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Lana Fuchs...By Lynn Wexler

Got Alpha?

If you’d only heard about Lana Fuchs, if you’d never actually seen her, you’d assume she was a made-up character, a graphic novel super-her-oine. Sort of a Bond girl with brains, brawn and attitude — someone

who’d snap Moneypenny like a twig and make 007 wish he’d never left the calming clamor of M’s weapons lab or uttered even one sexist quip.

But there she is, as beautiful as a model wrapped in Kevlar – ready to �ash her charm or her brashness in an instant, immune to your �attery, resilient to your scorn. �e quintessential Alpha female, with money to boot and a color-coordinated automatic she’s adept at �ring.

It wasn’t always so. Born Jewish, poor and the oldest of three in Odessa, Lana and her

family left Ukraine for Brooklyn when she was 8. “I was my father’s ‘son,’” she says. “My mother insisted on making me into a porce-lain doll … my father encouraged me to climb trees and beat up the boys who bullied me because I was overweight. I did as he said and watched the bullies become my friends, even followers. �at was my �rst taste of power. And I liked it.”

Back in Brooklyn, she and her family settled into a small base-ment apartment otherwise populated by roaches and large rats. She attended a Jewish Day School with the progeny of the wealthy Syr-ian Jewish community.

“It was a nightmare,” she says. “�ey were rich. I was poor. �ey were awful to me. I was always alone, so the furry creatures that ran around our apartment became my playmates. What did I know? My mother came home from work one day, saw me feeding the rats, and freaked out. She was trying to kill them; I was keeping them alive.”

Lana took up with the black kids in the projects nearby. “�ey were the families who took me in and understood me,” she says.

She learned culture and the love of reading from her grandmoth-er. She learned the sting of poverty at a funeral.

“It was painful to watch my grandfather buried in an ugly plain box and laid to rest in the poor section of the cemetery,” she says. “I decided it sucked to be poor and determined that I would be suc-cessful and wealthy one day.”

At 19, she married a guy who turned out to be abusive. �e union didn’t last long. “I think I married him primarily to get out of my parents’ home,” she says. “My mother was very old-fashioned and wouldn’t let me leave, except to get married.”

With the marriage over, she and her family moved to San Diego. She enrolled at Chapman College, in nearby Orange County, where she eventually earned a master’s degree in psychology. She also met Victor, her second-husband-to-be and a fellow Ukraine native.

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“My dad introduced us,” Lana says. “I sensed something was there. But at that point I wasn’t about to settle for anything short of what I wanted. I made him prove himself.”

Victor was in a hurry. He proposed on their second date. No, she said. But he wouldn’t go away. He showed up on her doorstep every day. After six months, she said yes. A year later, they wed.

“We’re both powerful, independent, tough and spirited,” Lana says. “He valued that in me, in addition to my being beautiful, Jew-ish and Russian.”

Lana and Victor had two children, Lawrence, now 21, and Lizzie, 13. And with their inherent talents, the couple made money. It paid for a massive, gated home, a private plane and bodyguards. It � -nanced lavish entertaining and exotic vacations. But there would be challenges that threatened their lifestyle, their family, their health.

In the early years of their marriage, Lana helped Victor build Helix Electric Las Vegas. Afterward, she started a haute couture and design business, a hip-hop streetwear clothing line and a record label.

She starred in TLC’s Sin City Rules; Dr. Phil and Barbara Walters interviewed her about paying her children for earning straight A’s and practicing good manners. She wrote � e Blueprint – Success is a State of Mind, a how-to on achieving the life you dream about. She is a certi-� ed Life Coach and Master Trainer, and founded TransPOWERism, which o� ers workshops on accessing personal will and power. Her newest venture is an all natural weight loss product and regime called VPOWERSHOT, soon to be sold in health stores nationwide.

“I formulated VPOWERSHOT because Victor, the kids and I need-ed to shed pounds,” she says. “It’s an amazing product, with ingre-dients that e� ectively metabolize carbs and burn fat. … I’m now � nalizing the Feel Good Shot. It brings about happiness, calm, focus,

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Physicians are independent practitioners who are not employees or agents of Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center. The hospital shall not be liable for actions or treatments provided by physicians.

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108 days. Multiple surgeries. Good days and bad days. Lots of smiles … lots of tears.

The advanced, experienced, specialty trained team in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Spring Valley Hospital helped Bailey fight back.

“We are living proof Spring Valley Hospital and The Valley Health System are dedicated to providing specialty care and saving lives.”

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improved memory and overall well-being.” At one point, her marriage collapsed. She and Victor got into an ex-

pensive, eight-month divorce. � ey treated the split like a � ve-card stud showdown. He told her it was her career or him. Goodbye, she said.

“In the end, Victor realized he made a mistake,” she says. “Love for each other and our family brought us back together …wiser for the fury. And the strength I had going into battle … turned into titanium coming out!”

Her son Lawrence is a believer in his mom. “My mother de� nitely personi� es triumph, despite the odds,” he

says, “and I truly admire her iron will. I don’t think that should over-shadow the incredibly charitable person she is. She’s always willing to lend a helping hand.”

Daughter Lizzie appreciates the example her mother has set. “I know that my power comes from my femininity, and anything a man can do, I can do better,” the teenager says. “And when the going gets tough, never ever give up. And never let ‘em see you sweat.”

Jana Johnson, Lana’s chief � nancial o� cer, admires her boss’ bounce-back ability. “Lana doesn’t hold on to toxicity,” she says. “Most people can’t do that. And she can’t be bought – at any price.”

Lana has her own philosophy. “I love life and am grateful for each and every day. I especially savor the moments I spend with my family.”

“My focus, to this point, has been on success, and I’ve achieved it. I now begin my journey to signi� cance. I want to inspire people to live life without the shackles and limitations often imposed by self and society, and to trust themselves to create lives with abundant health, wealth, happiness and perfect self-expression.”

(left to right) The family, Victor, Lizzie, Lana and Lawrence Fuchs

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