A stylist with 27 years of experience, Lina Acosta (affectionately known as Andrea), studied beauty in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where she graduated as a stylist at age 17.  The mother of three biological children and three foster children, Andrea immigrated to New York City, United States in 2008 where she resided for approximately eight years.  

During her time living in New York, Andrea worked as a stylist at Fantasy Hair & Spa where she says she learned new techniques and perfected her art.  In 2016, Andrea moved to Tampa, Florida where she also works as a stylist while making preparations to move to Allentown, Pennsylvania where she had set her sights on launching her own salon.  

Why Allentown and not New York? – The answer is simple, there Andrea would have the opportunity to be close to her foster daughters who have resided there since then.

Courageous and determined, Andrea works with progressive but confident steps to identify, enable, and promote a location where beauty services had never been provided and which therefore meant that Andrea had to establish a service point from scratch.  Was this a reason to think about it? – She tells us that she did not feel any kind of scare since God had blessed her in each of her transitions; from Santo Domingo to New York; from New York to Tampa; and that from Tampa to Allentown would be no different.

The optimism that leads Andrea to always feel “more hopeful than fearful,” was of great help to her when just three months after opening the doors of the salon she named, Andrea Dominican Hair Spa-Salon, she was forced to close the doors due to 60 days and reopen with many limitations for several months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, her optimism seems to have a certain magic since after a couple more months, the demand for her services increased to such an extent that Andrea needed to hire an assistant and almost miraculously her salon's rating was at the top. where it remains ever since.

And what did Andrea learn in her rapid transition from employee to owner and manager of her own business? – Andrea tells us that her lesson is the same as always, that she must have God's blessing for everything she does.

What words best describe Andrea? – Mentor, noble, entrepreneurial, optimistic, good friend, upright, and generous.

Andrea feels proud and satisfied with all her children; of his ability to rise by his own efforts in circumstances where he not only had to pay for his own studies, but where he could not even count on the moral support that someone believed in his potential represents.  Andrea also feels proud and satisfied with the work team she has since they function as family, colleagues, and colleagues who support each other and demonstrate kindness, generosity, and empathy.

And who is Andrea's heroine? – Eugenia Delgado (Luz), the founder and former owner of the Fantasy Hair & Spa salon, which is why Luz was always humble, generous, and optimistic.  Andrea remembers with some pleasure how when a client presented any concern to Luz, she never denigrated anyone, but always apologized to the client and told her, “how strange because she's not like that” – words that left the client feeling listened to and the stylist with her dignity intact.

Andrea, the stylist turned owner through her efforts and by divine providence, now replicates a pattern of transformative leadership that she learned, admired, and almost innately recognized as fair, healthy, and necessary.