From Medicine to Entrepreneurship: Dr. Mona Garhar on Building Nova Skin & Wellness with Grit, Vision & Humanity

In this episode of The People-Driven CEO Podcast, Dr. Mona Garhar shares the story behind building Nova Skin and Wellness and the mindset that carried her from medicine into entrepreneurship. She opens up about launching the clinic without co-founders or investors, building its systems from scratch while pregnant, and learning one of her biggest business lessons: you do not have to do everything yourself.

Mona and Shane explore why vision and people have been at the centre of Nova from the beginning. For Mona, hiring is less about credentials and more about character, openness, warmth, the willingness to learn, and finding people who genuinely care about the clients they serve. She also explains the thinking behind Nova’s integrated approach to aesthetics, wellness, hormones and preventative health, shaped by the real challenges she was seeing in her patients.

The conversation also turns to AI, healthcare and the future of business. While Mona sees enormous potential for AI, she believes businesses need to be careful not to automate away the emotion, humanity and quality of care that make people trust them in the first place. She and Shane discuss where AI can create real value, where humans still need to lead, and why thoughtful policies, ethics and regulation will matter as adoption grows. Later, Mona shares the personal story behind her work ethic, from immigrating to Canada as a child to building a life and career through persistence, gratitude and a strong sense of purpose.

The episode closes on the values she now passes on to her own children: empathy, kindness, treating people well and using what you have to make a difference in the lives of others.