Lina Kennedy never set out to become an author.
As the founder and president of Alexandria Professional®, the global leader and authority in body sugaring hair removal systems and natural skincare, she’s spent the last three decades immersed in the beauty business.
But here she is today, having penned an honest, heartfelt memoir, The Sugar Queen, that no less than Kirkus Reviews described as “dramatically absorbing and wise” and “an arresting remembrance, as brave as the life it describes.”
Critical accolades aside, Lina still doesn’t fancy herself as an author. “I’m a storyteller. I wrote the book, in part, to describe and portray my life with enough deep truth and emotion so that it would resonate with authenticity.”
Indeed, humans are storytellers by nature, and Lina is no different. However, good storytelling is a skill and one not easily mastered. It takes effort to find the universal truths of human experience and translate them into cohesive and compelling drama.
“From the beginning, I wanted to translate my experiences into cohesive snapshots. I did this to capture them as real memories and to discover any deeper meaning they might offer, both for myself and my readers. It wasn’t always easy, but I’m pleased with the result.”
Lina brings a similar passion and enthusiasm to her work and prides herself on providing safe and effective hair removal solutions and all-natural skincare products, redefining beauty industry standards.
Lina’s global success comes despite her resistance to what she describes as the “beauty industry’s way of doing business.”
She explains,
“The beauty industry was built on the back of people’s vulnerabilities and still plays on their insecurities. I never enjoyed going to salons, and for many years, my guy friends would come over and do my hair. I don’t buy into the industry hype and have no interest in being part of a world that continually puts women’s beauty standards under the microscope. The breaking point came after years of owning salons, developing a beauty brand, and then allowing someone to bully me into changing my appearance for a promotional opportunity. After that day, I said, ‘Never again!’”
Lina takes pride in leading Alexandria Professional® with the same fierce integrity. She is passionate about empowering women to feel and look “unique” and beautiful.
People Magazine and the popular The Doctors and The Fashion Team television programs, and leading beauty industry trade publications, including Dermascope and Les Nouvelles Esthétiques Spa, have featured Lina’s important work. She is a sought-after expert, authoring dozens of articles on body sugaring and skincare. Lina often lectures at beauty industry events. Her presentations typically draw standing-room-only crowds, for she is known and admired as an industry innovator and an enthralling speaker.
The recipient of many industry accolades, Lina was recently honored with Buffalo Business First's "Women in Manufacturing" Award.
She has also received a prestigious award from Kosmetologi-Sky, Finland’s leading beauty therapist association, for her ErgoWave®, a state-of-the-art glove designed to correct and perfect hand position during body sugaring. Lina also pioneered Europe’s first body sugaring competition at the 2014 EuroSkills event in Lille, France, which led to a similar contest at the 2017 WorldSkills championship in Abu Dhabi.
For better or worse, the world views CEOs as cornerstones of their business or corporation. The best embodies and represents the values that a company hopes to project. Today’sCEOsoperate in an unfamiliar landscape, withsocietyand business becoming more intertwined.Lina has distinguished herself by taking a public stand on social issues unrelated to her company’s core business.
Thankful for a life of blessings that includes a successful business and a loving family, Lina devotes time, guidance, and resources to many worthwhile causes. She is committed to helping women break free from abusive relationships, empowering them through education and training for independence and eventual entrepreneurship.
Equally crucial to Lina is childhood sex trafficking. As a victim of child sex abuse, she knows how this issue devastates lives and has joined forces with a global movement committed to heightening awareness of and ultimately ending the child sex trade.
On the home front, Lina rejoices in motherhood, her ever-growing family, and the lasting friendships that stretch to all corners of the world. Today, after decades of manifesting her destiny, she defines success as “waking up every day happy to go forward.”
What could be better than that?
