The facialist opens up about the power of a positive mindset while battling cancer.
This article is featured in a series showcasing how Equinox coaches, group fitness instructors, and members navigate different life stages and take control of their health as women. Read all the articles here.
It wasn’t until recently that 49-year-old Nachi Glick started to slow down.
The long-time facialist owns two skincare studios that require her to bounce back and forth between New York City and Miami. Between travels, she’s treating stars like Hassan Minhaj, Leslie Bibb, and Kate Upton. Even after a hip replacement in her early 40s, Glick continued to work out two to three hours a day at Equinox. (Her black belt karate practice, however, has been put on hold since the surgery.)
This lifestyle could overwhelm some. But Glick doesn't fold under pressure. “Mentally, I'm super strong, so I never got knocked down,” she says. “What is anxiety? What is that? I have no idea. My clients talk about [it], but it's hard to relate.”
The hustle came to a standstill when she was diagnosed with cancer in late September 2024. The stage IV diffuse large B-cell lymphoma caused swelling in her face to the point that Glick says you couldn’t recognize her. Without treatment, Glick says she would have had just three months to live. She paused her Equinox membership as she received chemotherapy.
“I lost my hair completely, but I was always positive,” she remembers. “...The doctor said, ‘Hey, Nachi, you have cancer.’ ‘All right, what's next?’ That was my response. How do I do this? You know, how can I survive? I was always positive through this, and I have two young kids. I cannot die.”
Glick had her final chemotherapy treatment the following March. She’s been in remission ever since. “One-hundred percent, it’s really mental,” she adds. “I would say you have to be mentally stronger in order to raise a family, to have a business, or to keep your health stronger.”
Now approaching her 50s, Glick is welcoming the new decade with open arms. “I’m not afraid to be old,” she adds. She’s reprioritizing herself and her family: running and taking weight classes, embracing the challenges of being a parent to two daughters (a 9- and a 12-year-old), and closing her New York office, which she’s run for 18 years, in August.
She’s also doubling down on her carefree attitude. “I'm always grateful every day in this moment, and also I don't give a fuck to anything anymore,” Glick says. “I was almost dying. People talk about me behind my back or whatever. It's like, ‘I don't care.’”