We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ellery Patton And Becca Brown. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ellery Patton and Becca Brown below.
Ellery Patton and Becca Brown, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?
Becca and I met and became friends while working together at a large salon for 9 years. About half way through our time there, we began to start our families. After the pandemic, a lot had changed and we were ready to take our careers to the next level by going out on our own and starting a small business together to accommodate our new lifestyle. After about 1 year renting a small suite, we were already looking for more space, and after about a year of searching, we came across 1920 Park Ave, and our whole dream came into picture. A space large enough for hair stylists and estheticians to collaborate and co-work together, yet small enough to offer the inviting, professional, cozy and relaxed atmosphere our clients had been enjoying our first two years in business together. Although this dream sounded bigger than what we had originally pictured for ourselves (just 2 moms trying to find the right work/life balance for our families) we felt confident that this was the right path to take because of our loyal clientele and supportive families, who have encouraged us from the very beginning that we could really make this dream into a reality.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
We are co-owners of Grow Hair Co, a salon & spa collaborative space, where hair stylists and estheticians can co-work and offer a variety of services to our local clientele. Becca and I have both been in the beauty industry for 12-15 years, and have been through extensive training to become in-salon educators and lead stylists. We offer customized hair color, hair cuts, and extension services. Our estheticians currently offer facials, waxing, brow/lash services, and spray tans, with medspa services coming soon! Our goal is to provide a space for independent business owners in the beauty industry to thrive and grow together. We take pride in our inviting, relaxed, and wholesome atmosphere, as well as each service provider’s professionalism and knowledge of their craft. Becca and I are both passionate about providing a safe, healthy, and holistic environment for our renters and clients alike, which is why we choose to use non-toxic products in the salon when we can. Our clients love to tell us how much they enjoy coming to see all of us at Grow, and we couldn’t ask for much more than that!
Have you ever had to pivot?
After starting our families and making it through the pandemic in a creative career field, we were faced with the first time we needed to pivot our careers and embark on our journey of business ownership. We wanted to create a lifestyle where we could still enjoy our work that we had always been passionate about, while also being able to be present for our families more. It was not easy leaving a salon that we truly loved and people that we enjoyed being around for about a decade of our lives. A year later, in 2023, we started to outgrow our mini salon and needed more space. Throughout our extensive search for the perfect location, we were faced with many ups and downs. Our hopes were high a few times, only to be let down for unexpected reasons. When we finally found our dream space, we had to pivot from signing a lease to actually attempting purchase the property ourselves. As you can imagine, this created a whole new set of challenges for us to overcome. Once we succeeded and made 1920 Park Ave our forever home, we were once again put in an extremely tight time constraint to open Grow Hair Co. for business. We had a lot on the line and people relying on us to make it happen. We truly couldn’t have done it without the support of our families and our clients being so understanding. We kept pushing through day by day and trusting the process, and we can definitely say it was worth it to see Grow become a reality.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Our goal is to provide salon & spa services to people looking for professional high-end beauty services, without an intimidating high-end experience. We want our clientele to feel comfortable yet luxurious. You can come see us after a work out at the gym or a long day at work, or on your way to a wedding or a date night, and we will be your biggest hype girls. We hope to provide a space where women-owned small businesses thrive working amongst each other. All of us are relatable women who want to help our clients to look and feel their very best, and we’re grateful to be able to make that attainable for them all at one location in our heart of our beloved St. Louis city.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://growhairco.com
- Instagram: growhairco.stl, ellerypattonhair, beccadowshairstl
- Facebook: Grow Hair Co.
Image Credits
Abby Kate Photography