Kelly is an Advanced Practice Nurse with over 16 years of experience as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. Both Army veterans, Kelly and Scott relocated their North Carolina-based business to establish Aspen Aesthetics + Wellness in the heart of Colorado Springs.
The expansion of her scope into aesthetics and skincare came following personal frustrations as a patient and consumer within the industry. She found the lack of client education and safety concerns due to variability between clinic staff and providers disappointing, especially during her family's relocations across the country on Active Duty.
Kelly has worked in every model of anesthesia and preoperative care, serving as a sole anesthesia provider in areas of intense conflict and providing high-quality care in operating rooms and clinics nationwide. Her extensive knowledge and hands-on procedure experience in anesthesia transition well to delivering safe and high-quality aesthetic procedures.
Kelly’s philosophy regarding facial balancing and harmonization goes well beyond the industry’s standard: “Your face, and ultimately what makes up your unique features is a whole unit. It’s not just lips or cheeks, or chin. Instead of over enhancing one single area, I use the symbiotic relationship between art and science to balance your upper, middle, and lower face. I pay extreme attention to transition points throughout your face. And I look at angles, ratios, and continuity points between light and shadows."
Her expertise centers around comprehensive facial rejuvenation with seamless and undetectable results. She uses high-resolution ultrasound in her practice to increase safety and mitigate risk with real-time ultrasound-guided facial mapping, injections, and complication management. Kelly’s extensive experience with facial ultrasound has provided her a niche within her medical aesthetics profession. She is a member of the esteemed Complications in Medical Aesthetic Collaborative (CMAC), an international organization established in 2020 to support clinicians worldwide in diagnosing and managing complications in medical aesthetics. CMAC represents the unification of different professionals under one community of clinical excellence.
Forever an anesthesia provider, a comfortable and non-threatening injection experience is the only way she believes in conducting her treatments. She values the beauty that life, child-rearing, and what the wisdom of age brings to our bodies and faces while also understanding the desire to age with some control. Kelly aims to empower clients to make choices for their faces and bodies based on what is right for them, fostering inner peace, confidence, and self-respect.
When not running her business, she and her husband of 18 years, Scott are likely trying to keep up with their 2 boys, Owen and Liam, and a chocolate labradoodle named Sophie. The McKay’s and their tight circle of COS based friends will be found mountain biking around town, fly fishing in 11-Mile Canyon, skiing all over CO, or just spending time together cooking, baking, or watching an animal documentary at home.