Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurel Rush.
Hi Laurel, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My story starts in Seattle Washington after I graduated. I met my husband online. We got married and moved to New York City. I had no experience in the Beauty industry, but it was the only thing that I was really passionate about and great at. It was very challenging finding jobs as I had no “NYC experience” finally I came across a salon who gave me an opportunity to become a receptionist at their boutique salon in the east village. After working front desk positions for a few years, the job kind of became redundant to me, and I was becoming bored at what I was doing. I was able to work my way up to a Salon coordinator and later on became a salon manager. After doing those titles for another couple of years, I decided to enroll myself into Beauty school, where I went to school full-time to become a cosmetologist. Now that I had my cosmetology license and I was managing a salon. I felt like I had accomplished something. I continued to work the manager at the salon. I had expressed to my boss that I wanted to pivot and start working as an apprentice. I don’t think my boss was very open to that. He really preferred me being a manager because I had everything down to a T when it came to the business and logistics. He did not completely trust in my ability to become a hairstylist, but I knew myself better than that and I knew I would excel and anything that I put my efforts in. So I continue to work as a manager, but after being denied raiseses that was well deserved I became frustrated because I know it was well deserved as I was truly one of the hardest working employees. It was the final straw for me when I had learned that one of my colleagues was being paid over $30 an hour while I was getting a measly $18 per hour yet I was the one that was doing most of the work. I was there more hours. I was clearly being taken advantage of. I became extremely frustrated and quit on the spot wasn’t my best moment, but that was my breaking point because I had spent years investing my time and energy into this company. Apparently timing was on my side because I ended quitting my job just two weeks before COVID-19. Hit the city of New York hard and shut down everything I remember being at home seeing everything that was going on and thinking well I’m glad I quit my job and I have all my stuff here with me and I’m already home. I heard that a lot of people weren’t able to go back and collect their belongings as the city was on a complete lockdown. Since I had nothing but time I began to research about how I could transition to becoming a professional hairstylist. Another colleague of mine had seen my frustrations that I was ranting about on social media, and he reached out to me and offered me the exact role that I had been looking for. He wanted me to be his Colour assistant. My job description would have been to assist him And his clients and provide Colour blowout services. This was exactly what I was looking for a start to my new path as a hairstylist. this worked out perfectly for about nine months until business was slowing down due to people leaving the city. The Hair industry never bounce back like it did before COVID-19 so things started changing at the salon. I was no longer allowed to do the color blowout for my bosses clients. They wanted me to go back to the shampoo room and stay there and only shampoo clients I was feeling like people were intimidated by me and the way that I interacted with clients there was a staff meeting that was brought up and I felt like it was completely directed at me. I was thinking to myself they could’ve just pulled me into the office and had this conversation with me instead of having a whole staff meeting it was like that obvious so when I learned that I could no longer do color blowouts and they wanted me to stay in a back room and just wash hair all day. That was the second time that I had walked out on a job. I was like I’ve been through this before this time. I’m not gonna waste my time for years waiting in pleading to be treated fairly and compensated properly I just decided to quit. This was towards the end of the year, so I thought to myself I feel like every Salon always has this type of drama. I can’t keep going through this. By this time I had decided to completely invested in myself I decided I was going to gift myself an LLC for Christmas as we were coming upon the holidays December 2021 I structured my business and created my very first LLC. I decided I was going to start my own business And that is when Beauty & The City was born. I was one of the first people that decided to take a leap of faith and work out of Salon Suites I had learned about this concept as I was on social media researching how to become a successful Stylist on my own time. Long story short, I found a hairstylist who was having trouble keeping her business a float since the pandemic had hit a lot of Hair Stylist really hard. I asked her if I could rent out her studio a couple days out of the week as I build my clientele it was a win for both of us I was able to have a private hair studio and start building my clients. Tell one by one at the same time I was not being held liable for rent that I could not afford as I was just renting one day here and there I continue to invest in myself, took some courses on how to build a clientele and before you know it, I was able to commit to doing a 50-50 split of the rent with my colleague. I had built a steady clientele. I was also becoming great with the color techniques that I was learning. People really loved the services I was providing. I started to get many referrals recommendations, and my business was reaching great exposure online. This was going great for about two years then all of a sudden my colleague told me that she was moving to California so I needed to find out what my next step was going to be as far as the rent was concerned having to pay 100% of New York City rent was extremely challenging as real estate is not cheap. I was able to find another Stylist who could use a partner and we decided to move to the prestigious upper east side and get a suite together by this time I had no worries at all. My clients were coming in my schedule was booked and I was busy business was great. I was finally able to take a vacation and enjoy my hard work. We decided to come to Houston for a weekend my husband and I we really loved everything that the city had to offer. We loved that it was not as fast paced as NYC, but it was still a lively city. It was a nice balance between Work and Life seven hours into the trip. I told my husband, I could really see myself living here he agreed, and before you know it four months later, we had moved to Houston, Texas after three years of building, a solid clientele, becoming a successful Hairstylist and business owner I decided to start over again in a complete different city miles away from where I had built everything, but I just knew it was the best thing for my family today I am repeating the same strategies that help me build a successful clientele while I’m still in the beginning of my journey I am building out a faster rate than I did in New York, where it took me almost 3 years so here I am now with my hair studio located in Katy, Texas networking meeting new friends, reaching out to potential clients and building a name for myself and my business so that’s my story to be continued
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
For the most part, it’s been a smooth journey however, the cost of living between the two cities couldn’t be more different so not wanting to completely readjust my pricing and structure. I’ve decided to continue flying back to New York every two weeks to continue maintaining my clients back in nyc until I’m able to build a solid clientele here in Houston but at the same time I love my clients in New York and I don’t know that I will ever be ready to leave them although traveling is exhausting and hard on your body. I do it because I truly love what I do.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Beauty & The City?
I am a self maid entrepreneur and business owner woman of color. I specialize in Hair Color services, chemical treatments and Hair Extensions. They are my most requested services. I believe what sets me apart as I am confident in what I do, I am able to work with all hair textures I am trained by some of the top Stylist and NYC and I’m bringing my talent to Houston. The thing that makes me the most proud is that I have been self-sufficient living off of my business successfully for the last four years. I would love the readers to know that when they sit in my chair, it is a time that they can unwind, they can come to me for truly specialty hair services and at the same time have this as a little bit of a therapy session. I really love to maintain a healthy client relationship. I care about my clients and even outside of the salon, I always find myself thinking about some of the things that have been shared with me. Praying for them and wishing my clients the best.
How do you think about luck?
I would say good luck happened when I spent years working as a receptionist and working my way up I didn’t realize how much I was subconsciously learning when it came to Colour running a business client interactions, etc. all of that stuff has helped me build a successful business, and I never even knew that this experience was going to help me in the long run I had absolutely no struggle when I decided to venture out and build my business because I already knew how to run a salon. I knew what I was doing and I knew what needed to be done and I did it with ease.
Pricing:
- Highlights starting at $450
- Haircut starting at $180
- Keratin starting at $350
- Extensions starting at $2000
- Blowouts starting at $120
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.styleseat.com/m/v/laurelrush2
- Instagram: @itslala.andthecity
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/17Jnz1v1x7/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurel-rush-94a01b14a?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
