Lifestyle

The Art Industry’s Next Big Street and Graffiti Artist Star, Dr. Nicholas Toscano On his Dual Career Path

Published

6 years ago

May 4, 2020

Dr. Nicholas Toscano, a former decorated US Naval Dental officer and current NYC celebrity dental surgeon is no stranger to the spotlight. Dr. Toscano is currently the official dentist for roughly 25 modeling agencies in NYC and LA which include Lions, Wilhelmina, One Model Management, Marilyn, Storm, Major models, Heroes, Fusion, and others. His patients include some of the most famous models in the world including Victoria’s Secret models, Candice Swanepoel, Helena Christensen, Jasmine Tookes, Romee Strijd, Josephine Skriver. High fashion models Andreja Pejic, Vittoria Ceretti, Bambi Northwood Blyth, Greta Varlese, and other stars like Real Housewives of NYC, Sonja Morgan and Countess Luann de Lesseps. What was shocking to learn that Dr. Nicholas Toscano is also the famous street graffiti artist known as 1Penemy.

Q: How does a famous dentist and surgeon like yourself become a street graffiti artists?

A: Well that’s an interesting question, in addition to the famous models I treat in my office, I also take care of over 100 artists in NYC, Miami, and LA which include such famous artists as Bradley Theodore, Jeremy Penn, Layer Cake, Tripp Derrick Barnes, BY Flore, Producer BDB, Jason Ackerman, Alan Jeffery and many others. Over the years these artist where very generous with me not only giving me their art but also inviting me out to their shows and many became my close friend. Through their influence I developed a natural passion for the arts and decided to give it a go.

Q: How did you come up with the name 1penemy?

A: Well Street art and graffiti art is not exactly legal, so I decided to come up with a name reflective of that, the name 1Penemy stands for Number 1 public enemy.

Q: Why Mugshots of famous models as the centerpiece of your street art?

A: There is a lot to this question. I consider street art also in the spirit of Andy Warhol Pop iconic art. His art also centered on figures he hung out with on daily basis or whom he associated with. Since the majority of my dental practice involves treating some of the worlds most famous models and model agencies it was natural to center my art on Models I grew up on or treated in my practice. In 2016, I came up with my first designs of my SOHO model Line up street art of supermodels of the 90’s I grew up on and loved which are Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, and Stephanie Seymour. The mugshot is meant to symbolize women’s struggles they have occurred throughout history. I began wheatpasting my art all over NYC and started my art instagram @1penemy profile.

Q: Why did you keep your art such a secret for so long considering your Surgical Instagram profile @drtoscanodds has 170,000 followers.

A: Well Art is balanced with science in my office with countless client-tailored artistic smile reconstructions, makeovers, and recreations. Art is a passion of mine that obviously makes sense from my surgical recreation of a patient’s smile to my street art, being artistic is in my blood. However I wanted to keep the graffiti street art part of my life a secret as I built my art brand 1Penemy which is still growing so I decided to keep my dental life separate from my street art until recently. I started my art in 2016 and from 2016 to 2020 people would take pictures next to my famous 1penemy SOHO model line street installations and they would tag my art instagram. As my art page grew so did the requests for people to buy my art.

Q: Have you sold you art?

Yes but mostly at charity auctions to benefits causes such as children’s hospitals and save arts programs in NYC. Currently any sale of my art a portion of his profit will be donated to organizations that assist in diminishing women’s struggles such as Model Alliance and the Me Too Movement. I currently have over 30 active commissions and 50 more requests.

Q: How has covid 19 and the stay at home order impacted your street art and art career?

A: It hasn’t. It actually has allowed me to step away from my busy dental practice and focus 100 percent on my art. I have enhanced my canvas work, which is mixed media and I love the use of acrylic paint. In 47 days of my lock down in New York City I have completed over 24 mixed media canvases for clients.

Lifestyle

Why Toba Ogunremi Believes High-Performing Teams Start with Belonging, Not Pressure

Published

7 hours ago

July 23, 2026

Michelle Langton

Most teams don’t fall apart all at once. It happens slowly, missed conversations, quiet disengagement, people doing what’s required but nothing more.

Toba Ogunremi has spent years working inside care environments where that kind of shift is easy to miss until it starts affecting everything. Leading operations at Samorem Care in the UK, he has seen how systems can appear stable on the surface while teams underneath struggle to stay connected to their work.

One experience early in his career changed how he looks at leadership entirely.

He had taken over a team that wasn’t in crisis, but it wasn’t working well either. The people receiving care were safe, but they weren’t thriving. The same was true for the staff. There was no urgency, no energy, just routine.

The usual solution would have been to tighten control by setting new targets, increasing supervision, and creating performance plans. He didn’t do any of that.

“I started with conversations,” he says. “Real ones. Not rushed, not formal.”

One by one, he spoke to each team member. What came out wasn’t frustration with the job itself, but something quieter and harder to spot.

“They weren’t disengaged because they didn’t care,” he explains. “They were disengaged because they felt unseen.”

No one had asked what they thought. No one had taken the time to understand how they were coping. Over time, that absence had turned into distance. That moment stayed with him. It shaped how he leads today.

His approach is simple, but not always easy to apply: people perform better when they feel they belong.

He believes high performance usually comes when people feel like they genuinely belong and know that what they do actually matters.

In healthcare, where pressure is constant and expectations are high, this idea can sound secondary. The focus is often on outcomes, compliance, and efficiency. Toba doesn’t dismiss those things, but he questions what happens when they become the only focus.

Even when all the processes are in place, if the people delivering the care feel disconnected, it eventually reflects in the quality of the work.

At Samorem Care, this thinking shows up in small but consistent ways. Recruitment is not just about experience. It’s about how someone responds to people, how they handle pressure, and how they communicate. Once they are in, the focus shifts to keeping teams stable and supported, rather than constantly rotating staff or reacting only when something goes wrong. He also pays attention to how leaders show up day to day.

According to him, leadership is not just about giving direction; it’s about being present enough to understand what your team actually needs.

That presence matters more in care than in most industries. The work is demanding, often emotional, and not always recognised for what it takes. When teams feel stretched or overlooked, it affects how they interact with the people they support.

For Toba, resilience is less about constant pressure and more about creating a work environment where people can do their jobs well without burning out. In his view, strong teams are not just coping; they are supported enough to stay clear-headed and consistent in their work.

His background outside healthcare still shapes how he leads. Having worked in sales and communications, he understands how important it is to read people and build trust. In healthcare, though, the impact is far more direct, as decisions affect someone’s everyday life, not just an outcome on paper.

That shift makes leadership more personal. Teams need more than instructions; they need stability, clarity, and a sense that they are understood. What defines Toba Ogunremi’s approach is its simplicity. He focuses on being consistent, listening carefully, and addressing issues early rather than reacting late.

In the end, his belief is straightforward: teams perform better not because they are pushed harder, but because they feel valued and part of something that works.