Andrea Sasha Ortiz is a perfect example of the powerful marriage of beauty with intelligence—she is not only an award-winning international pageant Queen, she is also a beauty mogul, strategic consultant, mental health influencer, author, executive film producer, and TEDx speaker.
Agraduate of the prestigious Spelman College and Columbia University, Andrea Sasha holds memberships in the G100, Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI), Dallas Arboretum Women’s Auxiliary, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and several alumni groups.
As the reigning International Ms. North America 2023, Andrea Sasha serves as a global influencer for economic freedom, mental health, civic engagement, and leadership for women. In addition, she is the Chief Beauty Officer of the emerging luxury beauty brand Golden G!ddess Beauty Co. (GGBC), and founder of both a successful non-profit, The Devorah Malka Society and of the diversified private holdings entity, AMORE.
Andrea Sasha exudes charisma as she empowers women through community service, ambassadorship, and the promotion of mind-body-spirit health, wellness, and beauty. She believes that every woman has unique beauty and deserves to harness it in any way desired. “The women in my family are known for their mastery of glamour and beauty, and I wanted to channel this into an empowerment tool. Beauty is one of the most powerful and multi-faceted things on Earth,” she reveals.
As a multi-generational female entrepreneur, business ownership was always in Andrea Sasha’s DNA. She grew up watching her aunties and great-aunties create things of beauty with their hands, and her grandmother doing accounting and finance while managing properties. Her mother is a CEO and female pioneer in construction management, mortgage banking, and real estate development. Andrea Sasha recalls, “these women laid the framework for how I understand business management and the daily workings of a Chief Beauty Officer and visionary at the helm of a luxury brand.”
GGBC is the brainchild of Andrea Sasha’s lifelong love affair with “womanly arts.” The emerging brand produces one-of-a-kind luxury skincare, beauty, and wellness products, infused with sustainably-sourced precious gemstones and other organic ingredients. This combined with technology-driven skincare tools and techniques is guaranteed to make every woman feel like a G!ddess (pronounced ‘goddess’).
“Our brand represents luxury, femininity, and refinement. We endeavor to enable discerning women to feel supported, valued, and empowered to achieve all they aspire toward on their own terms. We [sic the GGBC team] are global beauty standard-bearers in our commitment to designing, distributing, and promoting the use of innovative medical aesthetics and technologydriven beauty devices in order to achieve and maintain holistic wellness,” adds Andrea Sasha.
Launched during the pandemic, Golden G!ddess Beauty Co. is a brand committed to promoting total wellness. Throughout the pandemic, Andrea Sasha partnered with various organizations and groups to collaborate on projects close to her heart. Specifically, she gave a TED talk about how entrepreneurship can be leveraged as a tool for women thriving past intimate partner violence (IPV). She then partnered with Glam Gloss Kiss to produce a range of limited edition lip crèmes and on-the-go beauty kits, some of which were donated to women’s shelters in her community. And most recently, she became an executive producer of a short film ‘Strange Fruit’ in partnership with the prolific directors of U. K.’s CineBooth, screenwriter Naveed Mir and producer Vlad Ghilas. She stated, “The film underscored the impact of the quarantine mandates on the mental health, strength, and resiliency of IPV survivors worldwide. Naveed and Vlad are visionaries, and I knew I had to be part of this amazing project!”
Speaking about what drives her unshakeable pursuit of her purpose and personal mission she says, “I am passionate about many things, but three are most important – family, holistic wellness, and personal improvement. I have been fortunate to have the ways and means to appreciate all of these in my life, and attribute it to the wise women and men who came before me. My commitment to these three drives me to wake up every morning with well-informed daily objectives because I know I stand on the shoulders of giants!”
Andrea Sasha’s grit and determination have earned her many global achievements. In 2015 she became a Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Entwine Global Leadership Fellow, after fundraising over $5,000 to benefit low-income Moroccan Jewish orphans and wards with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities. She has since carried this work forward by learning all she can about wards of the state and how to best meet their unique needs. In 2019, she was crowned Arizona’s Most Exceptional Woman for excellence in her community service of underrepresented populations. During the 2021-22 year, she was nominated Graduate Council Executive of the Year by her peers, for her unwavering commitment to representing the interests of over 11,000 graduate students across North Texas.
Last year, she also accepted the 2022 Milestone Global Award for Entrepreneurship and Pageantry, and was dubbed one of The New York Journal’s Top 30 Women to Watch in 2022. Most recently, she received the 2022 Dallas Psychological Association’s Dissertation Award, for her research on the relationship between academic support systems and the salary and career outcomes of minority students. In May she was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity in Judaic studies from the Esoteric Interfaith Theological Seminary, for her tireless work using spirituality-focused interventions with Veterans. This December will also mark the completion of her PhD in Clinical Psychology.
Andrea Sasha’s greatest strength lies in her growth edge: perfectionism. She is learning to strive for excellence instead, while remaining aware of new opportunities to evolve. This combined with unwavering tenacity and relentlessness has helped her overcome adversity time and again.
Andrea Sasha believes she has become a global achiever because of her support network. As a consultant, clinician, and coach, she wears many hats, which would have been impossible, “without the support of my dedicated family-of-choice, my wonderful partners, and my phenomenal best friends. They inspire and motivate me to move the needle of global beauty standards and entrepreneurship by improving the lives of others.”