Scaling Smart: How Selena Barabino Found Success on Her Terms

Selena Barabino of Amaryllis Beaute Haven

These hands have saved lives. I've fought for patients, challenged doctors, and done everything I could to help people heal. Now, I want to help them feel whole," said Selena Barabino, owner of Amaryllis Beaute Haven, a Toledo-based medical spa specializing in beauty transformations and weight loss management. 

Barabino spent ten years as a trauma nurse, making high-pressure decisions to protect her patients. But over time, the weight of the work began to wear on her. COVID took an even greater toll. She watched patients struggle alone, their families kept at a distance. Sometimes, even the best care wasn't enough. 

She believed care meant more than survival — it meant helping people rebuild. She had seen firsthand how weight struggles and skin conditions could chip away at a person's confidence. She had felt it herself. And she had spent enough money at clinics where they handed her a bag of treatments and sent her on her way. That wasn't care. That was a transaction. She wanted something different. 

That's why she opened Amaryllis Beaute Haven. Named after a flower that symbolizes strength and confidence, and carrying pieces of her parents' names, Mary and Ray, it was never just a business. It was her way of offering the kind of care she wished she had found herself. 

Starting the business, though, was nothing like what she imagined. 

"I thought it was going to be easy," she said. "Because you hear people say, 'Oh, I started a business, and boom, it took off!' That was not the case." 

She launched the business in July 2023, but it would be another 15 months before she saw her first client. Everything took longer than she expected — finding the right location, securing equipment, meeting regulations. And everything cost money. 

"If you don't have capital, I don't know how you do it. If you don't know what a med spa is supposed to have, you could be spending money unnecessarily — which I did." 

For ten months, she paid for marketing that brought followers, not clients. "I thought I was gonna have a food stamp line of people lined up, knocking down the door for my services. Nope." 

She envisioned a full spa — multiple rooms, specialists, a complete experience. She signed a lease, invested in the space, and then realized she wasn't ready. She had eight clients. A large building would sink her before she even got started. 

She walked away from the lease. It cost her, but not nearly as much as it would have if she had stayed. 

By then, she had already been turned down for a loan at a traditional bank. They pulled financial history from over a decade ago, before she was even a nurse, and made it clear they didn't see her as worth the investment. 

"I asked if they had any other resources, any other options," she said. "The guy just said no. That was it. He told me to have a nice day." 

She had actually met ECDI months earlier — almost by accident — after sitting down at their table during a Women of Toledo event. At the time, she didn’t even know what they did. But after the bank turned her down, she remembered the conversation and made the call.  

The difference was immediate. 

"They didn't just give me a loan. They checked in on me. They made sure I was okay. They supported me." 

ECDI's funding helped cover education, legal fees, marketing, and rent. But more than that, they connected her with ECDI mentors like Jim Petty, who walked her through the hardest business decisions she had to make. He helped her see that scaling back wasn't failure — it was strategy. 

"I needed Jim in July 2023," she said, laughing. "I could have saved myself so much trouble." 

Now, she's growing at a sustainable pace. She operates from a single suite inside a beauty salon, keeping her costs manageable while she builds her clientele. She checks in with clients weekly to track their progress. She refuses to charge the exorbitant prices that make other med spas inaccessible. 

One of her clients had spent years hiding behind layers of foundation. "Beautiful, beautiful woman — but she didn't see it yet." They laughed, they talked, and eventually, there were tears — not just about her skin, but about everything she had carried with her. "To see somebody go from self-conscious to confident — I reap that benefit because I helped her, not only physically, but emotionally and mentally." 

That kind of transformation is what drives Barabino — and it’s why she’s now working toward offering medical wigs. The idea came from her daughter, who lost her hair due to lupus as a teenager. Barabino saw firsthand how it shattered her confidence, and how much something as simple as hair could change the way a person moves through the world. It reminded her how hard it is to face that kind of loss alone — and how important it is to have someone who understands.  

Barabino wants to be the mentor she once needed. "I wish someone had handed me a checklist and said, 'Here's what you need to do.' But I had to figure it all out the hard way," she said. "Now, I want to be that person for someone else." 

Building a client base takes time, and she still works as a nurse while growing her business. But she's confident in where she's headed. 

"When my clients text me and say, 'Thank you, I feel so good, I look so good' — that's when I know I'm in this for the right reasons," she said. "I don't need a million clients. I just need the right ones. The ones who trust me. The ones who know I care."