We were lucky to catch up with Athena Gil recently and have shared our conversation below.

Athena, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

I want to go back to the very beginning of my career, In 2004 I relocated my life from Chicago to Long Island New York. I was a young 19yr old mom. I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do with my career, but I knew I wanted to be in the beauty industry. I had a passion for creativity, art, and was a beauty product junkie. That’s when I made the decision to enroll in beauty school and pursue my passion. shortly after, I landed a job as a assistant at a salon in Massapequa Long Island. I remember realizing how fast paced and sometimes chaotic the days were and at the end of the day how badly my body hurt, but…. I still loved it. It wasn’t until i had my first assistant training night with the owners of this salon. They handed me a blow dryer and said ok, show us what you can do (I had just started beauty school 3 weeks prior and only worked for this salon for a week or 2) I started to blow dry this model as fast as I could. After I had finished the salon owner pulled me aside and called me into her office. I thought she was going to tell me what my schedule was, instead she sat me down and proceeded to tell me to find a different career path. I believe her words were ” you wont ever make it in this industry your blow-outs are awful and you don’t know how to use a blow dryer properly”. My head sunk and she made me feel awful in that moment but I snapped back and said with all due respect, I just started in this industry less than a month ago and I have had no training at all, I was fired. So now, a single teen mom living in a new state, I felt extremely lost. But I kept on with it, kept going to school meeting new friends & finally i was ready to re-start my job search. A full service Aveda salon and spa just blocks down the road of where I was terminated offered me a assistant position, and let me tell you for as strict as the owners were it was a well oiled machine, and anything the stylist struggled in they made sure to provide you with the education. I was sent to classes on color and cutting in NYC. We had master stylist who would help us in every avenue. While that salon had some toxicity of its own during the economic crashes in 2008. I decided to relocate back to Chicago and take a break from the salon world, while I still did friends hair and make up from home, I wanted to try something different I wanted to see what else I could do. That’s when I hopped into the real estate world working as a property manager, and fast forward to 2014, I found myself relocated to Eastern PA to be closer to family and receiving my PA Real Estate license, I quickly found a brokerage home with Morganelli Properties and began my journey. While I was still doing family and close friends hair and make up for special events, I caught myself working all day whether it be showing homes or property management or coming home and dressing up my daughter and her friends for homecoming dances etc. One day a colleague of mine at Morganelli properties listed a salon for sale, I quickly opened her link for the salon and jokingly looked up at my now husband and said “omg! wouldn’t it be awesome if I purchased into this business since i now have experience in running a business but also in the beauty industry?” I laughed and he looked at me in a serious look and said “you should check it out” schedule a tour with Teri. I picked up the phone called my colleague and said hey, I think i might be interested! Shes like great let me get you with the current owner! And the rest is history! I took over ownership of salon at the silk in 2021, I had a very small team of stylist since we were only a two chair salon located in the Silk Mill in Easton. I started getting busier and getting multiple stylist applying for positions but I did not have the capacity in such a small space. So in July or 2023 the Silk Mill had a space open up and they allowed me to transfer over and expand. I started with 2 stylist and now we are a team of 6 stylist and 2 assistants and I couldn’t be happier. While I no longer do hair and focus soley on the business aspect and social media, I learned some valuable lessons in business along the way with good mentors and of course I learned from the bad mentors as well on what not to do. I learned that offering the tools to help employees learn and succeed is the best form of management than tearing someone’s dreams apart with hurtful words because they might not be as experienced as you, sometimes employees with less experience are the ones who are craving more in their career and will thrive under the right guidance. I also learned everything does happen for a reason and they way its supposed to, but more importantly, never ever let someone tell you that you wont succeed.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Our salon is plant based and sustainable products, We are an exclusive Aveda salon, and anyone who knows Aveda they know that even our color line smells like flowers, our shampoos are all herbal and made with natural ingredients. Their saying is “products that are rooted in nature”. We also offer a small boutique with clothing & Jewelry. Our goal is to let all of our guests feel their very best at all times. We offer custom spray tans utilizing Sjolie products which is Vegan and Peta friendly as well. We wanted to offer beauty in combination with wellness. We want to keep our customers feeling positive & confident, like they can take on anything life throws at them, while looking fabulous.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

I purchased the Salon in 2021. Its important as a business owner to have the proper record keeping incase you do decided to sell your business. Making sure you keep the value of all your assets and inventory to come up with the correct price of your business and what it is worth. Additionally you’ll want to make sure you have a great lawyer to draw up and review all documents before agreeing to purchase any business.

The acquisition was a little daunting because the previous owner didn’t keep track of sales or profits. It took us a bit to get her to sort through all of it because we weren’t sure if the business was really worth what she wanted for it due to the lack of record keeping.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Word of Mouth is the best way to grow your clientele. Give them an unforgettable experience, make them feel welcome, listen to your clients, give them advice. Find out what their overall goals are and work from there. If you give them the experience they are going to tell anyone they know about you!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.salonatthesilk.com
• Instagram: @salonatthesilk & @Lehighvalleyagent
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/athenagil/

Image Credits

Head shot taken by Melissa Bargel

Salon Photos taken by Athena Gil