A CHANCE TO GROW.
It was a morning like any other.
She was standing at the sink, brushing her teeth. Out the window were their land and their cows. On this morning, though, she sort of chuckled to herself.
“I told my husband that if 10 years ago you would have asked me where I’d be at this point, I would have said a highrise in downtown Chicago,” Dr. Jackie Youtsos said. “I definitely wouldn’t have said I’d be in Kansas looking at cows.”
Life’s funny in that way. Things happen.
“I like to call them God moments,” Youtsos said, “and I know I’ve had several of them.”
“It’s nice to have roots where family is.”
A Family Medicine board-certified physician that specializes in the field of medical and cosmetic dermatology, Youtsos is the owner of Renu Medical & Spa in south Pittsburg. Founded in 2016, Renu offers a variety of dermatological services, as well as elective cosmetic enhancement and spa treatments.
ReNu Medical & Spa treats a wide range of skin conditions in-house, such as acne, moles, eczema, psoriasis, rashes, rosacea, cysts, lipomas, toenail fungus, and skin cancer symptoms. On the spa side, Renu offers a variety of services such as couples massages, body wraps, migraine relief, hot stone massage, foot reflexology, and more.
It’s the type of place Youtsos, a Wisconsin native, always wanted to open. How it came to be in Pittsburg, Kansas is one of those “God moments” in her life. After graduating from the University of Chicago, she traveled south to work in New Mexico.
“The person I was practicing with ended up being from Fort Scott,” she said. “Small world.”
That would not be her only run-in with southeast Kansas boys. She eventually met Eric Bradshaw, a physical therapist from Pittsburg who was working in New Mexico. During a visit back to Pittsburg in 2014, they got engaged during the homecoming parade. The couple soon after moved to Pittsburg to be close to Bradshaw’s family.
“It’s nice to have roots where family is,” she said. “There are a lot of positive things happening in Pittsburg, and we’re happy to be here and be a part of it.”
“It’s crazy, right?”
More than just a part of it, Youtsos is quickly helping put Pittsburg on the map for dermatological services. She frequently travels nationwide and serves as a keynote speaker for the cosmetic technology company Alma Lasers, of which she is an endorsed provider.
Another God moment.
“I was in Kansas City for a conference, and the speaker from Nashville was late because of a flight delay,” she said. “The people there knew I had an Alma machine and asked me to speak on it. I got up there and rocked it. From there, they asked me to continue to be a luminary speaker for the company.”
She also serves as a dermatology consultant for TreCeuticals, a pharmaceutical grade, age-defying skin care line.
And again…
“We were coming back from a conference in Maui, and our flight was delayed,” she said. “I started talking to the guy next to us. He mentioned I should meet his wife, who was starting a skin care line. So we meet and talk on the flight back, and they asked me if I wanted to go into business with crazy blondes.
“It’s crazy, right?”
Crazy, maybe. It’s also a sign of the possible in a community like Pittsburg.
“I knew I could grow professionally here,” she said. “I’m not going to say that I always saw myself ending up in a place like Pittsburg, but I wouldn’t change it now. We can make a difference here, and big things can happen. You just have to put in the work and be ready to jump when opportunities present themselves.”
Renu Medical & Spa is located at 2425 Bradshaw Way. For more information, visit renumedicalandspa.com.
