AIA Legend: Margaret Ancira Changing the Face of Skin Care and Aesthetic Medicine Margaret Ancira is the epitome of the entrepreneurial spirit, even if her path to prosperity didn’t begin until age 40. She grew up in a military family of eight siblings that ultimately settled in Texas. She married young, had a daughter, and became a single mother by the time she was 22.…

Lydia Safarti- A Legend in Aesthetics “I’ve never believed in taking no for an answer, “Sarfati says, with a smile. “If people say no, I don’t get mad. I just think, “Well, they don’t understand, and it is my job to educate them.” Ask people who know her to describe Lydia Sarfati physically, and one image almost always comes to mind. Oh, they might mention…

Luella Bailey- A Legend in Aesthetics Luella Bailey has been an active cosmetologist since 1973. She became a member of the National Hairdressers and Cosmetologists Association in 1948, and since that time has served in many capacities. She served as an affiliate officer in her home town of Duluth, Minnesota, also on the state level she served as State Styles Director. In Florida she also…

Linda Seidel- A Legend in Aesthetics Healing through Concealing Linda Seidel brings new hope to those with special challenges. Linda Seidel scooped small amounts of corrective makeup onto the back of her band and blended it. “Watch exactly what I am doing because you are going to learn to do this yourself,” she told the tiny children seated in her chair at her Owings Mills…

Linda Palumbo- Passion Play Linda Palumbo’s life-long love affair with the aesthetics field makes her one of the industry’s most respected educators. Linda Palumbo refers to her career in aesthetics as an extraordinary journey. It is a journey that began 20 years ago in Bologna, Italy. As a student at the University of Bologna, Lina majored in pre-med and developed a keen interest in botany,…

Lia Schorr- A Legend’s Struggle to Success Lia Schorr may be best known as an international skin care expert, but she is most proud of all the other roles that make her the exceptional person she is today: the daughter of parents who survived the persecution of World War II; a solider in the Israeli Army; an entrepreneur; single parent; and a working mother. Born…

Letti Lynn- A Legend in Aesthetics Letti Lynn’s career began as a teenager in modeling. She attended the Nancy Taylor Modeling and Finishing School in New Orleans. During her modeling days, she also worked for the Glemby Company as a makeup artist. Bu 1957, at the age of seventeen, Letti Lynn was already a trained makeup artist. She also free lanced for the Revlon Company…

Leah Kovitz- A Legend in Aesthetics It is difficult to reconcile the two pictures of Leah Kovitz. The first image is of one of the world’s leading aestheticians: a graceful, cosmopolitan, multi-lingual beauty, elegantly attired to greet guests at one of her resort’s spa salons. The other is that of a soldier, dressed in drab fatigues and clunky boots, sitting under an ancient olive tree,…

Kay Acuazzo- A Legend in Aesthetics Europeans have long known the importance of proper skin care. In the beauty centers of France, Italy, England and Germany, research and product development have been going on for years. So has the training of ski-care professionals. Philadelphia’s skin and body-care pioneer, Kay Acuazzo, realized early in her career that America needed to embrace this same European philosophy. But,…

Judith Sans- A Legend in Aesthetics “Beauty is only skin deep”, goes the old saying. But, for Judith Sans, founder and president of Judith Sans International, that beauty starts from within. “Saving face” is her business, and it thrives on preparation made with ordinary frits and vegetables. Judith often jokes about her childhoods surrounded by a Hungarian mother and a host of vain aunts, “We’d…

Joel Gerson- A Legend in Aesthetics When Joel Gerson graduated from high school in Detroit, he had no idea what he wanted to do as a career. He drove a truck for about a year delivering building supplies to housing projects. Then, after serving two years in the army, he returned home still not knowing what it was he wanted to do. Then a friend…