After receiving her diploma from Unity Reed High School, where she had excelled as a cheerleader, Janis Isabel Carreras spent a year studying at the John Casablancas Modeling & Career Center, from which she graduated in 2005. Realizing that, while she loved modeling and acting, her place was in health care, helping people, she began her career in dermatology as a front desk associate at the age of 19. After some time in the field, she decided that she wanted to do more hands-on work with patients and joined Northern Virginia Community College in 2008 to complete coursework in nursing. Since then, she has been certified as a medical and surgical assistant by the Metropolitan Institute of Health & Technology and as an electrocardiogram technician. She has also received training and certification in Mohs micrographic surgery and phlebotomy. As her career has progressed, Ms. Carreras has furthered her education with continued coursework at Northern Virginia Community College.
Assisting with surgeries for skin cancer, among other conditions, at a plastic surgery and dermatology clinic, Ms. Carreras witnessed firsthand how many people, especially men, neglect proper sunscreen use, particularly around the scalp, ear and neck areas, simply because they don’t want to wear sunscreen every day. She became determined to do something to help people avoid having to go through the painful procedures required for the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancers and, around 2016, settled on an idea for a new kind of skin protectant that could be an alternative to traditional sunscreen. In 2019, after years of research, she presented her findings and applied for a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. After some back and forth and having to settle on a new name, Ms. Carreras was granted a utility patent for her skin protectant, now called Oluzion, in December 2021.
Oluzion, as a skin protectant, is designed to help protect the skin while not leaving the greasy, uncomfortable residues of many traditional sunscreens. Ultimately, her goal is to have it available in a variety of forms, so that it can be used as a convenient, effective and affordable substitute for sunscreen. She is incredibly proud of the work that has gone into creating Oluzion, from its inception as an idea to achieving the patent for it. Looking toward the future, she plans to start her own business revolving around her product. Having accomplished much over the course of her career, Ms. Carreras considers the most gratifying aspect of her work to be the skills that she has developed over the years that have helped her understand patient needs and come up with a solution for everyday problems regarding skin protection.
Alongside her primary work in health care, Ms. Carreras has held a secondary career as a brand ambassador and design consultant for Hammerfist Athletics since 2009. Drawn to the apparel company out of her love for mixed martial arts, she has done a number of local promotional events over the past 12 years and was notably featured in a calendar put out by Hammerfist in 2009. Today, Hammerfist sponsors fighters from a range of different organizations, including the Strike Off Fighting Championships, Onslaught Fights, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Bellator MMA. Her love of athletics can be traced back her excellence as a cheerleader during her high school days, when she won first place in her district cheerleading championship as a freshman in 2000 and received several All-American nominee awards from the National Cheerleaders Association for her achievements. After tearing her ACL brought an end to her own cheering, Ms. Carreras continued to involve herself in cheerleading as a youth instructor at the Freedom Aquatic and Fitness Center for two more years.
Ms. Carreras attributes much of her success to her loving parents: her mother, Janice Lang; her father, Leo Carreras; and her step-father, the late James Lang. Her father, in particular, was her personal hero as a veteran of the Vietnam War. For her excellence, she has been the recipient of a number of honors and accolades over the course of her careers. An esteemed Marquis Who’s Who listee, Ms. Carreras has been featured in the Marquis Who’s Who Millennium Magazine and named to Who’s Who of Professional Women.
