Dr. Mira Albert on Women in Leadership, Building a Business, and the Courage to Begin

What does it take to build a successful business while raising a family, navigating uncertainty, and creating opportunities for other women along the way? For Dr. Mira Albert, the journey began with an idea, a leap of faith, and a baby on the way.

At 37 weeks pregnant with her second son, Dr. Albert began imagining a different kind of pediatric dental practice. She wanted to create a place where children felt comfortable, families felt supported, and exceptional dental care was delivered in an environment filled with warmth, creativity, and compassion. Rather than accept an established partnership opportunity, she decided to pursue her own vision.

In 2011, she founded Brush Pediatric Dentistry, taking on the challenges of entrepreneurship while raising two young children and continuing to work as a dentist. She had the clinical expertise, but like so many first-time business owners, she had to learn everything else along the way, from financing and construction to hiring, marketing, and leadership.

Fifteen years later, that original vision has grown into two locations in Hinsdale and Downers Grove, Illinois, with a team of 30 women and thousands of young patients and families whose lives have been touched by the practice.

But what makes Dr. Albert's story especially compelling isn't simply the growth of her business. It's the way she defines success.

For her, success isn't measured only by revenue, expansion, or professional recognition. It's reflected in the frightened child who becomes confident in the dental chair, the employee who discovers her potential, the young woman who pursues a career in dentistry, and the relationships that continue to grow over time.

Her journey has also included extraordinary challenges. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Albert was raising her sons, pursuing an executive MBA at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, facing the uncertainty of running a healthcare business, and navigating her father's serious illness. Through it all, she made difficult decisions rooted in her commitment to protecting and supporting the women who worked alongside her.

At Best Ever You, we believe that leadership is about more than what we accomplish. It's also about how we treat people, the opportunities we create, the values we uphold, and the difference we make in the lives of others.

In this inspiring interview, Dr. Albert shares the lessons she's learned about entrepreneurship, resilience, motherhood, mentorship, and building a business with purpose. She also reminds us that courage doesn't mean having all the answers or waiting until circumstances are perfect. Sometimes it simply means believing in your vision enough to begin.

We're delighted to welcome Dr. Mira Albert to Best Ever You for a conversation about women supporting women, redefining success, and creating something meaningful that extends far beyond ourselves.

You opened your first pediatric dental practice in 2011 while pregnant with your second child. Can you take us back to that time? What inspired you to become a business owner, and what were some of the biggest challenges you faced while building a practice and raising a young family?

The idea for Brush Pediatric Dentistry was actually born when I was about 37 weeks pregnant with my second son. Looking back, the timing seems a little crazy. I was working in an established suburban dental practice and had been offered a partnership. It was a wonderful opportunity, but something didn’t feel quite right. I wanted to practice in the community where I was raising my family, and I had a vision for a completely different kind of pediatric dental experience.

I imagined a whimsical, boutique practice that combined exceptional clinical care with an environment designed entirely around children. I wanted to change the perception of dentistry for a generation of kids, helping them develop confidence and healthy habits that would last a lifetime. So instead of accepting the partnership, I decided to build something of my own.

I spent much of my second son’s first year developing while continuing to work two jobs. I was raising a toddler and a newborn, working as a dentist, and suddenly learning everything involved in starting a business from scratch.

I had no patients, no established team, and certainly no blueprint. Even though I had plenty of clinical experience, I had virtually no formal business education. I had to figure out financing, construction, hiring, marketing, technology, and a thousand other things I had never considered. I also thought owning a practice close to home would make balancing motherhood and work easier. That was probably one of my first lessons in entrepreneurship! But I believed so strongly in what I wanted to create that I kept moving forward.

Fifteen years later, I’m incredibly grateful I trusted that instinct. What started as an idea during the final weeks of pregnancy has grown into something I never could have imagined.

When you first opened Brush Pediatric Dentistry, what did success look like to you? Fifteen years later, with two locations and a team of 30 women, how has your personal definition of success evolved?

In 2011, success meant keeping the doors open and patients on the schedule at BRUSH. I wanted families to trust us, and I wanted to make payroll. That was about it. Now, success shows up in the form of people. We've seen patients from their wiggly first visits at age one all the way to college.

Today, BRUSH has two locations, a team of 30 women, and a reach that extends far beyond our office walls. We’ve cared for thousands of children, many of whom started with us as babies and are now heading off to college. Through education, advocacy, and social media, we’ve also reached millions of people outside our immediate community.

I’m incredibly proud of that growth, but my definition of success has changed. I used to think success was about building something. Now I think it’s about building something that matters, something that has a positive impact on the people who are part of it.

Success is seeing a once-terrified child walk into our office with confidence. It’s watching a young woman who started at BRUSH as a teenager pursue becoming a pediatric dentist. It’s seeing employees grow into leaders, build families, pursue their education, and accomplish things they might not have imagined for themselves. It’s also having patients who have been with us since our very first day, and team members who have been alongside me for more than a decade.The business milestones are wonderful, but the relationships and the impact are what give those milestones meaning.

One of the most compelling aspects of your story is your commitment to creating opportunities for other women. Why was building a supportive, collaborative team so important to you, and how has that philosophy influenced the culture of your business?

Because I couldn't have done any of this alone, and I knew it from day one. I’ve always believed that the people you surround yourself with ultimately determine what you’re capable of building. One of my philosophies is that I hire people for their character, not necessarily their credentials. I can teach someone skills, invest in certifications, and provide opportunities to learn. But I can’t teach someone to be a genuinely good person. I look for kindness, integrity, work ethic, curiosity, and people who genuinely care about others.

One of the hires I’m proudest of was a young single mother who was participating in a transitional housing program through Bridge Communities when she joined us. I saw something in her that had nothing to do with her circumstances or the experience on her résumé. Today, she’s celebrating 11 years at BRUSH, raising her daughter, and building a life and career. And just recently, I hired her younger sister. To me, that’s what creating opportunities looks like.

My very first employee is also still with me 15 years later, although there’s a twist to that story! She was my office manager and had been instrumental in helping me build Brush Pediatric Dentistry from the beginning. In July 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, she moved to South Carolina. I was devastated. I couldn’t imagine running the practice without her. Rather than accept that geography had to end our working relationship, I started thinking about how we could make it work. We completely reimagined her role, figured out how to transition her responsibilities remotely, and made it happen. Six years later, she’s still an important part of BRUSH.

That experience reinforced something I’ve come to believe strongly: when you find exceptional people, you figure out how to keep them. I think our employee longevity speaks to that philosophy. Several women have been with BRUSH for more than a decade, and others are approaching their 15-year anniversaries. I’ve found that if we make it through the first two years together, there’s a pretty good chance we’re in it for the long haul! Of course, we’re not perfect. We have disagreements, growing pains, and difficult days, just like any workplace. However, we share a common purpose, and I think our longevity says something about the culture we’ve created.

I’ve never wanted BRUSH to be a place where women simply come to work. I want it to be a place where they feel valued, develop confidence, build meaningful careers, and have opportunities they might not otherwise have had. I believe that when you invest in good people, they invest right back in you.

Two women you mentored went on to become pediatric dentists and eventually returned to work alongside you. What did that experience mean to you, and what do you believe makes mentorship truly meaningful and effective?

This is probably one of the most meaningful parts of my career.

When you meet a young woman who is curious about dentistry, you have no idea where that relationship might lead. To watch someone progress through college, dental school, and pediatric dental residency, and then return to practice alongside you, is incredibly special.

Dr. Maggie Rizzo is a wonderful example. She first became part of the BRUSH story in 2012, pursued her education and specialty training, and eventually returned as a pediatric dentist. Today, she’s my partner at our Downers Grove location. It’s been incredibly rewarding to watch her grow, not only as a clinician, but as a mother, leader, and business owner.

I think effective mentorship requires more than giving advice. It means investing your time, sharing what you’ve learned, creating opportunities, and sometimes allowing someone to learn through their own experiences. It also means being willing to share your mistakes.

I don’t want young women to look at my career and think everything came easily or that I somehow had all the answers. I want them to understand that I’ve made plenty of mistakes, changed my mind, taken risks, and had to figure things out along the way.

Also, mentorship shouldn’t be a one-way relationship. I learn from the women around me constantly. They challenge my thinking, introduce new ideas, and make me a better clinician and leader. There’s something especially rewarding about watching someone you once mentored become a colleague whose judgment and expertise you deeply respect.

Many women entrepreneurs feel pressure to succeed professionally while also meeting expectations at home. What have you learned about managing competing priorities, setting boundaries, asking for help, and letting go of the idea that you have to do everything yourself?

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about successful women is that we’ve somehow figured out how to balance everything perfectly. I certainly haven’t.

The hardest period of my life was during the COVID pandemic. I was running BRUSH, raising my two boys, and pursuing my MBA at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. At the same time, my father was terminally ill and was hospitalized with COVID early in the pandemic. There was an enormous amount of uncertainty, both personally and professionally.

When everything began shutting down in early 2020, I didn’t know how long our practice would be closed or what financial assistance, if any, would become available. However, I knew one thing: I wasn’t going to allow the women who worked for me to worry about whether they could pay their rent or buy groceries if there was anything I could do about it.

Before government relief programs were available, I refinanced my home and worked to free up as much cash as possible to protect my team. I didn’t know how everything would turn out. I just knew what I believed was the right thing to do.

That period tested me in ways I never could have anticipated. I was navigating the fear and uncertainty of a global pandemic, the emotional toll of my father’s illness, the responsibility of supporting my employees, and the demands of graduate school and motherhood.

My father ultimately passed away in 2022, just a few months before I earned my MBA. I look back on that time with a mixture of sadness, exhaustion, and pride. But something remarkable happened through all of it. I believe that’s when I truly earned the trust of my team.

They saw that the values I talked about weren’t just words. When things became difficult, I was willing to make personal sacrifices to take care of them. And they took care of me, too. That experience changed the way I think about leadership and balance.

I’ve learned that you can’t always give everything equal attention. Sometimes your family needs more of you. Sometimes your business does. And sometimes life throws so much at you that simply getting through the day is an accomplishment. You have to surround yourself with people you trust, allow them to help you, and accept that you cannot control everything.

I also learned that strength doesn’t mean being unaffected by difficult circumstances. Sometimes it simply means continuing to show up, making the best decisions you can with the information you have, and staying true to your values.

Growing a business over 15 years inevitably involves setbacks, difficult decisions, and unexpected challenges. Can you share a time when something didn't go according to plan? How did you respond, and what did that experience teach you about resilience and leadership?

Something doesn’t go according to plan almost every day!

One of our unofficial mottos at BRUSH is to “roll with the punches.” When you work in a service business, particularly one that cares for children, you learn very quickly that flexibility is essential. Children are unpredictable. Schedules change. Employees have emergencies. Equipment breaks. Patients have unexpected needs. You can have the most carefully planned day in the world, and within 10 minutes, you’re doing something completely different.I think that mentality has served me well as an entrepreneur.

Over 15 years, I’ve faced challenges involving everything from staffing and operations to finances, real estate, and the constantly changing business environment. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is the importance of understanding your options and knowing when to walk away.

Earning my MBA was transformational in that regard. It gave me the tools to evaluate opportunities more strategically, understand the financial implications of decisions, and negotiate from a position of knowledge rather than emotion.

I’ve had numerous opportunities to sell Brush Pediatric Dentistry to outside investors, including private equity groups. While some of those offers might have been financially attractive, I’ve never believed they were the right fit for what we’ve built.

Maintaining our independence allows us to make decisions based on what’s best for our patients, our team, and the long-term health of the practice. That philosophy continues to guide me as I navigate new business challenges, including real estate decisions and evaluating whether owning our own space might provide greater long-term stability and independence.

Sometimes resilience means pushing forward. Other times, it means recognizing that the circumstances have changed and being willing to find a different path. I’m not afraid to change course, but I am very protective of the values that made BRUSH successful in the first place. I’ve learned that you can’t control every challenge that comes your way, but you can control how you respond. And occasionally, the best decision is knowing when to walk away.

You expanded Brush Pediatric Dentistry to a second location in 2024. How did you recognize that it was the right time to grow, and what advice would you offer entrepreneurs who are trying to determine whether to expand their businesses or strengthen what they've already built?

For me, it came down to the right person more than the right market. I didn't want to open a second office and hope the BRUSH feeling carried over. I needed someone who already lived it. Dr. Rizzo had been with me since she was my assistant. She knew how we talk to kids, how we treat parents, and how high we set the bar at Brush Pediatric Dentistry - and that’s a real brand we have built. When she was ready to lead, I knew it was time. She's now my partner in the Downers Grove location, and I'm thrilled to be growing with her.

The other sign was that the Hinsdale location was strong. Our systems were working, our team was stable, and families were coming to us from Downers Grove and beyond anyway. We weren't expanding to fix something. We were expanding because what we had was ready to travel.

My advice is to strengthen first. Growth makes cracks bigger, it doesn't fill them. Before you expand, ask yourself three honest questions. Is your first location running well without you in every room? Do you have a leader you trust completely for the new one? Can you protect the quality that got you here? If any answer is no, put your energy into what you've already built. Strengthening is still growth. It just doesn't come with a ribbon cutting.

Leadership is often measured through business growth, revenue, and accomplishments, but the impact we have on people can be just as important. What do you hope the women who work with you learn from your example, and what kind of leader do you strive to be every day?

If I inspire anyone, I think it's because of grit. I don't give up easily, and I'm always trying to create something new or make something better.

I hope the women I work with see that you can hold high standards and still be kind. At BRUSH, the bar is high. Every one of our dentists is a board-certified pediatric specialist, and we don't cut corners on care or materials. But high standards don't have to come with fear. People do their best work when they feel trusted.

I also hope they see that you never stop learning. I went back to school for my MBA in the middle of a pandemic, with a practice and two kids. I serve as an examiner for the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry and as a national spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. I still learn something new almost every week, and a lot of it comes from my own team.

The leader I try to be is the one who shows up. On the sidelines at my kids' games, in the operatory on a tough case, making hard decisions behind the scenes that my team can count on, and being there for them when the going gets tough.

As a pediatric dentist, you've also built your professional reputation around creating a welcoming, judgment-free environment for children and families. How have compassion, trust, and communication shaped your approach to both patient care and business leadership?

I think there’s a very strong connection between the way we care for our patients and the way we lead our teams.

When I founded BRUSH, I wanted to change the way children experienced dentistry. I believed that if we could create positive experiences early in life, we could change not only how children felt about going to the dentist, but also how they approached their oral health for years to come.

Our mission has always been to help children become confident and empowered in managing their own oral health. A huge part of that is understanding that every child is different. Some children walk into our office excited and ready for anything. Others are anxious, overwhelmed, or have had difficult experiences in the past. Our job is to meet them where they are, communicate in a way they understand, and celebrate their progress, even when it comes in very small steps.

We also recognize that parents are doing their best. No one needs to feel judged because their child has a cavity, struggles with brushing, or has difficulty cooperating during an appointment.

That same philosophy applies to leadership. People want to feel heard, respected, and understood. They want clear expectations, honest communication, and the confidence that someone has their best interests at heart.

Compassion doesn’t mean avoiding difficult conversations or lowering your standards. In fact, I think it often means the opposite. Sometimes caring about someone means having an uncomfortable conversation, providing constructive feedback, or helping them recognize where they can improve.

Whether I’m speaking with a parent, a frightened child, or a member of my team, I try to remember that the way we communicate can be just as important as the message itself.

Trust is built through those interactions, one experience at a time.

When you reflect on everything you've built over the past 15 years, what are you most proud of beyond the business itself? And what would you say to a woman who has a dream of starting something of her own but is waiting until she feels completely ready?

I'm most proud of the people that have come into my life because of this business I started. The patients who grew up with us and now come in taller than me! The young women who started as assistants and are now doctors and/or partners with me. The colleagues who became lifelong friends. And my own two boys, who grew up watching their parents work hard and still showed up for them.

I'm also proud that access to care has stayed part of who I am. My first job out of residency was starting a clinic for kids on the South Side of Chicago who didn't have easy access to a dentist. Today I serve as a trustee of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Foundation, which works on that same problem nationally. That thread has run through my whole career, and I hope it always will.

To the woman who's waiting until she feels ready: you probably won’t ever feel “ready.” I didn't. I opened Brush Pediatric Dentistry pregnant, with a little one at home, after turning down a safe offer. I was scared. Being fearless doesn't mean having no fear. It means being strong enough to face it anyway. So start before you feel ready. Find the people who believe in you and lean on them. Learn what you don't know, even if it means going back to school, and don’t wait for perfect conditions. In my experience, they never come. You get ready by just doing it.

Building Something That Matters: The Power of Purpose, People, and Possibility

One of the most meaningful lessons from Dr. Mira Albert's journey is that building a successful business and building a meaningful life do not have to be separate pursuits.

Throughout her career, she has demonstrated that professional excellence and genuine compassion can exist together. That a leader can hold people to high standards while creating an environment where they feel respected, encouraged, and supported. And that the greatest measure of success may not be what we build for ourselves, but what becomes possible for others because of what we've created.

There is something especially powerful about the women who began their careers at Brush Pediatric Dentistry and went on to become dentists, leaders, and business partners themselves. Their stories reflect the lasting impact of mentorship and the importance of recognizing potential in people who may not yet recognize it in themselves.

Dr. Albert's experiences also remind us that leadership is often tested most profoundly when circumstances are difficult. During the pandemic, when her business and family were facing enormous uncertainty, she made decisions guided by her values and her responsibility to the people who depended on her. Those moments may never appear on a traditional list of business accomplishments, but they reveal something essential about the kind of leader she has chosen to become.

And perhaps that's an important reminder for all of us.

We don't need to have everything figured out before pursuing a dream. We don't need perfect timing, unlimited resources, or complete confidence. We need the willingness to learn, the courage to make decisions, and people who believe in what we're trying to create.

At Best Ever You, we often talk about the importance of defining success for ourselves. Dr. Albert's story offers a beautiful example of what that can look like in practice. Her success includes the business she built, but it also includes the people she has mentored, the families she has served, and the opportunities she continues to create.

Thank you, Dr. Albert, for sharing your experiences, your perspective, and your commitment to lifting others as you lead. Your journey is a wonderful reminder that our accomplishments become even more meaningful when they help others grow.

And to anyone waiting for the perfect moment to begin something new, perhaps the most important takeaway from this conversation is that confidence and readiness are often developed along the way.

Sometimes you have to begin before you feel ready.

Dr. Mira Albert, DDS, MS, MBA, is a board-certified pediatric dentist and the founder of Brush Pediatric Dentistry, with offices in Hinsdale and Downers Grove, Illinois. She earned her BA in psychology and DDS from the University of Michigan, completed a two-year hospital residency in pediatric dentistry, earned an MS in oral sciences from the University of Illinois Chicago, and holds an executive MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Dr. Albert is a Fellow and National Spokesperson of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, a Trustee of the AAPD Foundation, and an Examiner for the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry. She is on staff at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and has started four pediatric practices and clinics, beginning with a clinic serving children on Chicago's South Side. She lives in Hinsdale with her husband, Dr. Sherif Albert, and their two sons.

Visit: brushforkids.com