We were lucky to catch up with Olivia Newell recently and have shared our conversation below.
Olivia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
I find myself wearing many different hats per say. I am a business owner, wife, mom, mentor, educator, artist, and an avid advocate for mental health awareness. With complete transparency, I acknowledge that it is beyond difficult, near impossible sometimes, to be 100% at all my roles. I love my job as a salon owner and hairstylist, it truly brings me such joy and allows an outlet for my creativity. Seeing my staff learn, grow, and absolutely thrive not only in the industry but as individuals in the world reminds me of my “why”. I show up and put my best effort in all that I do. Do I sometimes feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and lost….absolutely. I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t. With that being said, I truly can not begin to imagine myself in any other career where I was not a salon owner & artist. I have dedicated over 15 years to my craft along with blood, sweat, and A LOT of tears. I have truly fought my way, learned as I went, trained when no one else was and that is how I landed where I am today. I feel insanely blessed to wake up everyday and get to do a job that I absolutely LOVE!
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
I am Olivia Newell, I’m 31, wife to my wonderful Hubby, Andrew & mom of the most adorable 18 month old, Sullivan. I was literally born into the hair world, coming from two generations of hairstylists. My grandmother on my Dad’s side, had a love for hair and worked as a stylists in the early 1940’s. Fun fact, my first pair of shears I used when I started were hers. My mom began her lifelong career in the industry in 1979. She moved from New York to Georgia and worked her way up from being an apprentice and learning the craft to becoming a salon owner with multiple locations. I started working at my mom’s salon when I was 13 or so. I must add, this was not out of choice. I LOVED to shop from a young age & my mom said if I wanted to shop, I had to work. Yes, little did I know my career would begin based off the fact I enjoyed a good shopping spree. Starting from just sweeping the floors and folding towels on Saturdays, I began to move up in the company and landed the receptionist position around 15 or 16. During this time I was completely immersed in the industry and at the time I did not realize how lucky I was. I attended fashion shows, traveled to New York and Europe with my mom and co-workers learning all things hair, makeup, and fashion. I had fallen in love with the fashion world and I knew I had to do something in this field, but I didn’t know what exactly. After graduating from high school, I attended the University of Georgia in Athens where I earned my degree in Marketing & Public Relations. I had the amazing opportunity to intern at a fashion magazine during this time as I continued to learn and grow. Still unsure of where I saw myself, I had become the manager of the salon and oversaw a staff of 40+ at just 22. Jumping in with both feet, I staffed, trained, and managed our team. I developed our website, created content for social media, ran payroll and handled all the HR duties. I held interviews, created systems, continuing education classes, training manuals that included all of the ins and outs of the company. I spent time with our reps while I learned the product lines and became an Ambassador for Kerastase. I was certified in business through the Summit Academy. I took classes through the Expert Network program and absorbed everything I possibly could. I hosted and lead fashion shows, magazine shoots, charity events, pop up marketing events, in salon education hosting and much much more. During my time at Impulse Salon, I gained so much knowledge of the industry and truly began to make my mark. After 13 years of absolute dedication to the company, I decided it was time for me to spread my wings and create my own brand. Fast forward to 2017, while planning my black tie Charleston wedding I was also opening my new salon. Let me just say, I am a crazy person to take this on but when it’s meant to be it just seems to fall into place. After my return from our honeymoon, we proudly opened the doors to our beautiful new salon, Theory. Theory was my first baby. With all my hats, I managed all the different positions as we hired and trained a new team. What a humbling experience to be able to put my absolute heart and soul into something and just shy of five years later, seeing it thriving. After several years of being in business, I again, felt the need to spread my wings and push forward in my career. I applied for an educator position at the SoHo Academy in New York to work as a platform artist training stylists from all over the world. As fate would have it, I landed the job! This new adventure will begin later in 2022, and I am thrilled to see where this will take me. Not to worry though, you can find me behind the chair working at the salon a few times a month. We have gone through so much as we embarked on our journey of becoming Woodstock’s #1 hair salon. We have the best group of people I could ever ask for. We call ourselves the Theory Family, because that is what we mean to each other. We have laughed together, cried together, and grown together over the years and I feel honored to be apart of such an amazing group of women. The shear talent these girls have is fascinating to witness. We plan to continue to hire new talent while still putting in the hard work and commitment to our current team. Theory Salon offers weekly in salon education, on the job training, access to platform artists, knowledge and use of the highest rated products the industry has to offer, as well as team building retreats. The future looks bright for Theory Salon, and I can not wait to see what is in store for us in 2022. My dreams are to grow into an even bigger space, add more talent to our fantastic team, attend more classes, and proudly continue servicing our community.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
My mom, Joy, was working in a salon in East Cobb in the late 80’s/early 90’s. She and a few others decided to partner and go out on their own to open their salon. Her and a business partner, Lita became close friends through this transitional period. After 20 years of this duo owning a salon together, they asked me to become a business partner when we opened Theory. Through the years my mom, Lita and myself have been through so much of life’s tribulations and blessings. A business partnership is much like a marriage. If I had to do it all over, I couldn’t imagine two more selfless, dedicated, hard working and caring individuals that I would go into business with. Forever grateful for all they have done for me, not just in business, but shaping me into the Christian woman I am today.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
When we opened our doors to Theory in spring of 2017, I hit the ground running. I wanted our brand to be everywhere. When people heard “theory” I wanted them to know what salon they were referring to. I went door to door with local businesses in our community and partnered together to host events, cross market and strategize to gain clientele alike. Affiliates like Pure Bare Woodstock and River Fest we found ourselves hosting pop up barre classes at our space and co-hosting wine crawls. We teamed up with local businesses and did hair & makeup for their events. Miss Cherokee Rose pageant in Woodstock, we became a sponsored title holder as well as the salon to go to for the pageant community. We donated to charities and held Blowouts for Breast Cancer and raised over $5k our first year in business. We opened early, we stayed late, we worked weekends, we did whatever it took to get the reputation we have know. Theory Salon knows hair, and you can usually find us by word of mouth or a referral from a close friend. If you’re not a client yet, we can’t wait to meet you.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theory-salon.com
- Instagram: theory_salon
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/theorysalon/
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/theory-salon-woodstock
Image Credits
KatieSutter.com