My journey began in NYC in the mid-90s where I was a young yoga teacher feeling the need to foster healing with my yoga clients on a deeper level….
I was researching several therapeutic career paths when my 16-year-old cousin Adam took a 60-foot fall off a cliff. He underwent extensive brain surgery and was in a coma for a month before emerging and re-learning how to walk and talk. Although Western medicine had clearly saved Adam’s life, his immune system crashed once he was released from the hospital. My uncle took him to see an acupuncturist in their small town in Idaho and just a few months of acupuncture, essential oils and Chinese herbs completely restored his immune system. When I spoke with Adam, he gushed about how much acupuncture had helped him recover. His experience inspired my decision to choose acupuncture as my career path.
After graduating from Tri-State College of Acupuncture in 2003, I moved to Denver with my boyfriend (now husband) and started my practice out of our tiny rented bungalow in the Highlands neighborhood. I found a mentor in “Doc” Ron Rosen, a genius acupuncturist who held one of the first acupuncture licenses in Colorado. And I connected into Denver’s community by volunteering at a hospice and serving on the board of the Acupuncture Association of Colorado.
As my practice grew and developed, I began to figure out which areas of expertise felt most satisfying to me. After Doc Rosen suddenly and tragically passed away in 2007, I found a second mentor in Mary Elizabeth Wakefield, an international leader in the field of aesthetic facial acupuncture. I assisted her seminars in a variety of locations around the US, taking a break to give birth to my daughter in 2010. In 2014, I graduated from Wakefield’s 1st International Gold Standard Facial Acupuncture Certification in Minnesota - at 194 hours it’s the most comprehensive facial acupuncture training in the world. Soon after graduation, I discovered the joy of teaching the foundations of Wakefield’s system to other acupuncturists!
In 2015, I was introduced to a skin rejuvenation practice called microneedling, a popular technique largely developed and practiced by western skin care specialists, and all I could think was, “wait, this looks like acupuncture!” I discovered that another pioneering facial rejuvenation acupuncturist, Amelia Vargas, was also practicing microneedling with a device. Through more than a year of experimentation, we created our own holistic microneedling protocol to support the health of our patient’s skin and body, mind and spirit. In February 2016, we gained the support of the Acupuncture Association of Colorado in determining that microneedling is within an acupuncturists scope of practice, and became Microneedling Co-Chairs on our State Association’s Board of Directors. And in 2018, we launched our company, EastWest Microneedling, LLC and taught our first 14 hour accredited Integrative Microneedling for Acupuncturists seminar to share the wonderful benefits of microneedling with other acupuncturists! We’ve been going gangbusters ever since, creating an online version of our course to share the holistic benefits of microneedling with skincare professionals all over the world.
Read Diana’s interview about her journey as a “trailblazing” acupuncturist on VoyageDenver.com!
Degrees, certifications, licenses and offices:
Master of Science in Acupuncture, Tri-State College of Acupuncture, New York City. Completed approximately 2,000 hours of training, 2003
Colorado state license in acupuncture, since 2003, License # CO 938
National certification in acupuncture, www.nccaom.org, since 2003
Vice President and Public Relations Representative for the Acupuncture Association of Colorado, www.acucol.com, the voice of Colorado's Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine profession, 2004-2007
Facial rejuvenation acupuncture certification with the late Ron Rosen, L.Ac., OMD, 2004.
Graduate of Mary Elizabeth Wakefield, L.Ac’s two year Gold Standard Facial Acupuncture Certification Program, 2014 http://www.facialacupuncture-wakefieldtechnique.com/
Completed Injection Therapy seminars, 2006, 2009 and 2017
Teacher of Wakefield’s Foundations of Facial Acupuncture seminar to other acupuncturists, since 2015
Co-Creator and Teacher with EastWest Microneedling LLC, since 2018