Jun 12, 2022
Rafaela Thomas said her father always told her that
education could take her anywhere she wanted to go. And he was
right. Her education helped her travel the world, become a high
ranking officer in the Army, a licensed Family Nurse Practitioner
and the owner of her own business, CaraBeautiful, a cosmetic
dermatology salon in Greensboro.
Born in Panama, Thomas recalls her family moved to
Brooklyn, New York when she was 10 years old and they didn’t speak
any English. The seventh of eight children, she noted that her
parents stressed the importance of education and the need for them
to learn the language. “I come from parents with third and
fourth-grade education, but they instilled in us that it was
necessary to get an education. We all graduated from high school
and went on to be successful in our career paths. So when you come
from such a strong family unit, it inspires you to strive for
more,” said Thomas. She first established her business in 2016, and
in February 2019 she was ready to move CaraBeautiful into Sola
Salon, Suite 110 in the Friendly Shopping Center on Pembroke
Road.
“Coming here from another country, I learned that
the world has so much to offer. All you have to do is strive hard
and do the best you can. My father always said, ‘No matter what you
end up doing in life, you do the best you can and you be the best
at it.’ So that is how I’ve always lived my life,” said Thomas.
Thomas graduated from the High School of Fashion Industries in NYC,
and joined the Navy in 1978, and worked as a dental hygienist and
assistant. She explained how she noticed that a simple procedure,
like applying braces, changed a person’s whole outlook about
themselves. “For me, teeth and smiles and faces have always been a
part of medicine that I enjoyed. Seeing the smile on a patient’s
face in reaction to the change they saw would make me so happy. I
knew back then that I wanted to work with faces,” she said.
At CaraBeautiful, Thomas provides Botox and dermal
fillers. Each product requires a different procedure that is placed
in different areas of the face, and both are temporary results.
Thomas ensures she provides detailed information to each client
about the procedures and what to expect.
While about 75 percent of her clientele has been
women, Thomas noted that she is slowly starting to encounter more
male clients who are interested in facial treatments.
Rafeala says, "My greatest accomplishments have
been serving this country, reaching the rank of a Major Medical
Officer, being a nurse practitioner and finding my greatest passion
in life, which is CaraBeautiful. Coming to CaraBeautiful is not
work. It’s a passion to do what I do and I love it.
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