Pillow Talk Derm

This is NOT a One-Night Stand

I’m writing this somewhere over the Atlantic.

Eleven hours from Lebanon back to New York. We just buried my mother-in-law. There’s something about being suspended in the air, between continents, between loss and routine, that forces you to sit still long enough to think.

I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.

And this week made something very clear: I don’t want to keep waiting to build the things that matter.

So here we are. I’m nervous. This feels awkwardly vulnerable. I feel like I’m starting all over again. So for those of you who are new here, I’m Shereene. I’m a board-certified dermatologist. I started PillowtalkDerm in 2018 on Instagram Stories during one of the hardest seasons of my life: infertility, IVF, depression, getting fired while pregnant.

Why?

It was a knee-jerk reaction. I was selfishly thinking that if I could help others help themselves, if I could help them feel better about themselves, maybe I would start to feel better too. It was a very simple hypothesis.

So I started talking because I needed to process in real time.

No strategy. Just showing up, in all my glory (or lack thereof), with zero premeditated hopes or ambitions other than feeling better. And maybe helping someone out.

And it worked. You tuned in. You listened. Your skin got better. And in the process so did I, and WE became something bigger than I ever expected.

But social media has changed. Depth gets clipped. Context disappears. Outrage spreads faster than evidence. And I’m not interested in performing in loud volume just to compete with noise.

I want room to breathe. Room to speak.
Room to grow. Room to listen.
Room to learn. Room to connect.

I need space. But what should YOU expect from here?

You’ll absolutely get skincare here.

That’s still the foundation.

From the beginning, everything I’ve done in my practice, online, and with my brand has been about empowerment. I was tired of watching people get taken advantage of. Unnecessary procedures. Fear-based decisions. Useless several hundred dollar creams. Fads over facts. I don’t believe skin health should be built on fear. I believe it should be built on understanding.

I want you to feel ownership over your skin. The same way I want my patients to feel ownership over how they choose to age.

I guess that makes me a skin coach?

God, it sounds ironic, especially since I never played a sport in my life. And now somehow I run multiple teams. Turns out building a business is a team sport, not a family. That’s a post for another day.

But coaching is the right word.

Because skincare isn’t a single appointment. It’s the habits between appointments. My goal has never been to make you dependent on me, or anyone else for that matter. It’s to make you capable on your own.

But, but, but, but… But, I also want to be clear, this space won’t just be about skin.

It will also be about:

Life.
Grief and perspective.
Raising kids while still trying to raise yourself.
Marriage, ego, growth.
Running not one but two businesses in New York City.
Betrayal. Lawsuits. Reinvention. (oh the drama… I hate drama… but the drama is tea).
Waking up at 3 a.m. wondering things like:
How long can I keep my brand self-funded before raising money?
Did I move the elf on the shelf? (yes, I’m still recovering from this last holiday season).

And of course, unsolicited, or solicited (read: PLEASE solicit) love advice. I love that sh*t. I’m probably not qualified to give it, which honestly makes it more interesting. Thank God I’m not licensed.

But to keep this intentional, because clearly I can get side tracked, and so you know what to expect on Sundays, I’m going to try to stick to recurring chapters:

One-Night Stand
Late-night processing. Raw. Emotional. Unfiltered and slightly unhinged. No tidy lesson required. Just real-time honesty and yes, love advice.

Cut the Bullshit
Facts over fear. Science over hype. Clear, practical guidance to simplify your life and you can actually use.

Let’s Get Intimate
The behind-the-scenes reality of living life while running two businesses. Leadership, money, mistakes, ego, resilience, and the messy middle from an occasionally organized Type B+ human.

What No One Tells You About
Hard-earned perspective. The lessons you only understand after you’ve lived them. Motherhood. Medicine. Ambition. Marriage. Identity.

Soooo, if you’re looking for outrage, this may not be for you. I prefer to lead with humor, even when I’m outraged.

And, if you want perfectly packaged answers, also not your place. Lo siento.

But if you want nuance, science, (debatable) humor, growth, and someone who is willing to share failures as much as successes + who will gently push back when you need it, welcome :)

I’ll show up on Sundays.

Not to overwhelm you. Not to perform. But to build something steady.

For now, this space is free. This isn’t about building an audience. It’s about continuing what we started 8 years ago: keeping the conversation open and building on an interactive community.

So I’ll end here, and I’ll end every post with a question (or two):

What’s one area where you want confidence, but haven’t built the habits to support it yet?

Or said differently, what’s one small habit, skin or life, that you know would make a difference if you actually committed to it consistently?

Let’s the games begin.

See you Sunday.

Shereene