We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Callie Arino & Esther Rutter. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Callie Arino below.

Alright,  Callie Arino & Esther Rutter thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

This is a great question. This topic is a frequent reflection we have where we can acknowledge this new type of hustle being business owners. While an overwhelming amount of daily gratitude is to witness where our abilities and experience can take us, our gratitude can be found in many minor and major things. For example, our clients, watching the someone beam with excitement after seeing the final result, having deep meaning chats behind the chair, refilling our snack counter, and sweeping our OWN shop at the end of a tiring day. Of course we have hard days where we run behind, people cancel, TAXES can be a scary thing, but at the end of the day we have so much gratitude, even in the small moments, it makes all the hard work worth it. I don’t think having a regular job is for us, we love what we do!

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

We are Callie Arino and Esther Rutter. We own Studio GLOSS on the west side in Colorado Springs. We met each other about 10 years ago working at Toni&Guy where both of our careers began. We both went through extensive training and learned and perfected our craft (it was kind of like getting our PHD in hair). Esther got into the industry from a long family history of hairdressers. She was encouraged from her parents to dive in to her creative passion. Callie got into the industry by dropping out of college on the first day and realizing that wasn’t for her. Hair and beauty was one of the only things she was passionate/good at, so she thought why not give it a try.

We hustled and quickly worked our way up into leadership positions.

Callie was very number and structured driven and took an assistant salon director role very early on into her career. That really challenged and pushed her both professionally and personally. She then worked her way up to the salon director position.

Esther is a very creative individual and has a passion to know all the “why’s” in hair. Her consistent thirst for knowledge presented plenty of opportunities. Shortly after Callie entered her new role as Salon Director, she stepped into the Assistant Salon Director position. Soon there after, a teaching opportunity for Education opened. With that being her first love, she started the Educator training and then slowly moved into a Director of Education.

After about 9 years of working for somebody else, we felt it was time to do our own thing. We quickly found a spot to rent and spent countless of hours renovating the place with the help of our loving husbands (Fiancé’s at the time). After literal blood, sweat, and tears, we opened Studio GLOSS May 21, 2023 and haven’t looked back!

We are now proud people of color/women business owners. Because of our very diverse backgrounds and being a part of the lbgtq+ community as well as an ally, we are unforgivably inclusive and have a safe space for everybody. We offer a wide range of hair services from cuts, colors, and extensions as well as self care experiences such as scalp treatments (headspa) and head massages. As much as we love the creative part of our craft, we love the connections we make. It’s like coming to work and hanging out with your friends/family all day long! We have the best job.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A LOT! The most important lesson we have learned is the value of our time and to live in the present. We’ve both been working since we were kids and have had a very ugly relationship with overworking, putting too much on our plates, and not putting ourselves first. Having our own business allows us the work-life balance we deserve. Little us would be so proud!

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

Word of mouth is huge! We know our clients trust us and take our relationships with our clients very seriously.

Contact Info:

• Website: studiogloss.square.site
• Instagram: @studiogloss515
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Studiogloss515
• Other: Person IG @calliedoeshair @estherrutterocc Facebook Callie- https://www.facebook.com/calliedoeshair Esther- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078261367663&mibextid=LQQJ4d