Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ashley Bowens. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ashley , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Before I share my story of Salon D.Renee; I would like to share a part of my story. The name of my business comes from my late mom (Dawn Renee) the first letter of her first name and her middle name. But, when it comes to my journey of the launch of Salon D.Renee, I was in my late 20s working in a salon with my fellow co-workers and I noticed at the time as my career came and went, I wanted a bit more out of my profession. I never actually set a goal of having my own salon, it just happened at the right time. As I started my journey, My business mentor at the time helped with a realtor and we started the research of looking for an ideal location. Over a course of 6+ months of me searching for the perfect place to open a salon, all of the the locations just didn’t fix. I don’t know if it wasn’t the right time to embark on this big of a step or not. While working on finding the location, I didn’t expect the pressure to be so intense and yet stressful. At one point it just became a bit too much for that and I decided to take a bit of a break on my search. The break last for about a couple of months, I shared my thoughts with a good friend of mines and come to find out he knew of a location. He sent me videos of the space and I loved it. I had a “so what you think” talk with my dad about the location; in which was my final confirmation to go with the location. Thanks to my friend for the help, cause I would not have the salon I have now. Now, that the idea was turning into a reality. The setup was much easier since the commercial space was a previous salon. Shortly after that I launched the salon and became a mom all in 2016 to be exact. When it came to the visual; it just fell together. During the years at the salon, we had a great deal of staff come and go, educational & social events displayed in our salon home. And 6+ years later, a pandemic and a few mental breakdowns I am still here striving in the beauty industry. I am forever grateful and thankful.

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

Hello I am Ashley B. Licensed Cosmetologist and Salon Owner of Salon D.Renee LLC. I been in the beauty professional for 15 + years, a salon owner for 6 years. I graduated from Carver Vocational Technical High School with my certification in Cosmetology. Received my associate degree in Business Management. Over the course of my career i’ve published work in DMV hair magazine, Metro Salon Plus Online Website, Hair and Motion Magazine and King Magazine. In 2019 I partnered with Wella Professional. We currently hold a 4.7 google review rating; been yelp’s top review ranking for 2016,2017 & 2018.In 2020, I’d relaunch my Indian hair collection Saintchevuexcollection. Now on to how I actually started my career; First, i started my work study at Accent Hair Salon while in high school and worked my last year in the Cosmetology program under the salon. Shortly before graduating high school I secured a salon assistant position at Accent. Went on and took my Cosmetology exam and gain my Cosmetology license and from that point my dreams took off. I spent 3+ years at Accent until I out grew the location and moved to another local salon. At the next location, my clientele grew trendmously with the help of Styleseat online booking system. I take pride in my work while offering excellent customer service. Another thing, that help me grow was having the gift of referrals through word of mouth. I strive on this model of work ethics. My proudest moment of the career is being about say I have a salon and we survived the pandemic. But, just being reminded that I have a business in which it took me awhile to realize this. “I HAVE MY OWN SALON!” Having a moment like this in my life is amazing to be honest. Or displaying an environment where women can be women, they can have a relaxing hair experience from comfortable shampoo bowls, styling chairs while enjoying the salon music selections and oh complimentary wine.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson that I had to unlearn is the importance of a personal and a business relationship in my salon. I’ve noticed entering this the moment of the becoming a salon owner. That we often develop more of a personal relationships over time and not actual noticing how it can effect the business relationship. I look back at the beginning and I made assumptions that the staff would be here for longevity purposes and over time it didn’t work out. This showed me how there can be a great deal of staff coming and going and it don’t take your relationships so personal. Fast forwarding to the pandemic, and not knowing how my business was going to overcome it. Just know we survived. Shortly after the world trying to get back to the “Norm”, I lost my entire staff for different reasons. After losing my staff, I spend a year to myself and I would say this gave me a bit more understanding to the motto ‘personal and business relationships in a workplace.” After that year went pass, I throughly took my time with reevaluating my business, the hiring process and how I handle the relationships with the staff moving forward. I manage to set boundaries with myself and the staff. This approach helps with not having any unrealistic expectations with the staff and the business in the near future.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

The most effective way I grew my clientele word of mouth and styleseat then social media. Word of mouth has been my top effective way I grew my clientele. And I have a passion for haircare, or having the ability to grow women hair from damaging stages and much more. Also offering a great deal of customer service. I recently remodel my salon and everyone loves the new ambiance and look. Our clients enjoy our music selection, complimentary wine and our professionalism and so much more.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.salondrenee.com
• Instagram: salond.renee
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SalonDRenee/
• Yelp: salondrenee

Image Credits
Retouch photos only and personal photo Carlo P. @iloswork