A Day
in the Life!
BY ALEXANDER MENRISKY
AHMED ABDULLAH
CEO and Founder • Lexli International Inc.
Fargo, North Dakota
exli International Inc.’s CEO
and Founder Dr. Ahmed
Abdullah juggles most of his
time between his medical
practice as a plastic surgeon and
researching and conceptualizing new
products for the skin-care brand, which
is known for its aloe-based formulations.
“As a plastic surgeon I’ve seen firsthand the benefits of aloe on the skin.
Because of this, I looked for a highquality aloe-based line I could offer my
patients. When I realized it didn’t exist,
I developed one,” Dr. Abdullah recalls
the idea that launched Lexli.
He focuses on proven research
when developing the next Lexli
product. “I notice that companies are
very quick to incorporate new ingredients and technologies into their
products,” he says. “While this may be
good, I prefer to wait until there is a
good amount of data and a track record
of success before incorporating them
into Lexli products.”
How does Dr. Abdullah manage to
maintain his medical practice while
running a skin-care company? Luckily,
he has a dedicated team of 11 staff
members who help manage much of
L
The life of a spa professional is a continuous cycle of daily
responsibilities that help make the spa world go round. Pulse
asks ISPA members to give us a sneak peek into their daily
lives to help us understand the roles they play and the
difference they make on a daily basis.
the work at their headquarters in
Fargo, North Dakota, but his schedule
still finds him flying all over the globe:
H 9 am Practices plastic surgery in the
U.S. or in Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates. “Most weekdays, I’m either
in surgery, clinic, or traveling to one of
my clinics. If traveling, I use this time
to catch up on the latest skin-care
research and scientific articles.”
H 4 pm Meets with Lexli’s operations,
research and development, customer
service and marketing teams. “I
provide guidance and listen to their
ideas, brainstorm and deal with any
outstanding business that needs my
attention.”
H 6 pm Responds to customer emails
and Facebook messages.
H Overnight “If I’m in Dubai, I often
have a conference call with my team in
the U.S. in the middle of the night.”
H Weekend “This is my opportunity to
What day-to-day challenges do
you come across as the head of
the company?
Budget: Budgeting is always a balancing act. Like many companies, we have
countless great ideas for products we’d
like to introduce and campaigns we’d like
to implement. Therefore, we pay attention
to what the market tells us and work to
develop products that we know will
resonate with our customers while
implementing campaigns that speak,
primarily to those audiences who
already know us best.
Staff management: The Lexli team is
second to none, so I don’t spend much
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