From Texas to California

I’ve loved beauty for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I was always watching my cousins get ready. Mousse, hairspray, eyeliner, the whole process. I was mesmerized by how someone could transform right in front of me, and I think that’s when I fell in love with hair and beauty.

After high school in Tacoma, I moved to LA to study Graphic Design at FIDM. Two years later, I ended up in Dallas where I got my first real taste of the salon world. I worked the front desk at a high-end Aveda salon owned by a stylist who had been on Bravo’s Shear Genius. Some of his clients would fly in on private jets just to see him. Watching those transformations every day completely pulled me in.

Since my first salon experience was an Aveda salon, I stayed on that path. I worked in retail at the Aveda Institute of Dallas, then put myself through school there. Their approach to beauty being about more than just hair really stuck with me.

It’s about the experience, the energy, and the details.

While I was in school, I also started assisting at Jean Philippe, another luxury salon in Dallas. It was a specialized salon where one person did color and another did cuts. I naturally gravitated toward color and trained under their top colorists. That’s where my love for color really deepened.

Moving to Sacramento was a huge shift. I had to start over with a new city and all new clients. After a few years of rebuilding, I made the move to Sola Salons. It’s been the best decision I’ve made. I’ve created a private, peaceful space where I can control the vibe and fully focus on my work. I came from big, busy salons, but now I have the calm I was craving, and so do my clients.