Maitri Aesthetics’ Heidi Eastcott wins Mackay’s Best Cosmetic Injector

Growing up as an ‘army brat’ with a crew cut to working as a single-post nurse in remote islands, Mackay’s best cosmetic injector shares why it’s her career that has stolen her heart.

When Mackay’s Best Cosmetic Injector Heidi Eastcott first came to Mackay, she was a single mother of two children with $1600 to her name.

Ms Eastcott had just finished her second bachelor’s degree in Complementary Medicine while she worked as a cosmetic injector for a clinic in Cairns.

Cosmetic Injector Heidi Eastcott doing what she loves best.

She made the move to Mackay for a fresh start, but without the finances to back herself, said she had no intention of opening her own clinic.

But after doing some work on a friend, she was encouraged to consider it — and like magic a perfect studio with “lots of foot traffic” opened up in the rental market, with the agent offering her two months free.

“I put a sign out the front and prayed,” Ms Eastcott said.

“I had a couple of people pop their heads in that first week — and they’ve never left.”

Now four years later, Ms Eastcott said her clinic Maitri Aesthetics is booked out months in advance, and she is absolutely living her dream.

Mackay's Best Cosmetic Injector Heidi Eastcott with global leaders in the industry Dr Liew and Dr Swift.

“I love what I do, I’m totally passionate about it,” Ms Eastcott said.

She said more than anything, she loved being able to work with survivors of domestic violence, strokes and those living with cerebral palsy.

“Giving them back their smile, it’s incredible.”

Ms Eastcott said the moment her patients looked in the mirror after a procedure was emotional for both them and her.

“They cry, I cry,” she said.

“I have the best job in the world.”

Heidi Eastcott had her own boxing gym on Thursday Island 'a lifetime ago' and while she doesn't compete anymore she still supports her friends such as Tyson Natanielu on the ringside.

But work as a cosmetic injector wasn’t always a dream for Ms Eastcott, who had spent much of her teenage years training to be a boxer.

“I grew up as an army brat, with a single dad raising four girls,” she said.

“Beauty and aesthetics were never really on my radar until my late 20s.

“I used to have a crew cut, now I wear extensions.”

Heidi Eastcott won several Australia Day awards for her work in the Torres Straight before moving to Mackay and taking out the Best Cosmetic Injector 2021.

And before her days as a semi-professional boxer and being Mackay’s Best Cosmetic Injector, Ms Eastcott spent 19 years working remotely in the Torres Strait.

During her time there, Ms Eastcott ran her own boxing gym on Thursday Island, a feat that awarded her several Australia Day awards for her commitment to what she described as her “beautiful, supportive community”.

Heidi Eastcott won several Australia Day awards for her work in the Torres Straight before moving to Mackay and taking out the Best Cosmetic Injector 2021.

She later worked as a single-post nurse on some of the Torres Strait’s most remote islands when she took a holiday to Cairns and fell in love with injecting, and the good it could do for people.

Reflecting on her myriad careers, Ms Eastcott said it all felt like “a lifetime ago”.

“It really shows you that you can reinvent yourself as many times in your life as you want.”