Entrepreneurs in the family surround Sarah Hamilton, who has held that role partnering with husband Joe to start Pilgrim's Natural Food Market in Coeur d'Alene 15 years ago.

Now Hamilton has a new venture solely in her name, Sarah Hamilton FACE, providing facial care as a medical aesthetic nurse specialist. Offering 12 years of experience with Botox, fillers, medical-grade skin care and peels, Hamilton opened the business in May in Liberty Lake Portal, 23403 E. Mission Ave.

"We have a whole family of entrepreneurs," said Hamilton, reflecting on people in her life and reasons for starting a business in Liberty Lake. Joe Hamilton grew up in Liberty Lake from third grade on until leaving for college. He and Sarah as a family moved back here in 2000.

"My daughter runs Sydney Baye Photography," she said. "My sister is a jewelry designer, Melinda Maria Jewelry in Los Angeles. Then we have Pilgrim's, and my father-in-law is a land developer. I've been thinking of starting my own business for several years. I work more hours owning my own business, but it's definitely more rewarding, too." 

Hamilton described good timing to launch an enterprise, after working part-time in the aesthetic field while her kids were growing up. Their three children are ages 23, 20 and 18, including the eldest, Sydney; Kate, who is a sophomore in college; and Michael, a senior at Saint George's School. 

She previously worked providing aesthetic procedures for a cosmetic surgery center in downtown Spokane. Hamilton said loyal customers have followed her to Liberty Lake, while the practice also is attracting new patients. She has clients travelling to appointments from North Spokane and Coeur d'Alene and from as far away as Utah and Montana. 

"I absolutely love my patients," she said. "Some of them I've been seeing for 12 years, and I always look forward to seeing them. We're twice as busy as I've ever been at any other facility. We're growing much quicker than I anticipated."

Raised in Spokane, Hamilton has been a registered nurse for 20 years. Before entering the aesthetic nursing field, she worked as an intensive care and ER nurse at local hospitals in newborn intensive care. After graduating from Lewis and Clark High School, she studied nutrition and community public health at Eastern Washington University with an original intent to become a nutritionist. 

She decided nursing was a better route for working in public health, so she switched schools to get a nursing degree at North Idaho College. She then did two years of graduate work in nutrition before staying home with kids and working with Joe to launch Pilgrim's, which opened in 2000. 

"That's Joe's baby," she said. "I started it with him a few years, and then I decided I wanted to use my nursing degree, especially as my kids got older."

Away from work, Hamilton described a life full of family, loving to cook, playing tennis and gardening. 

Also as no surprise, she appreciates healthy foods, with another nod to Pilgrim's. 

"Of course, I solely shop there," she said. "I'm very into nutrition, and we eat mainly organic. We have for years, before it became popular. That's a hugely growing industry."

Gardening is a new passion. The Hamiltons are creating an urban farm in Coeur d'Alene on a lot purchased behind the store. Farming is expected to occur year-round on the site, like a community project, to use the food and donate some.  

Pilgrim's recently won an award as most innovative natural food market in the country, she said, because of a wellness center offered to customers who can access experts such as a naturopathic doctor and a dietitian. 

Hamilton hopes eventually to offer aesthetics appointments at Pilgrim's as a satellite practice and for providing anti-aging information.

"I feel the best anti-aging is sunscreen, eating good foods, staying away from sugar," she said. "A lot of skin care is as much what you put in your body as what you put on your body, and using sunscreen."

Several members of her family live in Liberty Lake, including her mother, another sister, and the Hamiltons' eldest daughter and son-in-law. Sister Ashley Stepp also is an aesthetic nurse and plans to eventually work at Hamilton's clinic once her young children are a little older. 

Sarah Hamilton FACE is sharing Portal office space with Dr. Geoffrey Stiller, a cosmetic surgeon who schedules patients two days a week in Liberty Lake. 

"I help him with his patients," she said. "I do all his pre-ops, and post-ops, and consults for surgical patients. And three days a week, I see patients for procedures such as Botox and dermal fillers. We do face peels, provide medical skin care products and do skin care consults. We also train here, so I train nurses and doctors from all over the U.S.

"It's more of an art once you get the science down. I have a good rapport with my patients."  

Botox also can help people suffering migraines or from excessive armpit sweating. Her patients range in age from 18 to 85. Most are females, but about 10 percent are males.

"It's getting more popular with men, maybe to soften lines a bit," Hamilton said.  

She described her overall work in aesthetics as enhancing patients' natural features. 

"My approach is more natural in that they look rested, not overdone," Hamilton said.