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Three’s Company

For South Bay friends and business partners Molly Fulbright, Mike Fulbright and Keith Marcus, good things come in threes.

 

Glowing new mom Molly Fulbright plays tour guide of her gorgeous spa and cosmetic surgery and dentistry center, Aesthetic Edge. On the bottom floor, she introduces Keith Marcus, the cosmetic surgeon and her ex-boyfriend from college. On the top floor, she introduces Michael Fulbright, the cosmetic dentist and her husband. Unusual? Perhaps. Not only are the three good friends of more than 10 years, they’re now business partners.

Some backstory. Molly dated Keith in college for nearly two years and stayed close friends with him, eventually introducing him to her future husband, Michael. “Before the concept of going into business together even crossed our minds, we had fun. We loved hanging out; he was such a good friend. I mean, Mike and I would even go visit him in Michigan and Albuquerque,” Molly says, emphasizing the significance of leaving beautiful California for these destinations. “It does take a strong friendship to get someone to Michigan,” Keith laughs in return.

Over lunch, it’s clear that these three have enviably fun—and sometimes downright Hangover-worthy—times together. Keith talks of pumpkin carving contests, 4 a.m. World Cup parties and spending an evening at Mike Tyson’s former house (two jaguars included). With the business and kids in the picture, these memories have perhaps tamed a bit, but the friends still have the same larger-than-life personalities.  

The three business partners really took a leap when they started their own company; luckily, they have a sense of humor that helped get them through it. “First, we were starting a family when we opened the spa,” Molly remembers, thinking back to that time of stress with awe and a chuckle. “Then I walked away from my great job with its benefits and salary. All in the time of a recession!” 

“And we’d just bought a house,” Michael adds. Although they had a lot of faith in their project, the trio knew they had a lot on the line. “We talked about exit strategy a lot. Like every week. That’s not normal,” Molly laughs. 

Three years into running Aesthetic Edge, they can all breathe more easily. Their dream business and their long friendship survived unscathed. Whatever the future holds for this happy trio, those moments will be filled with fun.