LASER FOCUSED
DORON AND CHERRYL GLAZER’s work on aesthetic lasers insure the industry is protected with good policies and educated doctors
Doron and Cherryl Glazer met 22 years ago. Cherryl had been working in aesthetics since 1997, while Doron, a transplant, from Israel, moved to the Philippines in 2005 and started working in the import industry. “I come from Israel. Later I saw this company in Thailand selling lasers, and I wondered what it was all about, so I went to check. I saw the use of lasers in general medicine, so I decided to sell it here,” says Doron. He remembers the days when doctors rarely did work in aesthetics, when Dr. Vicki Belo was one of the few who did work on it. “Over the next decade I saw how aesthetics was evolving, so I decided to focus on aesthetic lasers. Slowly, we started bringing the latest technology here.”
Doron and Cherryl formed Spectrumed in 2004. In their 25 years of business, their clients include Cynosure, the company behind Revlite and PicoSure, the most expensive laser in the world. Allergan, the firm behind Botox, also chose Spectrumed as their local distribution partner. “If you are pioneering, and you are the leader in the industry, you can see that doctors really trust you. Most of our clients are repeat clients, for the past 25 years,” says Cherryl. “So the trust is there. They know it’s always top of line.” Doron adds that they always get first word whenever a new machine is entering its release date. “I think because we have been in this industry for 25 years, whenever something new is coming out worldwide, we hear about it first. I hear it from doctors, from people in the industry,” he says, sharing that they have made contact with a company for a new machine that will be released for the first quarter of 2021. “This networking is one of the most important things that allow us to scan what is new. You should never lie down and relax, that is another important thing. You have to be alert all the time,” he says. “You need to pave the way and work for it.”
As the company leading the pack, Spectrumed is not content to rest on its laurels. “We like to consider ourselves leading the pack. And when others follow, I say, “Ok, let them follow” but I like to be the one who is being followed, rather than be the one who follows,” says Doron. “We have been doing it quite successfully, in the last 25 years.”
In an industry that is constantly moving forward, due to local interest in aesthetics and wellness, both Doron and Cherryl are conscious of protecting what they have built. While the industry is booming, Doron admits they may be a little conservative, but only because they want to truly trust their products. “I always say I won’t sell what I don’t believe in, and so far, we’ve succeeded in staying loyal with what we believe in,” he says. “We have an amazing rate of 80-85% of repeating customers. We are here to stay. I can count so many doctors I’ve known for 25 years.”
Another arm of Spectrumed is user education, to make sure that the doctors know how they can get the best out of their machines. The photo-shoot is taking place at Spectrumed’s head office, which is currently going through renovations to become an experience center. “Our goal is to make sure we’re not only selling to doctors and clinics but also training and making sure they’re giving the best to their patients,” says Cherryl. “It’s very important; it’s a whole package of support and service to the doctors.”
Doron believes that while there is an abundance of treatments backed up by good marketing, at the end of the day, lasers still do the most in terms of improvement. They also have the most power that can do damage, which is why proper training is necessary. “We want to give the best. That includes, of course, the safety of the patient,” he says. Cherryl concurs, adding that irresponsible usage affects the entire market. “Everybody gets scared, so it’s important that doctors and the clients work with a reliable company, and that the doctors get proper training for this because it doesn’t suit everybody,” she says. “It’s important that they need to know and understand the process and all the parameters of using the lasers and the equipment.”
When Doron arrived in the Philippines, he expected to stay for only two years. He has been here for 25, and jokes that it came with the addition of “two little monkeys.” Married in 2011, Cherryl says theirs is an equal partnership at work and at home. “It’s the power of the two of us doing it together and a very good combination. I don’t think the company would’ve grown the way it did if it were just me,” she says, “of course he’s been very supportive, he’s been there day and night doing everything in the business aspect. I do the legwork, the local eye, the one who deals with clients.”
When they decided to get married, Doron asked Cherryl to convert to Judaism. Amidst the everyday travails of running a highly successful business, there was the conversion to contend with. “He comes from a very Orthodox Jewish family. So just imagine, you’re doing the business, putting it all together, and everything and now you have to convert and change everything,” shares Cherryl. With the zeal equal to what she puts into work, Cherryl converted, and they are now blessed with two boys, one seven-year-old and the other age four. “It comes from our personal intentions that linger and grow into where we are today. It’s our passion, the both of us,” she says. “Not only because we want to do the business but because we want to grow together. I cannot go back and say I would change anything. The company is a combination of two brains and two energies together, from a personal factor, growing into where we are today.”
Every weekend, as soon as sunset begins on Friday until nighttime on Saturday, the Glazers practice Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. When Cherryl was new to Judaism, the entire concept of giving up her weekend for pure rest and family time, without going out to see friends and enjoy parties was hard to swallow. Putting her phone down was anathema to her. A completely new decade later, however, and it is the night she looks forward to the most. “It used to feel like I couldn’t vanish for 24 hours before,” she says, “But now it is a special gift that you get every week, you get to rest and be with the family which is very important.”
For both of them, this family time is what makes a meaningful life. “You have time for family, you get the balance between getting and giving,” says Doron. “Success is not only measured by the number of money you have. What’s important is the whole picture.”