It was amid the COVID-19 pandemic that Kaley Brandt decided she wanted to go out on her own and practice aesthetic medicine. Now, after years of additional education and planning, Brandt’s medical and wellness spa is open — and she’s preparing to move into a much bigger space in 2025. “It’s been a long time coming,” she said.

Vault Skin + Wellness is already up and running out of a suite in the Blacksmith Plaza on South Bent Street, offering services that range from tox injections to nutritional IV therapy to microneedling.

However, the spa’s ultimate home is the former Big Horn Federal Savings Bank building at the corner of First and Bent streets. An extensive remodel is well underway, with Brandt hoping to move into the space by the end of next summer.

She and her husband Ryan bought the building in late summer 2023 and her initial plan was to have Vault in the building by the end of this year. However, delays forced a shift. For example, the City of Powell determined that the spiral staircase that led to the second floor wasn’t up to code. So now, Jim’s Building Service is adding a new, traditional staircase at the back of the building, where the bank’s drive-thru once stood.

While that hiccup slowed things down, Brandt said it turned out to be “a blessing in disguise.” Temporarily setting up shop at the Blacksmith Plaza suite has allowed her to more gradually learn the ropes of running her own practice, continue her education and spend more time with her early customers.

“It’s all worked for the best,” she said.

Brandt, who’s originally from Wright, is closing in on a decade of nursing experience. She worked at a Billings hospital and, after marrying Ryan and moving to Powell, did some per diem relief work at Powell Valley Hospital, too.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, she reevaluated her long-term plans. Although she enjoyed so-called floor medicine, Brandt gained some exposure to aesthetic medicine during her time in Billings and found it resonated with her.

“I was like, ‘OK, I think that’s something I could really get on board with and really love,’” she said.

Part of the appeal for Brandt was personal, as she entered her late 20s.

“Once that aging process starts in yourself, and you start to see changes, you’re like, ‘OK, what can I start to do?’” she said.

But beyond her own interest, Brandt has a passion for educating and helping others.

“I love helping people feel more confident in their own skin,” she said.

Brandt decided to go back to school to become a family nurse practitioner. It was a multi-year process — she and Ryan also welcomed two children during that time — that resulted in Brandt being certified as an FNP in March. Her credentials qualify her to serve as the medical director of her own clinic, but her education didn’t stop there. She’s hired an experienced director from Missoula, Montana, to serve as a mentor and trainer over her first year.

“I think a lot of people just think you go to a weekend class and you get certified … and then you just come home and you start doing it,” Brandt said, but when you’re aiming to provide the best and safest care, “there’s a lot more that goes into it.”

While aesthetic procedures are elective, “it still is medicine,” Brandt said.

Vault offers a menu of services that include injections of B-12 and D3 vitamins and skin-rejuvenating chemical peels. She’s slowly adding services as she receives more training, with biostimulators being the most recent addition; they effectively fertilize the skin, Brandt said, telling the body to increase its production of collagen and combat the aging process.

Brandt also will add staff as she makes the move.

Her current, temporary quarters fit one treatment room, but the former Big Horn Federal building will have three. Crews with Jim’s Building Service have cleared out the interior, including recently removing the heavy door from the bank’s old vault. (Although it turned out to be apropos, Brandt actually picked the name Vault Skin + Wellness well before buying the building.)

The exterior of the downtown property is also getting a complete makeover. By the time the work is finished — hopefully sometime between May and August — Brandt said it will be a warm and inviting space.

“I think the community’s going to be really excited with how it turns out,” she said. And while it’s been something of a long journey, “I think it will be worth the wait,” Brandt said.