Success is not everything and failures will always be a learning experience.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure to interview Karissa Gerrard.
Karissa Gerrard serves as the COO and is also a founding member of the team of Beauty Refined Franchising. In this role, she’s responsible for leading the strategic growth and operational development of this luxury medical aesthetics franchise brand, with a focus on building scalable systems, supporting franchisees, and creating an exceptional client experience that is rooted in expertise, safety, and natural-looking results. Karissa oversees franchise operations, training, systems development, field support, and growth initiatives while partnering closely with the brand’s leadership team to expand the Beauty Refined name brand on a national stage. From franchise development and operational processes to marketing collaboration and launch support, she maintains a passion for helping franchisees build successful, sustainable businesses. Karissa applies a hands-on, operator-first approach to leadership and maintains a deep understanding of what it takes to scale a strong franchise system while preserving brand consistency and culture. She earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to learn more about you and your personal background. Can you please share your personal backstory? What has brought you to this point in your life?
I attended college at the University of Southern Illinois, where I was on the dance team for four years. I ended up with a business degree with a concentration in marketing and, upon graduating, moved to Denver to support my husband’s professional baseball career. I got my start in franchising via my father-in-law, who was the founder and COO of SafeSplash swimming schools. I spent the next 18 years working my way through several roles in both operations and support. While I really enjoyed my time at SafeSplash, I was starting to think about what my next step in my career would be. I loved the franchising side of the business and knew I wanted to stay in the industry. For me, I found it very rewarding that I could have a big impact of the lives of others — encouraging motivated entrepreneurs to build generational wealth and legacy opportunities.
What is your “why” behind the work that you do? What fuels you?
Now that I’m with the Beauty Refined franchising program, I believe I’ve found my passion — the ‘why’ behind the work I do. I think it’s also deeply personal to me, as I am one of those people who has traditionally struggled with my own body confidence. I tried so many different routines, just looking for the right solution, but nobody could ever fix exactly what it was I was looking for. It was 2018 when that all changed, thanks to meeting Annette Wychgram, who founded Beauty Refined. I suggested that she look into franchising the concept and, in 2024 we started creating the Beauty Refined franchise to give other entrepreneurs like Annette the opportunity to give back to their community and do what they love. And it’s a good time for the med spa industry, which is really booming. I think a large part of that is a result of how things changed with Covid — specifically the remote work environment. Suddenly, we’re not in an office setting, but rather on Zoom calls all day long. We are constantly looking at ourselves now, how we see our true selves, and it’s making people much more self-aware than they were previously. Over the years, I’ve learned quite a bit from working with both the SafeSplash and Beauty Refined brands. There is a lot to compare, to analyze. And the target market is not only there but also present. To be brutally honest, I think the younger generation — present company included — is a little more selfish. They want to look a certain way — a way that makes them happy and feel good about themselves and they’re not apologetic about it.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting new projects you are working on now?
Beauty Refined is still very much an emerging brand and we’re continuing to build out the processes and systems that will define the client experience. We’re really focusing on the consultation phase of the journey, where we sit down, we evaluate, and we create a customized profile for every consumer — this level of detail is unique to Beauty Refined and ingrained in our DNA. When we do our blood panel workups, our facial scanning — something we’re experimenting with AI — we’re really communicating with our clients on an entirely different level. That personal touch is a defining characteristic of our brand, and our communication style is intentionally reassuring. To sum it all up, we’re anything but a one-size-fits-all solution.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
To be honest, nothing specific really comes to mind — maybe I’ve blocked it out? I realize I don’t have a great example to share but I will say this — every failure I’ve ever experience has also led me to unexpected growth, so there’s always a positive outcome if you know how to look at it.
From where you stand, why are you passionate about the topic of Reimagining The Health and Wellness industries? Can you explain what you mean with a story or an example?
I think I’m passionate about reimagining the health and wellness space because it’s just such a great time to be involved in the industry as a whole. What really gets me energized with Beauty Refined is the personalized approach, not transactional, and the sheer effort that goes into that. We aren’t going to be defined by the latest trend or fad. We have lots of clients who come to us, looking for a solution they’ve seen on Instagram or Tik Tok — and yes we’ll look at it, but in all honesty that doesn’t mean there’s always a fit for a particular client. We’re not just going to set you up with GLP-1 and send you out the door, that’s not what we’re about. We’re here to educate our clients. We’re here to advocate for them. And that’s something I’ll always be passionate about.
When I talk about Reimagining the Wellness industry, I am talking about reimagining it from the perspective of the providers as well as from the perspective of the recipients and patients. Can you share a few reasons why the status quo is not working for both providers and patients?
I think when it comes to reimagining the beauty and wellness space, authenticity is going to matter. We put a lot of time and effort into our initial consultations and evaluations. We don’t churn patients. On the provider side, there have been times when we’ve gotten a little bit of pushback on this — they think it’s more of a burden — but we see it as increasing our client’s value over time. For Beauty Refined, we want to look back and see the difference we’ve made over 20 years, not some six-month revolving door.
Why do you think there is a good opportunity now to improve and reform the health and wellness industry?
Like I mentioned earlier, it’s pretty clear we’re now living in an age of increased vanity. We’re always on Zoom calls, Teams calls, Google Meet calls, and all of these platforms are inherently visual. This has given rise to the med spa industry, but it’s also invited unsafe practices we need to be cautious about. Too many bad actors out there are simply looking to take advantage of market demand right now — I mean, you have estheticians who are not trained to do injections handling injectables and that’s not safe by any definition. There is a right way to grow the med spa industry in a time of high demand, but there’s also a legal way to do things and we intend to follow through accordingly. Beauty Refined is not going to cut corners just to increase profit margins.
To read this article online please visit Wellness Reimagined: Karissa Gerrard of Beauty Refined Franchising On 5 Things That Should Be Done To Improve and Reform The Health & Wellness Industry | by Authority Magazine Editorial Staff | Authority Magazine | Sep, 2026 | Medium
About Beauty Refined Franchising
As far back as 2018, the Beauty Refined brand has been focusing on the next phase of growth – replicating the business model as a scalable franchise opportunity. No prior med-spa or wellness background is required, as Beauty Refined provides owners with comprehensive cross-training and support across all systems, networks, operations, marketing, and clinical practices – backed by more than 30 years of combined experience. Beauty Refined offers three flexible ownership options, all predicated on a membership-driven business model that provides multiple recurring revenue streams for stable and predictable growth. For information on joining the Beauty Refined franchisee network, please download our comprehensive Franchise Report, or contact us by clicking on this link.