Biz Buzz: Goddess Electrolysis LLC

Business: Goddess Electrolysis LLC

Your Name: Ms. July Twenty Three (she/they)

Job Title: Founder & Practicing Electrologist

Give us a brief overview of your business and what services you provide the community:

Goddess Electrolysis LLC specializes in pre-surgical hair removal, which is medically necessary for trans people seeking sex-reassignment surgeries (SRS). Electrolysis is the only FDA-approved method for permanent hair removal, and across much of the U.S. It remains a very costly and time consuming process to undergo. Most electrolysis providers do not accept health insurance, which immediately creates a barrier to care for trans people, as many trans people do not have access to medical transition without health insurance, because transitional care is so cost prohibitive.

Goddess Electrolysis is proud to have health insurance contracts with two of the three most prominent health insurance carriers in the state, which allows us to bill commercial and medical assistance insurance plans directly, allowing our clients to pay little to no cost for their treatments. Additionally, being specifically trained in pre-surgical electrolysis ensures that our clients are receiving the most thorough hair removal possible, which leads to greater surgical readiness and increases the likelihood of desired surgical results. Our practice is creating pathways to SRS that have never been possible before for trans people.

How many years have you been in business?

I founded the business in late 2020.

What’s something unique we should know about your business?

We are ENTIRELY trans owned & operated! We believe that the future of trans healthcare is T4T– healthcare for trans people, by trans people. As a collective of trans femmes building a healthcare business from the ground up, we negotiate and navigate as a business in a way that is inextricably informed by our experiences as trans people. We quite literally carved out a space for ourselves in healthcare as trans feminine people and began to fulfill a need for our community that no other provider was doing— we like to think that is a pretty unique part of who we are.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

When you don’t have to do it all yourself– AKA, I love having a team now!

What’s the best thing about working with the LGBTQ community?

The best thing about working with our community is that we get to take up space as trans femmes in healthcare in a way that rarely happens, if ever. When we first meet a new client, it is not uncommon for them to tell us that we are the first trans person they have met in real life, and that is a shared experience for a lot of trans people. We have lost so many trans elders in recent decades to violence, HIV/AIDS– and in recent years we have seen a record number of anti-trans legislation be introduced across the country. The reality is, what we are building is radical, is change making, is relevant, because trans people (and our healthcare) are constantly under attack, and yet, we come to work every day and show the trans people on our treatment tables, and the rest of our community, that we can build things that are made for us and we can build them sustainably and thoughtfully, to last for generations to come.

Does your business have anything new, fun or unique happening on the horizon?

Yes! Our practice is currently expanding and collectivizing. Over the last year-and-half, we have trained and brought on an additional electrologist, bringing our total number of providers to two, and by early February 2024 we will have two more electrologists joining our team, bringing our total providers to four! With our team expanding, we feel this is the moment to collectivize our practice and outline how we want to co-create the next phases of the business together. We can’t wait to show the community all of the big things we have planned for this clinic in the years to come!

If you weren’t doing your current job, what would you be doing?

Performance art, graffiti, more social time, being a hoe, cooking food, learning how to skateboard, day trips & weekend getaways, exploring and reimagining queer community in South Minneapolis!