Irina Damyanidu and Dr. Zainab Mogul-Ashraf inside Hebe Medical Spa in Fishkill / Photos by Sabrina Sucato
A woman-owned business, Hebe Medical Spa offers laser treatments, microneedling, wellness procedures, and more in the Hudson Valley.
There’s a trend happening in the Hudson Valley wellness scene right now.
In a world of acai bowls, yoga classes, and salt caves, medical spas offer a high-tech twist on traditional beauty regimens. As hybrids between spas and medical centers, medi spas incorporate wellness practices, like peels and facials, with specialized procedures like microneedling and skin rejuvenation. More than mere wellness destinations, medi spas rely upon medical expertise to heal and treat everything from acne and dull complexions to spider veins and wrinkles.
And there’s one right here in Fishkill.
Located on Main Street, Hebe Medical Spa brings cutting-edge body care treatments straight to the Hudson Valley. A woman-owned business, it was founded by two locals who met in the most unlikely of ways.
“We met at the gym,” says Irina Damyanidu, one of Hebe’s co-owners. A former bank executive, she met co-founder Dr. Zainab Mogul-Ashraf at All Sport Health & Fitness in Fishkill at 5 a.m. when the two of them were lifting weights.
“I was finishing up in the boxing room and she was like, ‘Oh, I love your jumpsuit,’ and I was like, ‘I love your pants.’ We started talking about shopping and skincare and we just clicked,” Damyanidu says. Friends from then on, the two planned yoga classes, gym sessions, and even holiday celebrations together. Then one day, Mogul-Ashraf approached Damyanidu with an idea.
“I’ve been a physician since 2010,” Mogul-Ashraf, a board-certified internist at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie. “I had an idea, and I needed someone to help bring that vision to fruition.” When she met Damyanidu, she knew she had found the person to do just that.
 |
 |
Together, the two women charged full steam ahead with their plans to open a medical spa in the Hudson Valley. They began by attending training after training across the United States, hopping from Boston to California to Las Vegas to master the latest technology in the medical beauty industry. As Mogul-Ashraf trained with injectors and learned how to use new devices, Damyanidu was there with her every step of the way.
“It was a great bonding experience,” Mogul-Ashraf enthuses. After training for a time, she took the next step and set up a spa-like office in Damyanidu’s home. As the women began to amass a roster of interested followers and top-quality technology, they searched for a brick-and-mortar space in Dutchess County.
After one location in Fishkill fell through, the duo hit the jackpot on Main Street and moved into the building that also houses Salon Doriano, a high-end hair salon with a longtime presence in the region. They signed the lease on August 1, 2018, and got to work transforming the space into the medi-spa of their dreams.
“When we opened, we had 250 clients on the books,” says Damyanidu, noting that word of mouth has been integral for Hebe’s ever-expanding presence in the Hudson Valley. At the time of the spa’s ribbon cutting at the end of July, that number had more than tripled, with a number of clients coming from Westchester or out of state.
“It’s really nice because Hebe’s compiled of women of all ages,” Mogul-Ashraf notes. “We’re mothers, we have dogs, we have a crazy work life. We can relate to [our clients] in every aspect.” That relatability is integral at the spa, since many new clients often come with nerves and questions about the procedures in which they’re interested. Whether they stop by for their first intravenous vitamin therapy treatment, a fire and ice facial, or Botox, they want to know exactly what they’re getting into before they take a seat in one of the plush medical chairs.
Luckily, Damyanidu and Mogul-Ashraf are more than willing to provide those details. For each client who comes to Hebe, Mogul-Ashraf makes a point to sit down for a consultation to discuss what treatments and therapies make sense for them. Relying upon her background a medical professional, she aims to help all her patients feel their best both internally and externally.
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByaaiPrAQSR/
“What makes [Hebe] unique is I’m an internist going to the aesthetics world,” she says. “We do IV vitamin therapy, we look at nutrition, at hormone levels. We want people to feel good from the inside out.”
“We look for outcomes,” Damyanidu adds. “Some people come in and they know exactly what they want, but others come in and say, ‘I don’t want to look done, I just want to feel better about myself.’ We work with their comfort level and take a more holistic approach.”
A multi-pronged salon experience, Hebe is a true hybrid between holistic and medical wellness. On the introductory end of the spectrum, the spa’s facial programs focus on exfoliation, purification, and rejuvenation. As far as wellness procedures go, Hebe does everything from PRP hair restoration and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy to IV vitamin therapy, microneedling, and body sculpting.
 |
 |
Left to right: Inside one of the private spa rooms / A glimpse behind the front desk at Hebe Medical Spa
On the medical side of things, the spa offers cutting-edge laser treatments to target sun damage, rosacea, broken capillaries, spider veins, scars, and acne. It is also a local leader with natural-looking injectables, which include hyaluronic acid fillers, plate-rich plasma fillers, and Botox.
While the co-owners are happy to pursue their passion in the Hudson Valley, they’re most enthused about the opportunity to make a lasting impact on women’s [and men’s] lives.
“[Clients] say, ‘My skin is in such good shape, my makeup time is cut in half, I don’t have to wear makeup anymore,” Mogul-Ashraf notes of post-procedure reactions.
“We’re very excited to be here,” Damyanidu enthuses. “We have a great team. We never want to lose that.”
Hebe Medical Spa
1131 Main St, Fishkill
