Lana Krasnyansky
Lana Krasnyansky Sokolinsky is a dynamic Human Resources executive with more than 25 years of experience leading people strategy across diverse, high-growth environments. Currently serving as Senior Vice President of People at Empower Aesthetics, she is recognized for her ability to align human capital initiatives with business objectives to drive organizational success, cultural excellence, and sustainable growth. Lana’s leadership is defined by her passion for building high-performing teams, fostering innovation, and creating impactful employee experiences grounded in purpose and clarity.
Lana’s career began in New York, where she spent nine years building her foundation in internal HR within fast-paced advertising, digital marketing, and events organizations. Starting as an HR coordinator, she quickly advanced to HR director, where she led the development of HR departments and internal team structures from the ground up. She later expanded her experience in Chicago for seven years before joining TriNet, where she spent over 11 years in progressively senior roles. As a Principal Human Capital Consultant, she advised clients on complex HR matters including onboarding, compensation, performance management, and organizational design. In her later tenure, Lana built and led a highly visible HR transition team, growing it from four to 18 members and overseeing strategic onboarding initiatives for large accounts, including benefits integration and enterprise-level HR frameworks.
In her current role at Empower Aesthetics, Lana has returned to her roots in internal HR, leading large-scale transformation within a rapidly growing, private equity-backed organization. Recruited by the CEO—a former client who recognized her leadership impact—Lana stepped into one of the most complex challenges of her career: rebuilding and scaling HR infrastructure for a 170-employee company that experienced accelerated growth through acquisitions. She is focused on implementing scalable systems, refining processes, and strengthening the organizational foundation to support long-term success. Despite the complexity, Lana thrives on the challenge, driven by her commitment to making a meaningful impact. Guided by her belief that people should always understand their “why,” she continues to lead with purpose, resilience, and a deep dedication to empowering others.
• The University of Akron - BA, Dance and Business Administration
• Quantic School of Business and Technology - MBA
• Contributing Author in 'The Way She Leads' Book
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my love of challenges and my drive to make an impact. I'm a person that definitely doesn't like to be comfortable - I love the challenge, I love to overcome, and I love to make an impact. My motto is always to make an impact, and I always say people should always know their why, why you're doing something. I love to make an impact professionally and personally. I can't imagine life without the challenge. Most days, I definitely love to work and embrace these opportunities. Would I love to get into a little bit of a calmer place? Absolutely - being a little bit more organized, being able to be proactive instead of reactive. But in general, I don't like to be comfortable. I love the challenge, I love to overcome, and I love to make an impact.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Lana has been influenced by executive leaders and industry professionals who have helped shape her strategic thinking, leadership style, and ability to navigate complex business environments.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Her advice is to embrace challenges, stay confident, and continuously invest in your growth. She encourages women to step into leadership roles with confidence and not shy away from high-pressure opportunities.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges right now is managing the complexity of rebuilding and scaling organizations that have grown too quickly without the proper infrastructure. At Empower, we're a 3-year-old private equity-backed startup that grew very, very quickly, and when you grow quickly and you're not prepared to support the growth, it's a very complex situation to be in. You have to take a step back - we're not acquiring more right now, we have to clean up and ensure that we can manage what we have, the 170 employees that we acquired in 3 years. We need to build scalable processes, solutions, and scalable systems to carry this company forward, which is a very hard thing to do. It's much easier to build from the ground up from the beginning than to rebuild when you already have 170 employees in hand. We need to prepare to acquire more employees and acquire more med spas, but first we have to get our foundation right. It's hard to take that step back when everyone wants to move forward - it's hard to pause and do what you need to do. This is one of the most complicated and hardest roles I've had in my career, and I think all four of us in leadership would agree with that. There's so many things that are not where they need to be, and we need to take a step back.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My number one priority is always my family - a healthy family, my husband, my daughter. Wellness is critical to me, and I believe you have to be healthy and keep the mind strong, and the only way to keep the mind strong is to keep the body strong, as the same goes. I try to find wellness-related things that I can do for myself, like facials and things like that, to take care of myself. I also deeply value being present for my daughter - she's 8 years old and has activities like ballet, and she needs to be driven to these things. I try to put priority on the work and my daughter. I try to limit plans and just focus on the work and my daughter and her schedule. I've been limiting a lot of the social stuff and activity since I started this job because you've got to limit somewhere. Family time is incredibly important to me, especially with my 8-year-old daughter, whom I enjoy supporting in activities like dance and ballet. I prioritize creating meaningful moments despite a demanding professional and personal schedule. And professionally, my motto is always to make an impact - I love to make an impact professionally and personally.
Locations
Empower Aesthetics
Brecksville, OH 44141