We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily Katz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.

Emily, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Day to day the world can seem like a tough place, but there’s also so much kindness in the world and we think talking about that kindness helps spread it and make the world a nicer, kinder place. Can you share a story of a time when someone did something really kind for you?

My husband and I had been married for a few weeks when we found out he had testicular cancer. I am a hairstylist, and at the time, I was working at a booth rental salon owned by three incredible women. Booth rental means you pay the owner rent every month, and you run your business out of their space. Taxes, inventory, creating your clientele, marketing, etc… After discovering the diagnosis, my husband and I went into shock and survival mode. We didn’t have the brain capacity to come up with ideas on how we should live our lives during this time. We couldn’t think. One of the owners, Krystle, told me to stop coming into the salon and go sit with my husband in the hospital and that I wouldn’t regret that. They all gifted me a month of free rent at the salon. I still can’t talk about this without getting teary-eyed. I needed someone who could zoom out and look at the bigger picture. I was doing what I knew how to do… work. And they encouraged me to take time off and be with my husband. I think about this alot. 7 years later, my husband is cancer-free and healthy! But i’ve repeated those words to clients and staff. You won’t regret taking time off to be with someone you love during a hard time. Now I have a salon and an incredible staff, I strive to lead like that with empathy and encouragement to guide people to make moves they might not have made.

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

My name is Emily Katz, and I own Goldust Studios, a salon in Chicago! I started doing hair because traditional school was hard for me. I was scared to go to college. After working as a receptionist at a salon in high school, I knew this was it. A career with a blend of art and people.
Goldust was created like many businesses because the environment we wanted to work in did not exist. Who is we?! My best friend Kelly and I. We met in beauty school and started an on-location beauty service, called Goldust Woman. She does makeup, and I do hair! After years of working on location, we wanted to work in the same shop.
I am passionate about using cleaner products that don’t have synthetic fragrances and less harsh chemicals. This is impossible to do if you do color in a salon, but there are safer practices that I wanted to implement. Our shop is really homey. Inspired by a shop I used to work out of in NYC its tucked away in an arts loft building, we have a kitchen island, because who doesn’t feel most comfy around one of those? Our stations are also all on wheels, so we can use our space in a variety of ways. It’s never just about hair, and we wanted a place to share with our community and provide a place where people felt comfortable to literally let their hair down and have a transformative self-care moment. We specialize in hair that makes people happy, which could mean that a cut is air-dryable and we teach someone to love their curl, or a fully styled blowout. We want people to know the why and the how to get to a style or hair goal. We also don’t sell products in our shop, so there is no pressure to purchase on-site, but we do send you home with a list and links to purchase if you like how they feel in your hair. Artists get direct commissions for these sales. We never double book, so the client and artist get full attention. We can do this because our stylist charge by their time. Each of them has an hourly rate, and we are gratuity-free.

We opened in 2019, just three months before COVID; this shaped my framework for owning a business. I quickly got used to change being constant and uncomfortable. I have pivoted our business model completely. I used to be shy to talk about this because it initially felt like a failure. I opened a booth rental salon, and that model worked for a while, but then didn’t. About 2 years ago we switched to a model that combined the flexibility and freedom of booth rental with the commission pay structure. This allowed me to purchase products that aligned with my values and grow a team of very talented, interdependent stylists. It also allowed me to hire more stylists than stations since people chose their hours and don’t work every day. I am really grateful for both experiences and how they helped shape the other. I feel strong at doing hair, I’ve been doing it for nearly 14 years, but the business owner thing! I am only 4 years in, and it’s important to keep that front of mind and be open to being a beginner and the growth that comes with starting something new!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

( I talked about this in the last post! )

We opened in 2019, just three months before COVID; this shaped my framework for owning a business. I quickly got used to change being constant and uncomfortable. I have pivoted our business model completely. I used to be shy to talk about this because it initially felt like a failure. I opened a booth rental salon, and that model worked for a while, but then didn’t. About 2 years ago we switched to a model that combined the flexibility and freedom of booth rental with the commission pay structure. This allowed me to purchase products that aligned with my values and grow a team of very talented, interdependent stylists. It also allowed me to hire more stylists than stations since people chose their hours and don’t work every day. I am really grateful for both experiences and how they helped shape the other. I feel strong at doing hair, and I’ve been doing it for nearly 14 years, but the business owner thing! I am only 4 years in, and it’s important to keep that front of mind and be open to being a beginner and the growth that comes with starting something new!

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I want to start this by saying I acknowledge my privilege in doing the things I have been able to do in my life. Money is weird to talk about, and I think it’s important to do so to make it less weird and less scary.

It was a slow, slow, slow anti-climatic process. I didn’t know what I was saving for until I was 25. When I was 19, A stylist I worked with told me to save $20 of my tips every day I worked. It wasn’t possible every day; sometimes it was less, and sometimes it was more! But it planted the seed and helped me keep track of some of my tips/cash. When I opened my salon at 27, I saved $50-75, 5 days a week.

I also put about 10k on a credit card with 0 interest for the first year and paid those back before the interest kicked in. My dad is a carpenter; his crew included me, my husband, and my best friend! We did everything but plumbing and electricity and painting the cabinets. It was so challenging and fun. I remember that time fondly; it was the most time I have spent with my dad in my adult life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.golduststudios.com/
• Instagram: @golduststudios

Image Credits
Anna Zajac Britt Teasedale