Meet the "Foot Whisperer" Who Will Make You Rethink Regular Pedicures for Good

Carlene Higgins (0:01)

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Welcome to Breaking Beauty, the podcast all about the breakthrough people, products and moments in beauty.

Jill Dunn (0:14)

We're your hosts, Jill Dunn and Carlene Higgins.

Happy Midsummer, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Breaking Beauty Podcast. The podcast all about the breakthrough people, products and moments in beauty. I'm one of your co-hosts, Jill Dunn.

Carlene Higgins (0:32)

And I'm Carlene Higgins, and we are two former beauty editors, turned beauty podcasters, here every single Wednesday with the Breakthrough People, Products and Moments in Beauty.

Jill Dunn (0:43)

And we're always talking to the most epic people in the business, Bobby Brown, Hailey Bieber, Makeup By Mario. The list goes on. There's like over 450 episodes at this point. And we wanted to have this conversation today because there's a lot of topics and beauty that we don't necessarily get to touch. But given that it's sandal season and given that we all want to look good on vacation, at the beach, wherever we are, today our guest is really going to help us make our feet look their best. And that is the Foot Whisperer of Manhattan, Marcela Correa.

Carlene Higgins (1:14)

Welcome.

Marcela Correa (1:15)

Thank you guys for having me here today. It's a pleasure.

Jill Dunn (1:18)

Thank you.

Carlene Higgins (1:19)

Marcela is the founder and CEO of MediPedi NYC and a trailblazer in aesthetic and therapeutic foot care, a licensed medical nail technician. With more than 20 years of experience, she got her start in her father's podiatry clinic in Uruguay, where she studied podiatry for three years before bringing her expertise to New York.

Jill Dunn (1:40)

And in 2013, she founded MediPedi in NYC, the Park Avenue destination for the medical pedicure. It's a waterless pedicure, everyone. It's sterile, dry technique. She uses that podiatry know-how with a meticulous foot grooming. And I haven't had the pleasure to visit yet, but it's unlike anything you've ever seen. It's like a dental chair almost that you're relaxing in, and your feet are up and being taken care of.

Carlene Higgins (2:09)

Her transformative yet painless approach has earned her a celebrity and athlete clientele, and Marcela's expertise has been featured everywhere, from allure to good housekeeping to women's health.

Jill Dunn (2:20)

And Marcela is on a mission to change how we think about our feet, not as an afterthought, but really the foundation of our health, quite literally. And in this episode, Marcela is going to tell us what our toenails reveal about our overall health, the hygiene red flags to spot in a salon setting, and the truth about those viral cheese grater foot files, those baby foot peels where your DNA is being left all over the city, and much, much more, because Carlene and I have anecdotes personally to share as well.

Carlene Higgins (2:53)

Plus, we find out Marcela's three non-negotiables for healthier feet so that in the midst of the natural nail era, maybe you can pull off an elegant bare nails pedicure as well as a manicure.

Jill Dunn (3:05)

And so be sure to watch this episode on our YouTube channel as well. You just search Breaking Beauty Podcast. And for any products mentioned, we will link to all of those on our website. So with all of that being said, let's dive in. So Marcela, for the uninitiated, tell us what is a medical pedicure and how does it differ from a traditional spa pedicure that maybe we've all had?

Marcela Correa (3:25)

Okay. Like you guys mentioned, medical pedicure is a waterless pedicure. Waterless, yeah.

When I decide to name it MediPedi, was thinking of collaboration with doctors. I want to bring the medical part of the necessity for the pedicure. I saw a lot of problems with the pedicure industry, that people was getting bullied, basically, because their feet were not looking beautiful, and I was looking more to look healthy.

So that's when I say, okay, MediPedi needs to exist for the people who doesn't want to be sitting in a chair next to somebody else who's making faces, and now these days taking pictures of their foot to post on social media. So for me, MediPedi was created with the intention to protect the dignity of the human beings and to prevent cross-contamination, but one of the biggest problem I see in the nail industry. So MediPedi was created basically to protect dignity and to also give the knowledge to people. So people was missing a lot of knowledge on the foot care. They have a lot of foot problems and they have no idea that can be fixed in five minutes. And they think it's a, my mom has it, I have it, everybody has it. And I was like, no, it has to be something more educational, not just paint you tunnels and go somewhere else. And somebody else is going to use the just greater thing to remove what you think is callous and sometimes it's not.