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This new Uptown business has been 'insanely busy' during COVID-19

Business owner celebrates a shockingly successful first year, crediting Zoom.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — New business owners often hope to simply survive their first year out of the gate. That was especially true in a year like 2020. 

But one Charlotte entrepreneur said opening their business during the COVID-19 pandemic ended up translating to bigger success.

At the start of the pandemic, Kristin Cabeda was about to give birth to her first child. At the same time, she was opening her first business.

"I had thought about it for many years and finally pulled the trigger on it," Cabeda said.

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Cabeda opened Plumped, a medical spa in Uptown, in February 2020 -- just a few weeks before mandatory lockdowns started.

"This is crazy," Cabeda said. "When this whole pandemic started, I was like 'Oh my God, this is a horrible time to open a business.'"

Her spa offers Botox and other non-surgical options for people's faces, but she was concerned "no one is going to have any money" for elective procedures.

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But something she didn't anticipate was the power of Zoom, and people being self-critical while staring at their own faces for hours a day. 

"People now are on Zoom, looking at themselves and want to tweak little things they don’t like seeing every day," Cabeda said.

Ever since being allowed to reopen Plumped about two months after the lockdown, she's said she's been 'insanely busy."

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The new mom had set projections for her first year, but she never imagined she’d surpass them in the way that she did.

"My goal for the first year? We have exceeded that by 150%, so it is booming, " Cabeda shared. 

WCNC Charlotte is always asking "where's the money?" If you need help, reach out to the Defenders team by emailing money@wcnc.com.

Opening the business was her life’s dream, but she just never thought it was OK to dream this big, especially in the middle of the nightmare and uncertainty of the pandemic.

"This was the first time I've owned a business, and it's been super scary," Cabeda admitted. "It was scary to take the step to open up my own business."

Now, she’s looking forward to the future and possible expansion.

"It's been hard but so great," Cabeda said. "I couldn’t ask for anything else. I am so grateful and blessed."

Cabeda wasn't alone in her success either. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the top cosmetic minimally invasive procedures were Botox, soft-tissue fillers, laser skin resurfacing, chemical peels and intense pulsed light treatment. The ASPS stated there were about 13.3 million cosmetic minimally invasive procedures performed in 2020 alone.

The ASPS tracked other types of cosmetic surgery in 2020, and that data showed the top three of the top five cosmetic surgical procedures performed in 2020 had to do with altering a person's face.

The organization surveyed people and found 11% of women indicated they were more interested in plastic surgery or minimally invasive procedures post-pandemic than they were pre-pandemic.

Contact Michelle at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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