Today we’d like to introduce you to Sai Hernandez.
Sai, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
This whole business journey came unexpectedly to me. Originally, I wanted to go to cosmetology school to do updos and freelance wedding. I contacted my old co-worker, Grace Ilasco, who is now my business partner and assisted her for a couple days from which then referred me to Sharon, the owner of the salon we currently own now, to assist her instead. I was only supposed to assist her for 3 days, but it became a permanent job. Grace and I were the only ones left working when the old salon owner decided to move across the country. Since Grace and I were already running the salon for a couple months, we decided we might as well buy the salon. That is how we ended up with Color Lounge and it’s been 4 years now.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s been a fun learning process. I learned so much in the last 4 years of owning a salon. I’m so thankful for having a partner to help me with this business. I can’t even imagine how anyone can do this on their own, especially being a full time stylist, which a lot of salon owners initially tend to be. My advice for other women out there who are starting their journey is, learn as much as they can, surround yourself with smarter people than yourself, ask for help, and don’t try to do everything yourself because you won’t be able to give your best at anything. If you are going into a partnership with someone, make sure you pick the right partner, set boundaries, cover yourself, get a lawyer to help you, and don’t be greedy. Work as a team. It’s like a marriage. You have to take care of it and put everything you got in it. It’s not about what they can do for you but what you can do for them and hope that they reciprocate. Most importantly, both of you have to be on the same page.
What should we know about Color Lounge? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I do everything I’m asked to do. As a business owner, I’ve had to things I didn’t have interest in, but there is no one else to do it. I couldn’t make any excuses. I had to do it or the business will fail. It is one of the best learning experiences you can get.
We specialize in hair color and even though I am American Board Certified Haircolorist, I am constantly learning. I love to do haircuts and updos. I also do microblading. People forget we do other services at the salon because our salon name gives people the idea that we only do color at the salon.
One of the most unique things we do at the salon is we help people in the going gray community to go back to natural or as we call, “Going back to Gray”. Not many salons support this movement but we think it’s great to accept the natural beauty and your natural hair color and stop becoming a slave to our roots. On the other side of things, we do the complete opposite and also give people multicolor rainbow unicorn hair as well.
What I am most proud of as a brand and company is we strive to do our best. We believe beauty takes times, and we don’t treat our client’s like a number or a dollar $ign. We have an excellent associate training program. Our stylists love to working here. We train them to be thorough, honest, and we educate our clients. We truly work as a team and we provide a real homey comfortable home for the clients.
For good reason, society often focuses more on the problems rather than the opportunities that exist, because the problems need to be solved. However, we’d probably also benefit from looking for and recognizing the opportunities that women are better positioned to capitalize on. Have you discovered such opportunities?
In honesty, I feel like the media and people look too much into what they don’t have than what they do have. I feel like there are so much more opportunities for women out there today than ever before, especially in our industry, the beauty industry. We can’t keep thinking life is unfair. If you aren’t getting what you want, then change it. It’s really up to you. Don’t wait around. Be a go-getter. It is the best time to be a woman right now.
Pricing:
- Free – 30 Min thorough Consultation
- Hair Color Correction – $75 per Hour
- Going Gray – $85 per Hour
- Custom Color(s) Creation aka Rainbow/Unicorn hair – $75 per hour
- Microblading -$350 & up
- Organic Facials – starting at $45
Contact Info:
- Address: 113 N. Naomi St. Burbank, CA 91505
- Website: www.colorloungeburbank.com
- Phone: Call 818-260-9900 or Text 818-257-2990 or fill out the form on the contact section of our website
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colorloungeburbank
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colorloungeburbank
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/colorlounge113
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/foryourbridesonly
Image Credit:
Mari Nazaryan, Dianne Escobar, Grace Ilasco
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