Some career moves begin with a job posting. Ashley Williams’ started with an Instagram post.
Nearly a year ago, Williams - an award-winning Aesthetic Nurse Injector with more than 12 years of experience in aesthetic medicine - came across a post from SOKO Aesthetics & Wellness in Leawood about the practice’s core values.
At the time, she wasn’t looking to make a change. Still, something about what SOKO was building caught her attention.
She sent the team a message saying she wasn’t ready to make a move, but asked them to keep her in mind.
Their response was simple: Keep watching.
And she did.
Growing With Intention in Leawood
At the time, SOKO was primarily known as a boutique injection studio led by Founder and Lead Injector Sophia Garozzo Koury, RN-BSN. But the vision for the practice was already much larger: build a destination for advanced aesthetics, skin health and wellness serving patients throughout Leawood, Overland Park and the greater Kansas City area.
As SOKO grew, so did its team.
The practice expanded its skin health offerings with Lead Esthetician Tama Veltri and added individualized wellness services with Sarah Martin, NP.
Nurse Injector Payton Guile, RN, joined the practice and has quickly developed a growing patient following while training closely alongside Koury. Guile has also traveled across the country for advanced aesthetic trainings, reflecting SOKO’s emphasis on continuing education and investment in its providers.
At the same time, SOKO continued investing in its Leawood location, expanding its treatment space and adding advanced aesthetic technologies and services.
For Koury, developing the team has been as intentional as expanding the physical space. The goal is to create an environment where providers can collaborate, continue learning and elevate the level of care they provide together.
Williams was watching that evolution from the sidelines.
Then SOKO posted a video showcasing newly constructed treatment rooms-complete with windows.
Williams commented that she would love a treatment room with a window.
The SOKO team responded half-jokingly that one could be hers when they built more space.
It turned out not to be much of a joke.
When “Someday” Became the Right Time
Over the following months, Williams and Koury got to know one another professionally and personally. A coffee meeting led to more conversations about patient care, aesthetic medicine, advanced training and the kind of environment in which they each wanted to practice.
Eventually, Koury treated Williams herself with facial balancing.
For two experienced Kansas City injectors who had known of one another professionally for years, working together in the same treatment room offered a different perspective.
The philosophies aligned.
Williams was drawn to SOKO’s emphasis on advanced aesthetics, continued education and training, collaboration and the intimacy of a smaller team-along with the opportunity to help shape a growing practice.
By then, SOKO had already begun planning another expansion with two additional treatment rooms.
This time, everyone knew one of them belonged to Ashley.
More Than 12 Years in Aesthetic Medicine
Williams brings an extensive clinical and aesthetic background to SOKO.
After earning her Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2007, she began her nursing career in telemetry before joining the Ear, Nose, Throat, Head & Neck operating room team at The University of Kansas Medical Center.
She later transitioned into plastic surgery, where she provided pre- and post-operative care and developed a patient education program for women navigating breast reconstruction following mastectomy.
Williams entered medical aesthetics in 2013 and began providing cosmetic injectable treatments in 2015. Before joining SOKO, she spent more than eight years as a full-time Aesthetic Nurse Injector at a prominent Leawood plastic surgery practice.
Over the years, Williams has developed extensive experience with Botox®, Dysport®, dermal fillers, Sculptra® and facial balancing, earning a loyal following of patients throughout the Kansas City area.
Her work has also earned repeated recognition among Kansas City’s cosmetic injectors, including multiple honors from Kansas City Magazine.
But Williams’ approach is less about a particular product and more about understanding the person sitting in front of her.
A Natural Approach to Botox, Fillers and Facial Balancing
SOKO’s injectable philosophy centers on creating balanced, individualized treatment plans designed to enhance rather than change.
The practice offers three neuromodulator options - Botox®, Dysport® and Daxxify® - allowing treatment plans to be tailored to the individual patient. Neuromodulators are commonly used to soften the appearance of expression lines while maintaining a natural appearance and appropriate facial movement.
For patients considering dermal fillers in Leawood or the Kansas City area, SOKO’s injectors evaluate more than an isolated line or feature. Facial proportions, structure, volume, symmetry and the relationship between different areas of the face can all play a role in developing an individualized plan.
That philosophy extends to lip filler and facial balancing, where the goal is not simply adding volume, but considering how treatment can complement the patient’s existing features.
SOKO also offers Sculptra®, a biostimulatory injectable used to stimulate collagen production gradually over time. For appropriate patients, biostimulators can become part of a longer-term approach to facial rejuvenation and age-related changes.
SOKO’s current injectable offerings also include the Juvéderm®, Restylane® and RHA® Collections, giving its injectors a range of options when developing individualized treatment plans.
For Williams, the desired result is straightforward: patients should still look like themselves.
Her philosophy has long been that the best aesthetic treatments often leave others noticing that someone looks refreshed without being able to pinpoint exactly what changed.
Relationships That Go Beyond an Appointment
For Williams, one of the most rewarding parts of aesthetic medicine is the relationship that develops over time.
Many patients have trusted her with their care for years. She believes listening, education and realistic expectations are just as important as technical skill.
That relationship-focused philosophy fits naturally into SOKO’s model.
Rather than approaching every appointment as an isolated treatment, the team emphasizes consultation and individualized planning. A patient may initially come to SOKO looking for Botox in Leawood, lip filler, facial balancing or Sculptra, but the conversation begins with understanding that individual’s concerns and goals.
For some patients, the appropriate plan may involve injectables. For others, it may include skin health, laser or energy-based treatments, regenerative aesthetics or wellness-or a combination of services over time.
The goal is not to do more. It is to develop a thoughtful plan for the individual.
Beyond Injectables: Skin Health, Lasers and Wellness
SOKO’s evolution from injection studio to a broader aesthetics and wellness practice has been intentional.
Today, the Leawood practice offers advanced skin treatments and technologies including SkinPen® microneedling, RF microneedling, Clear + Brilliant® for tone & texture, Excel V™+ for vascular and skintag treatments, Laser Genesis, IPL photofacials for brownspots and laser hair removal.
Its regenerative aesthetic offerings include PRF and Plated Skin Science exosomes, while its skin health services range from customized high-end facials to VI Peel chemical peel treatments and medical-grade skincare.
SOKO has also expanded into individualized wellness and weight-management services under its medical team.
Bringing these services together allows the team to look beyond a single treatment and consider how injectables, skin quality, collagen support and wellness can complement one another when appropriate.
Developing Talent and Attracting Experience
Williams joins an injector team that includes Koury and Guile, representing two important parts of SOKO’s growth strategy.
Guile’s development within the practice reflects SOKO’s commitment to mentorship, hands-on education and advanced training. Since joining the team, she has trained closely with Koury while pursuing additional aesthetic education across the country and building a patient base of her own.
Williams brings another dimension: more than a decade of aesthetic experience, an established reputation and years of relationships with Kansas City patients.
Together, the growth of the injector team reflects SOKO’s goal of creating an environment where providers at different stages of their careers can learn from one another while maintaining a shared philosophy around patient care.
A Small Team With Big Plans
Williams arrives during another significant period of expansion for SOKO.
The practice is adding two more treatment rooms to its Leawood location and has room for continued growth. Looking ahead, SOKO anticipates adding additional injectors, skin health professionals and wellness providers as demand grows across Leawood, Overland Park and the greater Kansas City metro.
But as its footprint grows, the team intends to preserve something deliberately small: its culture.
Collaboration, advanced education, innovation, exceptional hospitality, safety and individualized patient care remain central to how SOKO plans to grow.
Those values are also what first caught Williams’ attention nearly a year ago.
Beyond the Treatment Room
Outside of SOKO, Williams loves spending time with her husband and daughter, along with the family’s dog and cat.
Much of her free time is spent on the sidelines cheering on her daughter at soccer games, and she enjoys getting to concerts whenever possible.
At home, patients may find her tastes a little more relatable than expected from an award-winning injector: she loves a good episode of Dateline and still counts Zoolander and Anchorman among her favorite comedies.
Those personal connections matter to Williams. After years of caring for many of the same patients, appointments often become opportunities to catch up on careers, families and milestones as much as they are about aesthetics.
A New Chapter at SOKO
What began with a social media message nearly a year ago ultimately became a natural next step for both Williams and SOKO.
For SOKO, her arrival adds another highly experienced injector as the Leawood practice enters its next stage of growth.
For Williams, it offers an opportunity to continue caring for patients throughout Kansas City while becoming part of a collaborative team building something new.
And there is one small detail that brings the story full circle.
Her treatment room has a window.
SOKO Aesthetics & Wellness
11237 Nall Ave., Suite 120 | Leawood, Kansas
Serving patients throughout Leawood, Overland Park, Kansas City and the surrounding metro.
Call: 913-232-e2224
Text: 913-430-7352
Book Online: www.SOKOmedspa.com
Ashley Williams, RN, BSN, begins seeing patients at SOKO on September 28.