Jenny: Welcome to Facial Aesthetics Unmasked. We are super excited to be hanging out today, which is basically what we do when we come do this.
Alfie: Yeah.
Jenny: We’ve got Alfie back, our nurse injector at Utah Facial Plastics.
Alfie: Hi!
Jenny: And we’ve got Syd, master aesthetician and you do pretty much a little of everything at Utah Facial Plastics.
Syd: Hello! Yes, I wear many hats.
Jenny: Many hats… you’ll see her if you go to our Layton location. She’s… yeah, part of the family. Part of the fam. Then another person part of the fam… you’re part of the fam. Michelle Money.
Michelle: Thank you! I feel like I’m part of the fam. So, thanks.
Alfie: Good, you are!
Jenny: You are part of the fam, we love you! You just have a presence when you come in and it’s happy.
Michelle: Well, you guys make me feel loved. I feel like I’m home when I walk in.
Jenny: Well, good.
Michelle: SO, thank you guys.
Jenny: Good. We love it. I know I’m kind of… I was putting this together and thinking of all the many places I’ve seen you. I mean… Good Things Utah, Bachelor, now you’ve got the Money Method.
Michelle: Yeah.
Jenny: And I think our listeners would love to hear how that’s all kind of progressed from when you started with The Bachelor and then to where you are now….
Michelle: Right.
Jenny: With what you’re doing.
Michelle: Well it’s so funny because… so this season just started of The Bachelor. Are you guys watching?
Jenny I have it recorded.
Syd: I just watched.
Alfie: I’ve never watched The Bachelor, not one episode.
Jenny: Alfie!
Syd: This was quite the episode.
Alfie: I’ve never known that part of you. You’ve always been my Michelle but I’ve never watched it.
Michelle: I love that. Well I haven’t watched for a few years but nine years ago. It’s been nine years since that was… Yeah, so I went on The Bachelor nine years ago and then my life just kind of unfolded in this very like unexpected way. That took me to… well then doing Bachelor Pad and then after Bachelor Pad I did Bachelor in Paradise. And then… yeah. And then I did… I got the Goods Things Utah gig. Which is where I met you guys!
Alfie: Yay!
Jenny: Yes, with Nicea and Reg!
Michelle: Yeah, it’s been a very beautiful unfolding. And then throughout that journey I unleashed this… the Money Method. Which we can dive into later. But I think it’s been so cool… as I almost hit the 10 year mark I look back, you know? I just turned 2020 and what were you doing ten years ago? It was like whoa… I was getting ready to go on The Bachelor. And so my life has really unfolded in like a really like I said unexpected way. It’s all like it’s all making sense like now like as I look back. But at the time you’re just like what is this whirlwind? What is going on in my life?
Jenny: How was that…doing… How did that differ from expectations? With doing reality TV?
Michelle: Well…
Jenny: Going in to it verse coming out.
Michelle: Yeah, it’s so interesting because I’ve thought a lot about this because I went in…going on The Bachelor not really seeing it. Like I never consistently watched the whole season I just saw little bits and pieces here and there. So I kind of went into it like pretty naive. But my experience on the show was so amazing. It really was one of the best times of my life. I learned so much. I met incredible people. I mean it’s really like you just get… It’s just an incredible experience. For me, it really was. I mean it was challenging and personalities and women can be difficult. It was difficult but it was so rewarding. And then as my season unfolded they kind of edited me to be the villain. So it was like a very strange reality verse like edit of what actually happened. Because what happened to me was wondering, amazing and cool and then what was shown was kind of diced up, edited strange.
Jenny: That is so… so you’re watching it unfold with everybody else.
Michelle: Yeah, so it was really hard to watch. In fact, I didn’t watch most of it because it was, whoa that did not happen. That is not how that situation went. Yeah, it was really difficult. It was super, super challenging. And it really kind of… but it’s funny as you look back a lot of times those are the moments that really give you clarity. It’s hard to see it in the moment but now as I look back I’m like oh my gosh I would not have wished for that to go any other way.
Jenny: That’s awesome.
Michelle: Because what unfolded from that has been life changing.
Alfie: and the growth.
Michelle: and the growth! And just the expansion and just all of it. choosing to focus on you know, the good parts of that whole experience including the edit have really been helpful to me.
Jenny: Good for you.
Michelle: It’s like I can sit and focus on something like villianize and like you know…
Jenny: You really could! And I think that that’s something I always admired about you like when somebody mentions that I know you or something. I will say you’re the most genuine person on the planet.
Michelle: Awe, that’s so nice.
Jenny: You’re just full of wisdom. It’s kind of like Destiny was on here.
Michelle: Oh, I love Destiny!
Jenny: You’re just always reading a good book..
Alfie: It’s all about self-reflection and…
Jenny: Yeah!
Alfie: and going inward and figuring it out for yourself. Yeah.
Jenny: Yeah. I kinda wanted to hear about you… because you’re the beauty guru. So… and I look at you as outside beauty but also even more so probably inner beauty.
Alfie: Absolutely.
Michelle: Well, it’s so funny. I think as I’ve gotten older too, like at some point somewhere along the path I started… So I’m a hair stylist by trade. I actually still do hair at a salon called Sazoo like once or twice a month because I love it so much. And I was a makeup artist. Being in the beauty industry really is so fun. I think it is the greatest industry.
Alfie: Amen!
Michelle: There’s so much empowerment and just like knowing what little things you can do to make yourself feel more beautiful. And I love being a part of that industry. But, somewhere along the path my focus really shifted from external and identifying with external to internal. And so as that has continued to develop in my life my focus is so much less on makeup and hair tips and trying to teach women how to like master their eyebrows. The focus has really shifted for me to more of a spiritual beauty that is really within all of us. That we really need to tap into to really feel the true essence of what beauty is which is all internal.
Jenny: Right.
Alfie: Right.
Michelle: And has nothing to do with hair or makeup or Botox or anything. It’s all internal so my path has really kind of gotten me to where now I’m really more focused on teaching like self-empowerment principles. And teaching women how to tap into their inner beauty.
Jenny: I love it. I absolutely love it.
Alfie: It’s beautiful.
Jenny: Yeah, that is my favorite thing to kind of witness with you and why I really wanted you on the show because while we do Botox and filler we do…
Michelle: Yes! And it’s the greatest thing ever!
Jenny: It’s the greatest thing ever. But this podcast… why I kind of what to touch on that. I actually want to talk more about inner beauty and some of your tips that way because as i get older I look at these things we do as super fun and ways to up keep, you know. But I don’t… I want to make sure people are nourishing that inner beauty as much as they are outer beauty. I want to provide that.
Michelle: That is why I love you girls! This is why I love Utah Facial Plastics. I’m telling you, I have been to all the medspa’s in my journey and it is so interesting how I always come back to you guys because you are so much more than like let me fill you up here…
Jenny: Awe…good.
Michelle: Let me get rid of that wrinkle like there is that…that’s why I love you women and I love, you know…Utah Facial Plastics. So, yeah.
Alfie: Thank you.
Jenny: Yes!
Alfie: That’s good to hear. The feeling is mutual…your insides need to match your outsides.
Jenny: Alfie you definitely reflect that too.
Michelle: Oh my gosh, you both do!
Alfie: Yeah, so do you, Rich. For sure.
Jenny: Awe, thank you. Awe…lets hug!
Michelle: It’s so true. It’s so funny…I go in for my Botox touch up and Alfie and I just start talking and talking.
Alfie: Yes!
Michelle: and then I have to apologize to her next appointment like it’s my fault, she was helping me solve my life problems.
Alfie: Oh my gosh. You help me just as much.
Michelle: It has been such like a kindred, beautiful synergy.
Alfie: Absolutely.
Jenny: And speaking of what people wonder, what have you done with injectables or… what are your favorite beauty treatments?
Michelle: Yeah…the first thing I ever got done was Botox when I was… had I gone on The Bachelor yet? I think I had. Before The Bachelor I did it once and then didn’t do it again. When I got home from The Bachelor I…I think it was Emily Maynard’s lips that I loved. One of the other contestants on the show. I think she had told me that she had a little bit of lip filler and I said I want to do that. So I got lip filler done and I really liked it. Eventually I really struggled with the under-eye circle so I eventually got some stuff under the eyes. This is like years ago. This is maybe nine, eight years ago. And then when I went on Good Thing Utah I didn’t really do anything else. And then I went on Good Things Utah and Dr. Thompson came on. And oh my gosh he is just…has such a conservative eye.
Jenny: Yeah.
Michelle: And I remember him telling me, “Michelle, you don’t need to do anything”.
Alfie: Yeah.
Jenny: Yup.
Michelle: I’m like, ‘don’t tell me that’. I know there are things I can do. Wrong answer! And he was like, Michelle you don’t need to do anything. And I’m just like okay fine. So, I eventually like started…gosh, I’ve done cheek filler that I have been actively trying to dissolve with Alfie.
Alfie: Yeah.
Michelle: This wasn’t done through you guys but I’m just being candid here. Like all the things… I’ve gotten filler in my cheeks, I’ve had someone fill my… what is this?
Jenny: The nasolabial folds.
Michelle: Nasolabial folds and that was a disaster. So dissolving that too.
Jenny: And then did you just look funny or?
Michelle: Well it was a combination of being overfilled and being inflamed. The food I was eating was making me inflamed I think and I had a doctor who prescribed me testosterone without checking my levels and he was like this is really helpful for belly fat and your sex drive and I just think you’re really going to like so…
Alfie: Oh my goodness.
Michelle: So he cut my butt open and put one in my butt cheek.
Jenny: Oh my gosh, I’ve done that.
Michelle: Have you done that?
Jenny: I have done it.
Michelle: My voice dropped three octaves .
Jenny: Is my voice low? Is my voice low?
Michelle: I almost turned into a man. And I was like I swear… I can show you pictures. It was so bizarre.
Jenny: Michelle! I sprouted like a few hairs under my… under here.
Michelle: It’s the testosterone, man.
Jenny: I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. I thought it was getting older.
Alfie: Well, that’s part of it.
Michelle: It’s the testosterone.
Alfie: Part of it is. Especially if they didn’t check your levels.
Michelle: Oh, yeah!
Alfie: And yours were checked.
Jenny: Well, they were checked. They were a little lower but they were within normal. And I’m like yeah, let’s do it.
Michelle: And that was my biggest suggestion and like, if… If I look back on the things that I shouldn’t have done… is like don’t let other people tell me what to do with my body.
Jenny: Oh, I love it.
Michelle: And it’s so funny how we go in and how we just want to look better and we want to feel better.
Jenny: Yeah.
Michelle: and like usually there’s something internally going on that you haven’t looked at that is causing you to want to like okay, I’m going to buy more makeup. And then you go to Nordstrom and spend $500 on makeup and then you still feel crappy. I’m going to go do filler. And I feel like a lot of times it’s like this easy, quick fix that is masking an underlying issue and that’s what was going on for me.
Alfie: It’s so true.
Michelle: And I wasn’t until I had this situation happen to me with like a Botox mishap. I was like I really got to look at what I’m doing. Why am I doing this? Why am i like trusting other people with my face, with my body? And it like kind of sent me down this… along the same lines I really wanted to get off my antidepressants. I had been on antidepressants since I was 16 years old. And for anyone out there who’s been on this… this journey with antidepressants after like a significant amount of years go on you kind of…do I still need these? I probably don’t need these anymore.
Jenny: Yeah.
Michelle: And I should try to get off of these. I went from taking three medications to like weaning off of all of them. And so…
Jenny: Wow!
Alfie: And I have been with her through like that whole journey.
Michelle: That whole thing, yes!
Alfie: And… wow!
Michelle: And guess what, Alfie?
Alfie: What?
Michelle: I’m back on them!
Alfie: That’s okay, babe.
Michelle: As of five days ago.
Jenny: So I’ve got to hear… did you go back on the same ones?
Michelle: Prozac. I went back on one.
Jenny: Just the one? Do you feel like that’s enough? Because I mean I think…
Michelle: You guys, I’m telling you. I have been in a fog. In a daze. Like in this insanity for the past year. If not more. I’m just trying to go it alone and trying to think that I can just do all healing.
Jenny: Climb your way out, yeah.
Michelle: I have been doing a lot of deep work.
Alfie: Really good, deep, beautiful work.
Michelle: Alfie knows.
Syd: It’s trial and error. It’s hard. There’s so much stuff out there and people don’t know how different things are going to react to their body. Yeah, and their mind.
Michelle: Yeah, totally. For me, I think why I can sit here and be so excited that I’m back on my meds.
Jenny: I love it!
Michelle: I can see the contrast now. Because for so long I didn’t know why I needed them.
Jenny: Yeah…
Michelle: And now, I know exactly why I need them..
Jenny: Now you know you can pop those with confidence.
Michelle: oh, girl.
Jenny: Everyone needs a little something.
Michelle: I poured like all 30 pills into the hands of my Buddha and when I go to my alter in the morning I have my ritual I like sage each pill and I pray and i send gratitude to my Prozac every morning,
Alfie: I love that.
Jenny: I love it!
Michelle: And it enters my body and fills me up. And I swear to you it has like has plugged me back into my source. It is so crazy.
Jenny: That is so awesome.
Michelle: I am so excited to like to be more clear on why I need the Prozac. Because anytime you aren’t aligned with something that you’re doing, if you don’t believe that you should be taking a pill and you’re talking it anyway it is just conflicting energy inside.
Jenny: It’s not doing you any good it could be doing.
Alfie: Absolutely.
Michelle: But if you can line up with it, and feel good about it and take it it will bless you, it will serve you. I believe that with my whole heart.
Jenny: I love it.
Michelle: I had really struggled with it for years and years. I tried to get off of it multiple times and then I finally got off of it and I’ve been so proud of myself but I have been lost in the shadows.
Jenny: Yeah. And I love that you are just as proud to go back on it.
Alfie : Yeah, that you’re vulnerable.
Michelle: I know… because I finally feel good.
Jenny: And not feel like the shame that I think a lot of times we can feel about needing help…
Michelle: I did have an emotional breakdown with my doctor when I finally decided that I need to get back on Prozac. It felt like I had been defeated. I’m like i hate this but i need to line up with this, I need it. My body is telling me that I need the help and so anyway, I’m so grateful for antidepressants.
Jenny: I love it! I love it!
Alfie: You’re so vulnerable and like there’s nobody out there that is perfect all the time, ever. And usually it is quite the opposite. You know?
Jenny: Oh, absolutely.
Alfie : And if we can talk about it…
Michelle: And get just a little help…
Jenny: Oh, i agree.
Michelle: It was like a full time job trying to get happy.
Jenny: And you can’t always do it on your own. I understand that, yeah. I had my times.
Alfie: And it was getting your power back. You weren’t doing it because someone was telling you to do it.
Michelle: Totally! And I do… I will say however I do believe we go through seasons in our life where things are just hard. And I don’t necessarily think that it’s like get on antidepressants. You know? I think like going through a season of difficulty can be really beautiful and part of our like evolution of our spirit. But one season turns into two seasons, turns into three seasons, turns into a year, turns into… you know. I would really suggest talking to a therapist or talking to someone about what other… what you can do. Because I see the grace and beauty in the up and down of emotions. And I don’t want to discount that those seasons of our life can be beautiful.
Jenny: And it’s part of being human.
Michelle: Yeah, it’s part of being human but…
Jenny: And sometimes you need some help coming out of that.
Michelle: I was definitely like whoa… I do not want to go into this year feeling like this again. This is not cool, I’m not going this.
Jenny: Well, good for you!
Michelle: I love… and ever since I started taking the medications again I just feel more like myself. Like I feel like me again.
Alfie: Good.
Jenny: That makes me so happy.
Alfie: For sure!
Jenny: So I love that you bless it in your Buddha with your pills. So tell me what because I want to run through your practices of things that you do to keep perspective and you find helpful to yourself.
Michelle: let me break down for you guys what the Michelle Money Method is. It’s based off of my last name which is Money. The M stands for mind your own business.The O is own your truth. The N is now is where your power is. The E is every single thought matters. And the Y is you choose happiness. So these five teachings, principles are my philosophy. It’s my…you know, it’s what I have been teaching to thousands of women that has helped them shift their mindset. And so I try to actively practice those things. Along my journey I kind of got a little bit deeper into more of the spiritual, kind of medicines and practices that are offered out there now that are alternatives to like for me, I was trying to find an alternative to antidepressants. That was a more holistic approach.
Jenny: Right.
Michelle: There’s Iowaska, there’s psilocybin, there’s all sorts of alternative medication, you know? Cannabis… and I went down that path because I wanted to explore a more holistic approach to my life.
Jenny: Okay, for all of us… which ones do we need to try? Which ones do we need to do?
Michelle: I will not encourage any of them to be honest.
Jenny: Oh, really?
Michelle: I mean… they are such powerful, potent plants and are not something that you like take lightly. It is something that like almost calls you. Like you kind of can’t…
Jenny: Okay…
Alfie: you’ve got to be careful. They are hallusingens.
Michelle: Yeah, you’ve got to be so careful. It’s a totally different conversation that we can have on another show.
Alfie: Yes, absolutely.
Jenny: Okay.
Alfie: It goes back to ancient healing and all sorts of things.
Michelle: Yeah. So I would just say, if you’re interested just Google it and you can kind of figure out what it is and see where that path takes you.
Jenny: Okay, I’ll let you carry on but I’m like wait a minute, do we need these.
Michelle: And it was like a beautiful part of my like journey. But for me I kind of started getting into this more holistic approach to like healing. And looking back on my traumas and looking back on kind of unresolved issues that i have faced in my life. I got pregnant when i was 15, placed my son for adoption at 16.
Jenny: Which is amazing. I have two babies that are adopted, we love birth mommas.
Alfie: I’m adopted.
Jenny: Oh, yeah and Alfie’s adopted!
Michelle: So beautiful. But part of the trauma of going through something so big as giving birth at 16 years old. It did result in a lot of like yeah… issues throughout my life. Sexual abuse in my past… and just you know, divorce and all that stuff I never fully integrated into myself. It was things that I pushed away. Things I shunned, things I didn’t like about myself. And I really have been trying to do… and it’s under the umbrella of shadow work, you know? There’s lots of books about doing shadow work and there’s lots of topics and things… where it really is looking at the parts of yourself that you have rejected, that you don’t like about who you are or that you have… that you don’t want to admit that it is part of who you are. And when we don’t reconcile that and accept those parts of who we are, we can’t be a fully whole, integrated individual.
Jenny: Right.
Michelle: And a lot of times what happens is we are projecting, right? So I’m projecting onto you something that I actually just don’t like about myself. But I’m pointing the finger at you when I really just need to be pointing the finger at me.
Jenny: Yeah, when I’m really mad at myself or I’m really critical of myself.
Michelle: and that stems from just like unresolved and unintegrated aspects of our childhood and of our past. So I got off my meds, got into a little bit of plant medicine stuff that sent me down more of a holistic… working with an energy healer who is amazing.
Jenny: Susanne, right?
Michelle: Susanne.
Jenny: I listen to all your stuff.
Michelle: you guys should have her on the show, she’s so good.
Jenny: Should we? Okay…
Michelle: yeah, she’s amazing.
Jenny: That would be fun.
Michelle: and I like started doing rapid eye technology, hypno-therapy, and i just kind of went the more holistic approach. Really with the intention of trying to get back to like myself. And I really was hopeful that I could do that without help, without antidepressants. The problem for me was that I would get into kind of this shadow work and I became incredibly like hard on myself… like very looping through… like I’d beat myself up all day for like having that thought or passing that judgement. Like I was so hyper aware of my shadow that it almost started attacking me. I don’t know if that makes sense.
Alfie: Yeah…
Jenny: oh! It started turning on you.
Michelle: Yeah, I definitely felt at some point like this is not me at all.
Jenny: Right… well, Michelle this has been super informative to chat about so I’m excited we are going to have a part 2 with everybody so stay tuned for part 2.
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