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IAA Featured on Voyage LA

By January 16, 2018March 16th, 2021No Comments

We are proud to announce that the Co-Founders Kareem Assassa and Dr. Fouad Talic of International Academy of Aesthetics were recently featured on Voyage LA. Feel free to read the story below.

Meet Kareem Assassa and Dr. Fouad Talic of International Academy of Aesthetics in Beverly Hills

Kareem Assassa and Dr. Fouad Talic, Co-Founders

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kareem Assassa and Dr. Fouad Talic.

On September 24 of 2015, two friends, Kareem and Dr. Talic, shared ideas of how to standardize the quality of aesthetic medicine, dental aesthetics, and cosmetic surgery on a global scale.

“Kareem and I wanted to create a forum that would enable any willing medical professional in the world to learn aesthetics without the restrictions of time, communication, or travel. We imagined an academy that would grant immediate access to quality online learning on a multicultural platform. We envisioned a global community of passionate practitioners contributing the most comprehensive aesthetic medicine, dental aesthetics and cosmetic surgery educational content,” said Dr. Fouad Talic.

“Fouad and I formulated a plan to provide a centralized platform that would shift the current method of training by taking it online and making it easily available to any medical or dental practitioner from anywhere in the world. We dreamed of a social learning management system that would unite practitioners from various specialties across the globe at a single point. We were driven to create a platform that would break the barriers of inaccessibility and unreachability. We were determined to set a new standard for online aesthetics training. We were ready to push the level of quality and care in the field of aesthetic medicine, dental aesthetics, and cosmetic surgery, one practitioner at a time,” said Kareem Assassa.

“Our commitment to quality was uncompromising. We felt that the quality standards for the International Academy of Aesthetics would not be set within the core of its online programs but more so in the force of connecting like-minded, masterful aesthetic professionals within a single platform. We trusted that if we could create an online platform that offered creative methods of learning with social networking capabilities through a technologically advanced yet easy to use interface then the International Academy of Aesthetics would become the world’s greatest resource for the advancement, development, and evolution of aesthetic medicine, dental aesthetics, and cosmetic surgery,” said Dr. Fouad Talic.

“We believed that if we could set the stage for the most talented aesthetic professionals in the world to contribute to the advancement of aesthetic medicine, dental aesthetics, and cosmetic surgery then we could accomplish our vision statement:

To become the worlds most recognized online academy where medical and dental professionals can learn and teach the proper knowledge and skills to contribute to the global advancement of care and quality in the field of aesthetic medicine, dental aesthetics, and cosmetic surgery.

This was our vision, this was our mission, and this was the inception of International Academy of Aesthetics,” said Kareem Assassa.

Has it been a smooth road?
“Starting International Academy of Aesthetics was a big challenge in many ways. We started it with our own money. We had no big rounds of funding and no angel investors to get us up and running. We had minimal technical expertise or experience starting a tech-based education company and had no mentors to shadow since we were creating a whole new approach to education within our industry. For this reason, we had to become extremely resourceful, spend our money wisely, and be extremely cautious with every single move along the way,” said Kareem Assassa.

Dr. Fouad mentioned, “We were very ambitious, excited, and driven but we were working on a tight budget with limited resources under substantial time restrictions. We had, what felt like, an endless list of tasks to accomplish but only the two of us to complete them. Simultaneously, Kareem was running three other companies while I was completing my specialty in aesthetic dentistry at UCLA while working as a dentist and remotely overseeing Talic Dental Clinics. We were running on fumes, 24-7 work-mode since a majority of our business dealings were on the other side of the world, in different time zones. It was a true test of our will. There were many times when we had tried a strategy, failed, got discouraged but worked up the strength to shake it off, learn from it, refocus, and keep sight of our vision. No matter how hard it got, we always believed, without a doubt, in what we were doing and this kept us going.”

We’d love to hear more about your business.
“International Academy of Aesthetics (IAA) is the world’s first social online learning management system that is solely dedicated to the field of aesthetic medicine, dental aesthetics and cosmetic surgery training. We provide an online social learning management system that enables our members to learn, educate, and network entirely on a single platform. The fully integrated web-based social learning management system and free mobile app enable our members to access premium educational content from any internet connection in the world with just a few taps of a fingertip,” said Kareem Assassa.

“What do we do?” asked Dr. Fouad Talic with a smirk on his face. “Well, Kareem is the brains of the operation. His experience in organizational leadership, project management, and entrepreneurship has served us well. He single-handedly built the operation from scratch, from the business plan, website design, and development, client relationship management system, employee manual, to the technical integrations, learning management system setup, and the list goes on. He is relentless in his approach. He’s the type of guy that will disappear for three days, work non-stop, sleepless, yet resurface recharged with an entire list of accomplished tasks. He likes to be immersed in the operational side of the business. He assesses every detail and is obsessive about perfecting the end user’s experience. I give him a hard time about it sometimes but it’s a good trait to have in this business.”

“On the other side of the business is Fouad. He is the heart and soul of the operation,” said Kareem. “He’s the kind of guy that can walk into a room full of strangers and walk out laughing with countless new friends. He’s an influencer by nature. He has the ability to influence others and make them believe in our vision. He’s gifted at that. His authenticity, excitement, and passion are contagious. He’s genuine, real and sincere and nowadays, people appreciate that. People want to listen; they want to hear what he has to say. He’s big on connectivity, which is a major part of our organization. He has always been an advocate of connecting people, not only to each other in the online platform but to connect aspiring medical and dental professionals to education. This is especially true in rural areas that lack the resources to access quality training courses in our field. His values reside in spreading education,” concluded Kareem Assassa.

“What makes me most proud of what we have accomplished thus far, is realizing that we have what it takes to make our vision come true. We are just two ordinary people but with a higher calling. Truly, to change the way that education is accessed in the field of aesthetic medicine, dental aesthetics, and cosmetic surgery. We have the ability to change this industry forever and what I’m most proud of is how dedicated we have become to our vision. We started as two friends with high hopes and a lot of ambition and we have become an internationally recognized organization with hundreds of members from all over the world. It hasn’t settled in yet,” said Dr. Fouad Talic.

“What sets us apart is the vision that we have for not only our organization but our industry in general,” said Kareem. “We see so much potential in shifting the way education is delivered within the industry. We see more uniformity, more collaboration, more development, and more accessibility to education within our industry.”

Dr. Fouad concluded, “We have realized that our vision is beyond our organization. It serves a bigger purpose than having a successful business. It serves a purpose, a belief to empower medical and dental professionals with the knowledge and skills to unleash their talents and improve the overall level of quality and care provided to their patients. This is our purpose, our calling, and our duty at International Academy of Aesthetics.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
“Beverly Hills is the heart of quality, prestige, and luxury which makes it a desirable place to work. You can easily connect with like-minded entrepreneurs in the neighborhood. The sky is the limit. With that being said, it is pricey to start a business in Beverly Hills so prepare to have a big budget to get up and running,” said Dr. Fouad Talic.

Read more about Kareem Assassa and Dr. Fouad Talic

International Academy of Aesthetics

Aesthetic Courses Online Offered by the #1 Source for Online Learning the International Academy of Aesthetics of Beverly Hills in California.