The Exchanges

Q But you were going to do the blowouts, too, right? I mean, you were going to be running the shop, blow-drying hair, and you'd have to hire people.

A Yes. Well, so that, the hiring process was kind of funny, and there's a couple stylists that still work for us who remember this. Like, I used to have stylists come to my house and blow out my hair. That was their interview. You know, I would talk to them, make sure they were nice, and then they'd blow out my hair, and if they did a good job, I'd hire them. I mean, that was it back then. And I only hired, like, I don't know, about 15 stylists, and I wasn't sure, one of the things I wasn't sure about is if there was enough stylists out there like me that, that were interested in just the styling part like I was, but there were.

AI assessment note: “Yes. Well, so that, the hiring process was kind of funny”

Q And what was your vision? Like, what was, when he came to talk to you, what did you say, like, how did you want it to look?

A Well, I knew I wanted it to feel like a bar. And I remember explaining to my brother and to Josh that if, that something that happened in my mobile blow-dry business, that when I would go to my clients' homes and do their blowouts, it was usually like in their living room. It was never in their personal bathroom in their home, so I'd do it in their living room, so they couldn't see the blowout when it was happening. And when I was done with the blowout, I'd say, okay, I'm, now I'm ready for you to look, look at it. And so to go from not seeing your hair to seeing this amazing, gorgeous hair, It was, like, kind of a powerful thing, and I explained that to Josh and to Michael, and, and so that was kind of a task for Josh. Like, how do we incorporate that into the design of this shop? So we, um, the mirrors are behind the stations, and that's very intentional, that when the client is done, the stylist spins her around for the big reveal, and that totally came from my, my blowout business.

AI assessment note: “Well, I knew I wanted it to feel like a bar.”

Q Were you nervous? I mean, did you feel like, like, this will be okay? Or was like a part of you? Like, this is a lot of money that we've put into this.

A They were more nervous than me. My brother was probably the most nervous because he had the biggest stake in it financially. But I had a really good feeling. I, I, it was like one of those things in my gut. I was like, I know there's enough women out there like me that will make one shop work. I'm sure one shop will work, or at least work a little bit. And, and at that point, we had figured out if we can do, like, 30 blowouts a day, 30, 40 blowouts, like, that'd be a great business, and so in my mind, like, I remember going to sleep at night being like, if we can do five blowouts an hour, and we're open, like, I would literally, like, figure out how many people were gonna going to have to come in to make those numbers.

AI assessment note: “They were more nervous than me... But I had a really good feeling.”

Q But you were going to do the, the blowouts too, right? I mean, you were going to be, uh, running the shop, blow drying hair, and you'd have to hire people.

A Yes. Well, so that, the hiring process was kind of funny, and there was a couple of stylists that still work for us who remember this. Like, I used to have stylists come to my house and blow out my hair. That was their interview. You know, I would talk to them, make sure they were nice, and then they'd blow out my hair, and if they did a good job, I'd hire them. I mean, that was it back then. And I only hired, like, I don't know, about 15 And I wasn't sure, one of the things I wasn't sure about is if there was enough stylists out there like me that, that were interested in just the styling part like I was, but there were.

AI assessment note: “Yes. Well, so that, the hiring process was kind of funny”

Q Let, let's just briefly talk about, um, dry bar now. I know that some locations have reopened in like Colorado and Arizona, Georgia. Um, they've been open for a couple of days. Um, what do you know about how that's going and what do you know about like how to make sure that like customers and the employees are, are safe?

A Well, we've put in so many new protocols. Now, clients are sitting a seat apart, so there's an, you know, a client, then an empty chair, then a client. Um, the stylists are all wearing masks. We're doing virtual check-ins, so people aren't actually sitting and waiting for their appointment inside the shop. They're waiting in their car, and then they get alerted, you know, when their appointment is. There's a lot of, um, health check-ins before you come in for both our stylists and clients. I mean, you know, to the point where if, I mean, it feels It's crazy, but it's so important, you know, I mean, from a business standpoint, it does not allow us to do nearly as many clients that we've done in the past because we're only letting, you know, it's like every other chair is being utilized, but there's been a lot of excitement and I, you know, a lot of people are very happy to be getting back in and, you know, it's only on a very small scale right now.

AI assessment note: “we've put in so many new protocols. Now, clients are sitting a seat apart”

Q Managerial experience. You weren't trained to do any of this. So, What are some of, like, your strengths that you learned about and your weaknesses you learned about as you had to kind of take on these roles?

A Well, I think my strengths is, was the confidence that I knew this business really well. Nobody could tell me I didn't know this business. I knew how to treat customers. I knew how to treat stylists. I knew how to make this business work. I knew how to talk to people, I think, from being in PR. You know, everything I had done, I always felt like, I mean, it's so cheesy, but I felt like everything, like, led me to this moment in my life, and I felt like, I had what I needed to have to run these stores, and then there, you know, there are things that I didn't know that that's where Michael and Cam came in, and Michael knew to hire, like, we needed a president of retail. I was like, I didn't even know that was a thing, like, I, you know, and so there was so much of, like, the things I didn't know were filled in, and I think that that was one of my biggest learning experiences. You need to bring on people who know what you don't.

AI assessment note: “Well, I think my strengths is, was the confidence that I knew this business”

Q Okay, so you met this guy who is now your husband, of course. What was he doing at the time?

A He was in advertising. So we started dating, and we got very, it was like love at first sight. I mean, really, we were together, like, every day since, and we practically moved in with each other, like, right away. So we, we were, we got married, we got engaged a year after we met, and then we got married two years after we met, and I, I think I was, I, you know, having grown up in South Florida, the winters in New York were starting to kill me, and I was like, I gotta get out of here. And so we, Decided to move to L.A., and he, for him in advertising, it's like he needs to be in a big city, so.

AI assessment note: “He was in advertising.”

Q So, I mean, it sounds, sounds like you were having a great time, but then I read that you left. You, like, dropped out of, of, like, hair, and you went to become a publicist. Is that right?

A Well, not even. I became, like, an assistant to the guy who was running the music department at Rogers and Cowan. It's, like, one of the big ones in New York, and they represent everybody, which was a pretty awesome job. I mean, he represented Paul McCartney, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez. So now I'm, like, I don't know, 25, 26, and I, then I started to get Anty again, but that was to, like, to find my husband and get married and have kids. Then I started getting that bug, and during this time, I did meet my husband. In New York? In New York City, and we met at a, at a bar named Hell in the Meatpacking District.

AI assessment note: “Well, not even. I became, like, an assistant to the guy who was running”

Q So you, oh, you've, you found a spot, and where did you open the first location?

A So I was living in Santa Monica, and the first location was on San Vicente, which was a thoroughfare. So if you came off the four or five, and you were going to Santa Monica, to Palisades, or Brentwood, you kind of had to take that, that route. And also, I should tell you that my brother, having worked on other big projects, and he met this guy named Josh Heitler, who was an architect. And so my brother One of the many, many things he's brought to the table, when I had this idea to have a salon, he went to Josh and said, do you want to build a hair salon for my sister? And Josh was like, sure, and we offered him some equity to get involved, and that was, again, I don't even know if I would have thought of an architect. I mean, that was my brother.

AI assessment note: “the first location was on San Vicente, which was a thoroughfare.”

Q from people who are, you know, inspired by your story, but when you're looking to validate an idea, what advice do you have for entrepreneurs who are kind of looking to, to figure out whether their idea will actually work? Do you think that, you know, it should be data driven? Is it about talking to friends? Is it just like an intuition? Is it a combination of those things?

A I think it's a combination for sure of those things. And, you know, we are, we have a couple other businesses in the hopper right now. And even during this time, we've thought of, of another business of something that we wanted that doesn't exist. You know, I mean, I, I say all the time that, you know, and especially with dry bar and with squeeze our massage business, like these are things that have existed for hundreds and hundreds of years. We just created a better experience around them and made them a successful business that way. You know, and I tell you, I urge people all the time, like there may be something that you love that is just not executed well, or branded well, or run well, that you could probably take that same idea and make it your own.

AI assessment note: “I think it's a combination for sure of those things.”

Q So, like, what, like, what made him it? Like, what was his deal?

A He had one salon in New York on Madison Avenue. He was this rock and roll kind of cool guy. He had his two huge greyhounds that, like, sat next I had it in my head, that was the only person I wanted to work for, so I moved to New York, and I remember it like it was yesterday. Got an interview, I like walked in with my leather pants on, and like tried to like- Because you're trying to look New York. Trying to look New York and cool, and I remember him, like, looking at me and making eye contact, and I was like, I know I'm gonna get this job. It was like an assistant job. It wasn't like the world's greatest.

AI assessment note: “He was this rock and roll kind of cool guy. He had his two”

Q Managerial experience. You weren't trained to do any of this. So, What are some of, like, your strengths that you learned about and your weaknesses you learned about as you had to kind of take on these roles?

A Well, I think my strength is, was the confidence that I knew this business really well. Nobody could tell me I didn't know this business. I knew how to treat customers. I knew how to treat stylists. I knew how to make this business work. I knew how to talk to people, I think, from being in PR. You know, everything I had done, I always felt like, I mean, it's so cheesy, but I felt like everything, like, led me to this moment in my life, and I felt like, I had what I needed to have to run these stores. And then there, you know, there are things that I didn't know that that's where Michael and Cam came in and Michael knew to hire, like we needed a president of retail. I was like, I didn't even know that was a thing. Like I, you know, and so there was so much of like the things that I didn't know were filled in. And I think that that was one of my biggest learning experiences. You need to bring on people who know what you don't.

AI assessment note: “Well, I think my strength is, was the confidence that I knew this business”

Q So as you started to scale up, did you have to go, uh, find outside investors?

A So again, I knew nothing about raising money, and Michael started to say, hey, I think, I think we should franchise this, because we had, we were getting mobbed with franchise requests. I mean, I remember, like, we had our first meeting with, like, a franchise consultant group at Cameron's office, like, his big advertising office, because that's the only place that we had an office, like, we could sit at a conference table, which is so, that's so funny, that was so long ago. But, so we started getting, like, Our documentation together so we could franchise, and so I was a little, like, not, like, super excited about franchising because I didn't, I didn't want to, like, give it away is how I kind of felt about it.

AI assessment note: “I knew nothing about raising money, and Michael started to say, hey... we should franchise”

Q So as you started to scale up, did you have to go, uh, find outside investors?

A So again, I knew nothing about raising money, and Michael started to say, hey, I think, I think we should franchise this, because we had, we were getting mobbed with franchise requests. I remember, like, we had our first meeting with, like, a franchise consultant group at Cameron's office, like, his big advertising office, because that's the only place that we had an office, like, we could sit at a conference table, which is so, that's so funny, that was so long ago, but, so we started getting, like, our documentation together so we could franchise, and so I was a little, like, Not, like, super excited about franchising, because I didn't, I didn't want to, like, give it away, is how I kind of felt about it.

AI assessment note: “I knew nothing about raising money, and Michael started to say... we should franchise this”