Joven Rita Pascual was born in the US to Filipino migrants. She studied and worked hard at a young age to prove her worth as a lady entrepreneur from an Asian background, and now she runs two highly popular surgery and aesthetics centers manned by more than 50 healthcare professionals in the Washington D.C. and Virginia area.
“My goal here is really to just inspire women—Asian women and Filipinas—to really pursue their goals. You don’t have to play it safe,” says Pascual, the 35-year-old founder and chief executive of the Glow Plastic Surgery & Aesthetics, which plans to open another center in the Philippines and branches in the West Coast and South America soon.
Her parents—Gregorio and Luzviminda—encouraged her to pursue her business goals. “They are my inspiration. We didn’t come from a lot. It was harder in the States, if you are not white. You have to prove to them that you are good enough. It was a journey for me, especially for an Asian woman, to do this. It was tough,” Pascual says in an interview during her visit to the Philippines to explore possible sites for the new center.
Glow Plastic Surgery & Aesthetics, considered as the premiere medical spa and plastic surgery clinic in the D.C. Metropolitan area, provides head-to-toe surgical and non-surgical treatments and services. It continued to attract customers through the pandemic, as people sought beauty treatments and weight loss procedures after spending most of their time at home.
The center became known for celebrity hair restoration, but more services were added soon as Pascual built her team of highly-skilled surgeons and doctors. Plastic surgery services now include liposuction, facelift, hair transplant, brow lift, chin augmentation, rhinoplasty, tummy tuck, Brazilian butt lift, fat transfer, otoplasty, vaginal rejuvenation and blepharoplasty.
Among the aesthetic services are laser hair removal, microblading, lymphatic massage, skin rejuvenation, dermal fillers and botox, laser tattoo removal, non-surgical hair restoration and IV therapy.
Pascual also teamed up with top Filipino surgeons to bring Glow’s services to Metro Manila in the next couple of months. Her visit was meant to scout the best site for the Glow center that would tap the local market.
She credits her team for the success of the Glow brand as well as the Pascual Surgery Center which are both based in the D.C. area.
“I am 35. I launched my business at 29 or 30. I had to understand and learn the business side and perfect my craft to jump out there. Those were my struggle days. I was working three jobs all the time, going to Baltimore, going to D.C. and running another practice. That was my life from a young age. And finally now, I can really breathe. It took this long for me to be here. Now, I have my staff that can support me. I have a great team back home,” says Pascual, who has a Master’s degree in business.
“My father would always randomly say ‘aim high’ in every conversation that we have. He is into the whole entrepreneurial thing. My mom, I look at her beauty and she got me into the whole beauty entrepreneurship. She always gives back and is caring. I really got a lot from my parents,” she says.
Her entrepreneurial journey started when she was 15 years old. “While I was in school, I was actually working part-time, and I was learning the ins and outs of the front desk and clinical billing, so I really I understood how to run a practice. I was into cosmetology, so I was really into aesthetics, whether it was makeup or hair. While I was doing that, I evolved, I learned and I got my Associate’s, my Bachelor’s and my Master’s in business,” she says.
She focused on medical and aesthetics business. “I actually never got out of that. I learned how to do surgical and non-surgical hair restoration. Hair restoration has always been my passion, and I did that since 2006,” says Pascual.
“While I was doing that, I was managing and doing independent contract to work with physicians. I did hair transplant with them. I was constantly learning the game. I was perfecting my craft in hair restoration and then five years later, I did aesthetics on my own and offered services,” she says.
“Then, two years later, I ended up branching out and opened up a surgery center and named it after my dad which is called the Pascual Surgery Center, and we offered plastic surgery. I have about 10 plastic surgeons who worked for me, and we have two locations. Now, the third, hopefully, will come soon,” she says.
“I was into aesthetics. I went to school for business. I really worked my way up to really understand the game and the industry. Now, I created this formula, and I am just so excited to be back here to really open something up here. This one means a lot to me,” says Pascual, whose parents are from Pasay City and Nueva Ecija.
“I want to educate people even in the States about our culture and our country. Hopefully, I can try to brand it, so it is a tool for biz,” she says.
Pascual’s branding skills also helped highlight the individual expertise and skills of her team of surgeons, doctors and health professionals who are from different racial backgrounds. “Even my doctors, whenever they want, we try to highlight their skills. They are very talented. They trust me enough to brand them and really help them,” she says.
Aside from being a beauty entrepreneur, Pascual aims to expand her business portfolio to include boating services and mobile application. “I am into other things too. I would like to open a yacht service next month. I am looking for boats. I would like to offer that next month in D.C. I also do other ventures. Actually, I am about to create an app. I partnered with surgeons, and we are doing an app service to monitor weight loss. So hopefully, that goes well this year,” she says.
Pascual says she teamed up with her brother, who owns a gym in the US, for the weight loss app. “After surgery, there is a lot of maintenance that you have to do. We are trying to do an app where we can like benchmark and really track how everyone is doing. I don’t want people coming in a year, and they are like 50 pounds overweight. So having this app will put things together and motivate them to stay the way they are. We are launching it next month,” she says.
Pascual manages the business and does all the planning, while taking care of a two-year-old child. She would have opened a center in Los Angeles sooner. “I have celebrity friends there who say can you open up in LA? You know it is a five-hour plane ride for me, and I have a two-year-old, so it is hard for me to like juggle all of that. So I keep things on the East Coast side right now, but my last stop is LA,” she says.
She is optimistic about the new center in the Philippines where there is also growing acceptance for plastic surgery and aesthetic services. “I am telling men and women in general that it is okay to do it. When you look good, you feel good. But I am not forcing surgery on anyone. But it is now so accepted,” she says.
Pascual says she built a great local team to ensure the success of the new center. “It is honestly about my staff and my team and I won’t be able to do this without any of them. Hopefully, we will open in two months. I want to keep the momentum. I have a great team here,” she says.
