We recently connected with Alyssa Alexander and have shared our conversation below.

Alyssa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

There are many people on this industry that feel that they are in competition with other stylists and/or other salons. I strongly believe that my salon is not the perfect fit for everyone. Each stylist, including myself has a very unique personality and specific services that we specialize in.
A stylist and/or salon is not a “one size fits all.” No specific person is able to provide and excel at every service out there. It’s just not possible. There is nothing wrong with admitting that you are not the best service provider available to achieve the clients goals.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Alyssa Alexander —I am the owner of Happy Hair & Co.! I graduated from Perry High School located in Massillon, OH in 2014. During my junior and senior year of school I went through the Cosmetology program. The second week into junior year, I had decided that cosmetology was exactly where I needed to be. I had landed my first salon job before graduation. I was thrilled! My first salon was where I called home for the first 6 years of my career. During that time frame, I had promoted from a Designer to a Senior Design, to a Master Stylist, and finally, America’s Best. I had been selected and featured in the company magazine in a “One to Watch” article and then flown to our company headquarters to get to meet the head executive team, the education team, getting to be on a live broadcast and work alongside of the education team on stage during a recruiting event. Soon after that amazing experience the company offered a contest, and I was selected as one of five winners; winning landed a shout-out in section of Modern Salon Magazine and a trip to NYC for continued education. There were quite a few other experiences that I was a part of, and I could not be more thankful. I had such an amazing leader, educators, team and built many friendships and connections in the industry.

Education holds such a huge part in my heart, so I began substitute teaching Cosmetology at Perry High School. I LOVED it. I then began subbing at other local programs.

I was offered and accepted a full-time position at GlenOak High School. I couldn’t have been happier! I dropped down to extremely part-time behind the chair and would go in after teaching at the school. After getting married, getting pregnant, and COVID19 happening, the uncertainty of and having a newborn at home, I decided to take a step away from teaching and go back to full time behind the chair.

In late summer of 2019, I opened my own studio! I was so excited to build a mini salon and to make it mine! Quickly, I realized I was outgrowing my space and began to crave more. I wanted to create my own salon, my own team, my own company. Driving to work one day, I noticed a “for lease” sign in the window of a cute little blue building; after going to look at it and talking with my spouse, I signed papers, and Happy Hair & Co. was born!

Blood, sweat, and tears went into bringing my vision to life. I wanted a “bright and airy” feel with a team of independent stylists. A month of hard work and dedication from my amazing and supportive family and friends, everything came together. September 2020 was our first official month of being open! Literally in the span of two weeks, I had filled almost all of my available stations, and by February 2021, I had a full team of the best stylists/salon family ever. I could not be more thankful!

I have currently taken a small step back to enjoy my family and travel with my husbands job. I am so thankful to have such a dependable salon team to feel comfortable enough to do this! Although I am not in the salon every single day, I am there to service clients a few days a month!

During our first year of being open, Happy Hair & Co. was voted first runner up “Best Hair Salon” in Stark County, OH and had the opportunity to be apart of the Hall of Fame Fashion Show! We are now upcoming on our second year anniversary and are up for the Community’s Choice “Best Hair Salon” again this year!

We are so thankful for our clients, family, and friends to get us to where we are! I could not have imagined how quickly Happy Hair & Co. would grow, and I cannot wait to see what the future hold for us!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When I first started building clientele I knew that I needed to create a social media page. Social media was becoming such a big source of advertisement at the time as well as hashtags. I would take before and after pictures of clients hair and post them description of service and hashtags that had relation to the post. I knew that I needed to create a “name” for my self to get to the next step of my career. I knew that I wanted to make people happy and that I could do that by making them happy with the appearance of their hair —boom, Happy Hair by Alyssa.
I then created a Facebook page directed strictly to advertise myself. I invited all of my friends to “like” the page. Created contests to win retail products, (like, share, comment and tag friends..) in all reality it was just getting others to share my page with their friends.
I would invite my clients to leave a review, it would help others that hadn’t been in to have their hair done see honest reviews/critics.
When I opened Happy Hair & Co. I transitioned the Facebook page to my new DBA —Happy Hair & Co. I gave my stylists the ability to directly share their content on the page as well. Which opened up the ability to get their social media friends to “like” the page. Same exact thing for Instagram. Just sharing posts, “like our business page,” etc.
My advice for building your social media platforms? Be consistent. Post daily, multiply times a day. You might feel like you are repetitive or feel annoying, but post daily. The algorithms of social media are not always friendly towards “small” business owners. Find ways to get people to engage in your content, ask them questions, get them to comment on the post, get them to share the post. The more engagement your post is getting, the more people will see it. The more you are sharing, the more it will be seen.
Social media can quiet literally be free advertisement, FREE!! Just keep posting!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Customer service and being honest with your clients/potential clients. Customer service goes such a long way. Your client wants to feel seen, but most importantly wants to be heard. In any business really. How you respond to someone can make or break you. Go above an beyond for your client, reach out afterwards to see how they are, engage with them. Be honest if what they are asking you to do is not achievable. Explain to them what is achievable. Be honest even if it’s uncomfortable. You don’t want to give them a reason to not be happy. Most will be thankful that you took the time to explain to them why it isn’t possible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.happyhairandco.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/HappyHairAndCompany
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/happyhairandco
• Other: www.instagram.com/_lysalexander

Image Credits
Loren Jackson Photography