Dr. Nadia Stymiest, founder of Nanaimo Smiles and Ladysmith Smiles, is steadfast on her dental offices’ slogan: All smiles welcome.
Dr. Nadia Stymiest’s smile may look familiar to many as she has been practising dentistry in the area for nearly a decade, but what may not be as familiar is her brand new dental office, Nanaimo Smiles, that first opened its doors in December 2022 at 2700 Norwell Dr, Unit 101, Nanaimo, BC.
Growing up, Nadia closely studied her dad as he ran his own business, noticing all his entrepreneurial qualities. When encouraged, to get involved with small tasks for the business, Nadia was enthusiastic to learn all that she could about her entrusted job. She became a lifelong learner—a trait that continues throughout her life and her career.
Nadia credits her childhood in Dubai, which in the 1980s was unrecognisable to the metropolis you’re probably familiar with today, and its community of expats for exposing her to so many cultures. At 16, she and her family made the long move to Ontario, where she completed one year of high school before completing her Honours Bachelor of Science at the University of Toronto with a double major in Human Physiology and Anthropology.
Though Nadia knew she wanted to be in healthcare, that was the extent of what she had decided. She spent months shadowing different professions: a physician, a nurse, and finally, a dentist.
“It was the perfect intersection of science and art. It is always cutting edge. There is always new technology coming up,” Nadia says. “And the best thing is that you get to help people all day, every day.”
Nadia moved to her third country at 22 years old, to attend Boston University to obtain her Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD). When her studies were complete, Nadia was almost instantly called to island life, beginning her career as an associate dentist on Salt Spring Island and in Ladysmith. The Nanaimo-Ladysmith area is now what she calls her forever home.
Though immensely enjoying her career and laughing alongside her patients daily, Nadia’s innate need to learn pushed her to look for the next step of her career. After obtaining additional certifications in nitrous oxide, Invisalign and botox, Nadia set her eyes on starting her own dental practice.
Ladysmith Smiles was founded in September 2021. Since, Nadia has expanded her small team of seven to a growing team of over 20 talented individuals. In December 2022, Nadia opened her second practice, Nanaimo Smiles.
“I love having autonomy as a business owner and I feel my way of doing things is different from what most people do,” says Nadia about entering entrepreneurship. “And through the business I have a huge ripple effect that extends through my own life, my kids’ lives, my colleagues, our patients and the broader community .”
Nadia believes the key to her practices’ success is prioritising people over everything else. She prides herself on providing space and opportunity for new grads to receive mentoring; working mothers to find flexibility; and for all of her team to live with work-life balance. Nadia believes by ensuring her team is happy, the happiness trickles down to their patients and outwards to the community.
But this isn’t the work culture Nadia was exposed to throughout her career. “I think being a female from a visible minority, I definitely have been subjected to racism and misogyny, but I don’t let that get to me,” she says. “If anything it motivates me even more to be out there because if I, when I was growing up, had seen people like myself I probably would have been able to say, ‘She can do this, so can I.’”
This is the message Nadia hopes to instill in both of her children. “There’s a narrative that you have to pick between your family and career. I want both of them to know that you don’t have to choose one or the other, you can have both. I hope my kids will know that it’s so important to have excellent work ethic, but also learn to take rest,” says Nadia, who admittedly is still working on the latter.
Rather than silohing her entrepreneur life and mom life, Nadia has been fusing the pair by incorporating her kids when she can. They routinely come to the practices and participate in business meetings. “We are making a big effort to participate in community events,” says Nadia, of her two dental practices. “We want to show up in the community itself.” When Nadia and her team walked in Ladysmtih’s Festival of Lights, her kids (and the kids of her team) walked right alongside her.
“On a personal level, I think because I am an immigrant and I feel so happy to be here, why wouldn’t you want to be involved in your community when we get to live in such an amazing place?,” Nadia says. “We are also a service-based business, we serve a community so part of taking care of people in the community is being involved in the community.”
As any entrepreneur can confirm, starting a business is not without its difficulties and it is no different for Nadia. “I don’t let [the setbacks] change what I do, only in that it makes me want to be more inclusive, more open,” she says. Both of Nadia’s dental offices are steadfast to their strict motto: All smiles welcome. With hopes of providing exceptional, accessible dental care to her community, Nadia and her team remain committed to creating an inclusive, safe environment for every patient that walks through their doors.
“I wish I could tell my younger self to just trust her intuition and to really guard that moral compass that tells her what is right and what is not right,” Nadia says. “Also that it all works out if you just be yourself and keep your intentions pure.”
Both Nanaimo Smiles and Ladysmith Smiles are accepting new patients and hiring new team members. All smiles welcome.