Vida Aesthetics, the first Latinx-owned medical spa in Dane County, opened its Verona location Sept. 14.  The business’ owner and founder Lali Rodriguez said the Verona address will be the primary location for her business going forward. Previously, Rodriguez ran Vida Aesthetics from a salon in the Dane County village of Oregon.

The medical spa specializes in cosmetic services, offering non-invasive skin treatments such as Botox and sun damage repairs, Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez had previous business experiences that helped her in her journey to open Vida Aesthetics. Among her experiences was helping her husband run his business over the past three years. But Rodiriguez said starting her own business required a greater commitment.

“Make sure that if you’re going to open a business you’re 100% sure that’s your passion, and that you can see yourself, ten, fifteen years from then still doing the same thing, and not doing it just because of money,” Rodriguez said. “Because money is not always the answer to bringing you happiness, you have to really enjoy what you’re doing, to invest that amount of money into a new business.”

Diverse Leaders for Tomorrow is a University of Wisconsin student organization that is partnered with the Wisconsin School of Business to provide professional development skills to underrepresented students. Vice president of marketing Mia Staszcuk said entrepreneurs like Rodriguez are important role models for UW Students, but especially for Latinx students who want to open a business.

DLT’s goal is to help underrepresented students reach their professional ambitions. Anybody can join regardless of demographic, but DLT is geared toward underrepresented students, Staszcuk said.

“We’re the first ever club to be partnered with a business school,” Staszcuk said. “We get to speak with the department heads. For example, we just talked with the Department of Entrepreneurship. And some of those professors and really helping to you know, when you think of the business school, really integrating diversity into their curriculum and to their reputation”

UW student Jordan Kennedy founded DLT at UW, but the organization is spreading to other colleges across the country including University of Michigan and Howard University, Staszcuk said. 

According to DLT’s website, 100% of members receive full-time job offers. Further, DLT has helped members accumulate $2 million in additional wealth through internship and job placements.

In Madison, it is often difficult to find diversity among business owners, so having a local success story is important to many students. According to the City of Madison, in 2023 about 3-9% of Madison businesses are owned by people of color. Rodriguez is a good example for underrepresented students, because she has had multifaceted success as a nurse and entrepreneur, Staszcuk said. 

Rodriguez was not only the first person in her family to become a nurse, she was the first in her family to attend college. When she was younger, she decided it was her responsibility to take care of her mother,  Rodriguez said.

“From a young age I always knew that I wanted to be a nurse,” Rodriguez said. “Growing up with just my mom, she got diabetes at a young age. We didn’t have anybody in our family that was going to take care of her.”

Rodriguez wants to continue being an inspiration for kids, since she lacked some of those role models as a student. She said older people would doubt her ability to succeed in nursing school.

“My Mom was so proud of me and my family, my friends,” Rodriguez said. “Everybody was cheering me on, behind doors, but then when I get [to school], I’m trying my absolute best. And then [the supervisor] is telling me twice that I should just drop out because I’m not going to be good at it.”

“I think that finding people who are really showing excellence in their field and then also promoting that across Madison and seeing the reception and kind of your response to that it’s something that’s really important to the city and the campus as a whole,” Staszcuk said. 

So far, Vida Aesthetics new location opening has been a success. The spa had double the attendance they planned for during opening day. Attendees included the Verona Mayor and representatives from Hmong Chamber of Commerce, the governor’s office and Park Bank, Rodriguez said.

“Opening a business might seem easy from the outside, but on the inside it’s actually a lot of work… It’s like taking care of a child. Every single day, you have to give it attention and make sure that that child is okay,” Rodriguez said.