MI E 13 EA LI FY 13 I Z

ustin Hoffman, Brooke
Shields and Peter Allen
have all basked in the
oatmeal rubs, pore clean-
ing and facial massages of-
fered at the Lia Schorr
Skin Care Salon in New
York City. But pampering
the rich and famous or just giving a tired
Wall Street executive a manicure in her
salon was the furthest thing from the
native Israeli's mind when she spent
seven years cooking, cleaning and far-
ming on a kibbutz in the Negev.
"Living on the kibbutz made me
wiser and stronger. It made me unders-
tand that without work, you can't ex-
ist," Schorr says in her thick Israeli ac-
cent. "I learned that you don't have to
be ashamed about anything you do to
earn money, as long as you earn
respect."
Not only did Schorr learn important
lessons from her youthful hardships and
early experiences, she gained an inner
strength which has set the tone for her
persistence as a businesswoman.
Schorr grew up in the Soviet city of
Tashkent, where her family had fled to
escape the Nazi invasion of Poland. Her
wealthy
a
father
had
been
businessman, and they returned brief-
ly to their homeland before deciding,
amid the ruins of World War II, to
emigrate to Israel in 1950.
"We had to leave everything we had
behind," says Schorr. She still
remembers a terrifying incident at the
border when a Polish official broke open
a bottle of milk her brother was drink-
ing to search for money and jewels.
"We didn't have a thing when we got
to Israel."
In Israel, her father decided to follow
his dream. "He wanted to become a
farmer like in Fiddler on the Roof," she
says lovingly. "During that time, becom-
ing a farmer in Israel was like openly
committing suicide. It was just not the
way to make a living."
Her father persisted but the financial
hardship that had befallen her family
became evident to Schorr by the time
she was 12. "My parents couldn't give
me anything I needed at home, like
clothing and education," says Schorr,

116

STYLE

Life has been tough
for Israeli Lia Schorr.
But then, so is the
field in which she's
making a name.

BY RHONDA COHEN

Lia Schorr prefers a simple
approach to skin care,
emphasizing natural
ingredients and a healthy
lifestyle.

who slept in a tent with her three sibl-
ings during their first six months in
Israel. "It was difficult getting the nur-
turing and attention I needed because
my parents were so busy just trying to
get the basics."
Schorr found the support she need-
ed at the kibbutz, following that with
her two-year commitment to the Israeli
army. She then enrolled in a skin care
school in Tel Aviv. "I didn't have a
strong opinion of myself at that time,"
says Schorr of her decision to enroll,
"but I found myself there. I found that
skin care can incorporate everything
from philosophy to medicine."
Once on the beauty track, she realiz-
ed there was no turning back. "I could
have returned to the kibbutz, but I didn't
want to get married by the time I was
20 and have my whole life stationary. I
couldn't have thought of a worse fate.
I wanted to change because I was
curious."
So, like her father, Schorr decided to
turn her fantasies into reality. In 1967,
she moved to New York, got a job with
the Christine Valmay Salon, and mar-
ried her boyfriend. When they divorc-
ed four years later, she was already
working for the Georgette Klinger
Salon, where she developed her niche.
"It really happened by accident," says
Schorr of her opportunity to become
the first skin care expert for men in the
country. "I just began building a
clientele of men and they followed me
when I left the Klinger Salon. If I would
have started as a women's specialist,
I'm not sure my business would have
taken off as fast."
Although she was ready to take the
plunge into entrepreneurship, her dream
became a nightmare. A shady partner
stole her investment and locked her out
of her first salon. But then a writer for
the New York Daily News wrote a piece
featuring four Israeli skin care specialists
and things began to turn around. "It
was my first press interview and the
reporter liked me. She heard about
what had happened and decided to put
my home phone number on the bottom
of the piece. That saved my life," Schorr
says.
Six weeks later, with a $500 invest-