Before all things organic became trendy the people of Kalamazoo recognized the value of a natural approach to beauty and helped make Elina Organics Spa a success.
"I've travelled all over the world and lived in many places and have found Kalamazoo to be a very wonderful, progressive and cultural community," says Elina Fedotova, the CEO of Elina Organics and the founder of the Association of
Holistic Skin Care Practitioners, a non-profit organization.
Fedotova is a cosmetic chemist, herbalist and aesthetician. Before coming to the United States in 1991, Elina transformed her acne prone skin into a glowing example of the power of natural healing.
Today her skin care line is available in more than 100 doctor’s offices and skin care clinics across the country, including Borgess Integrated Medicine in Kalamazoo and the Bengtson Center in Grand Rapids.
Now, 15 years after getting her start, the spa employs 14, has more than doubled its size with a move to 4205 S. Westnedge in Kalamazoo and Fedotova is celebrating the success of her
second location in Chicago, which opened in 2007 on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.
In Chicago magazine's Best of 2012 edition, the Chicago location took the award for
best facial in the health and beauty category this year. The magazine said after trying the facial: "The result: soft, smooth skin that was radiant for days."
Fedotova opened her first skin care clinic in a tiny room on Portage Road in 1998 after moving to town with her family -- her husband, Igor, a professor of music at Western Michigan University, and their son, Yuri.
When they moved to the Austin Sills House on Lovell Street she set up her lab there and in 2002 she began to offer her natural skin care product and services in the distinctive green Victorian house at 219 S. Westnedge. There she offered her line of handmade, organic and skin care expertise that has continued to expand over the years.
Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave Media
Source: Michele Sobota, Elina Organics Spa
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.