money to have someone do it. Because

20:12

the nine out of ten plastic searching

20:14

to say this isn't safe. Eventually you

20:17

put enough money down, someone says I'll do it.

20:19

But that can lead to some really unfortunate

20:22

situation.

20:22

You know, when I look

20:24

at this interview, when I came up on it, you know,

20:27

I have all these questions about myself

20:29

personally, and I have all these questions about the

20:31

rumors.

20:32

That I've heard about plastic surgery. And the great

20:34

thing.

20:34

About doctor Stevid Williams, you informed

20:36

me that Risha, stop the madness. Plastic

20:39

surger is not about what you read or

20:41

what you see on social media.

20:43

Is more than that.

20:44

It's about it's about saving lives.

20:46

It's about the impacting lives. As people were

20:48

born with a split lip, that's plastic

20:50

surgery too, people who may

20:53

have, you know, born

20:55

together, that's plastic surgery.

20:57

All these things.

20:58

So as a person who is going to

21:00

be the first African American president elect of American

21:02

Society of Plastic Surgery, what is your

21:04

responsibility because you have to deal with that,

21:07

you have to deal with these false

21:09

understandings of what a plastic surgery

21:11

really is.

21:13

Yeah, it's it's a really it's

21:16

a really large responsibility,

21:18

and it's something that I think ASPS,

21:21

the American Society Plastic Surgeons and myself,

21:23

I think we work towards that every day, about educating

21:26

people. That's part of the reason it's an honor to

21:28

be on your show and can be

21:30

able to talk about it. So I really appreciate

21:32

that and I want to say thank you again. But it's

21:35

a constant effort because social media

21:38

really does warp things a little bit.

21:40

And I think that plastic surgery is one of those

21:42

things that was kind of whispered and

21:44

rumored about, and you know, back in the seventies

21:47

and eighties, like I think she had something done and it was

21:49

kind of and

21:51

patients were very private about it, you know, back

21:53

in the day. And now it's completely reversed.

21:56

People want to talk about their stories, they want to share

21:58

their successes, they want to share their fears

22:01

and their journeys, and that's really powerful

22:03

and we encourage that because I think that does bring

22:05

a little bit of reality to

22:08

the overall process.

22:09

You know.

22:10

The beauty of this interview is that it's about education

22:13

and it's about informing people and also breaking

22:15

down what I was perceptions,

22:18

you know, and I will tell you, honestly, doctor

22:20

Steven Williams, my perception, I

22:23

totally removed the whole responsible

22:26

side of plastic surgery from a medical

22:29

standpoint.

22:29

Treatment.

22:30

I had gotten so caught up in Hollywood,

22:32

the Brazilian buds, the

22:35

breast enlargement, the nose job,

22:37

the lifts job, you know, the neckline

22:41

uplifts and tightening those the jaws,

22:43

and people doing multiple surgeries.

22:45

I want to look like Kim Kardashian. These

22:48

are the things that will dominate our

22:50

world. But what you've enabled me to do on

22:52

the show is educate me about your world.

22:54

Thank you for coming on Money Making Conversations Master Class.

22:58

Let me tell you about the host of Money Making

23:00

Conversations, Rushan McDonald.

23:03

Rushan's a two time Emmy Award winner,

23:05

three time n doubleacp Immage

23:07

Award winner, sitcom writer, stand

23:09

Up comic and former IBM executive.

23:13

Thank you for joining us for this edition of

23:15

Money Making Conversations Masterclass.

23:18

Money Making Conversations Masterclass

23:20

with Rushan McDonald is produced by

23:22

thirty eight to fifteen Media Inc. More

23:24

information about thirty eight to fifteen

23:27

Media Inc. Is available at thirty

23:29

eight to fifteen media dot com.

23:31

And always remember to lead with your

23:33

gifts.