We were lucky to catch up with Gianna Lundgren recently and have shared our conversation below.

Gianna, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My mission and the mission of The Gallery is to create an elevated salon experience that is Artist focused. Providing an exceptional place to work for stylists and support staff organically results in an incredible experience for salon guests. As an Artist myself with 12 years of industry experience, I worked in several different salon environments before opening The Gallery. When I made the decision to open my own salon, my primary objective was to create a salon space where stylists would be waiting in line to work. Because of this, I now have a team of 28 incredible women who are at the absolute top of this industry when it comes to talent, passion and success.

Being an Artist is a career that is centered around building relationships. Based on the many different salons I have worked at, I understand that the connections built with fellow stylists and clients can be filled with positivity, support and friendship, or they can drain you and leave you feeling uninspired. The energy and environment of the salon directly correlates to the moral of the entire team as well as the clients that are being serviced. We all know the feeling of walking into any business where the team is happy, the experience is streamlined and you leave feeling better than when you walked in. That is how I want every Artist and client to feel at The Gallery. It is accessible beauty and luxury for everyone and truly the most incredible place for stylists to build their careers.

Gianna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As crazy as it sounds, I got into this industry as a last resort. I had basically flunked out of community college, I tried aesthetic school and that was a disaster, and found myself working several jobs to get by. I was living in Charlottesville, VA and knew I wanted to get out of that town. I had been to Charleston once a few years prior to moving here in 2012 and had fallen in love with it. My decision to enroll in cosmetology school was fairly impulsive, but I knew I needed to make a change in my life. I began cosmetology school a few days after packing up my life and moving to a one bedroom apartment in Ladson. I didn’t know anyone here and it felt like an exciting fresh start. I met my husband the first week I moved here, so that REALLY made me fall in love with Charleston even more! I wasn’t a huge fan of cosmetology school initially. But I remember my first day in school servicing a real client behind-the-chair and I was totally hooked.

Now 12 years later, I am in awe every day of how passionate I still am about this industry. The connections I have made with clients and fellow Artists are so sacred to me. To me, showing women how beautiful and confidant they truly are will never get old.
I am a formulation specialist, which means I do all color from covering/blending grey to red heads to lived-in blondes to box-color corrections! I love it all. I also am the creator of Pop Locks Hair Extensions; a luxury line of 100% human-hair tape-in and weft extensions. My extensions are available at The Gallery in 35 different shades and 6 different lengths for same-day instillation. Creating Pop Locks is one of the things I am most proud of. The power of extensions is so transformative and knowing I created a line that is so high in quality and accessible is really important to me.

What I would want people to know about me is that being an Artist and salon leader is not my job, it is who I am. It fills my cup and gives me purpose. Watching the stylists at The Gallery grow and find themselves as an Artist is so fulfilling to me. I want them all to have every bit of success I have experienced and more. I am their biggest cheerleader and the fact that these talented women have chosen to trust me as their salon leader humbles me every day. I have spoken to dozens upon dozens of incredible salon owners over the years and learned from so many of them… But I think what makes me unique is that, I have never met anyone who loves this industry the way I do.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In January of 2019, I was 26 years old, a wife and a mom of two boys, ages 1.5 and 4. Our youngest son was going through some health struggles that caused MANY sleepless nights and hospital stays. I was working full-time as a booth-rental stylist (which means I owned my own little salon suite.) My husband had taken a temporary position in Arizona to advance his career, so other than the every-other-weekend he was home, I was essentially a temporary single-parent. We were a few months away from moving as a family to Las Vegas, so I knew that once I got the house packed up, that there would be light at the end of the tunnel. I was overworked, overwhelmed and just trying to keep it together. Then, in the midst of all of the chaos that already was my life, my mother committed suicide. I found myself as an only child, trying to grieve and understand why, all while picking up the pieces of the life she left behind. It was, without question, the hardest time of my life.
I allowed myself three days to grieve. I would see my kids in the morning, and then get back into bed. But really, 3 days is all I could give myself. I did the only thing I knew how to do at that point, and threw myself into my work. I know being a stylist is upbeat and fun, but it was the only time for me that my mind felt quiet. I knew that I could be authentically me, and I truly believe that in addition to the support of my husband, dad and friends, it was my passion for my work that healed me.

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

In April of 2019, my husband and children and I moved to Las Vegas. I had been a stylist in Mount Pleasant at that point for 7 years and it was all I knew. My husband and I made the decision that I would travel back to Charleston once every 3 weeks for about 4-6 days to service my clients. It seemed crazy, but it also felt right. Frankly, no one thought it would last, but when I say I am going to do something, I do it.

For the first several months it was working great, and then I really started to gain some major popularity as a stylist and quickly outgrew my 200SF salon suite. I was double or triple booking clients and I needed room for at least one assistant. I then found a building for sale that would soon become my first salon.

In September of 2019, my husband and I purchased a half-commercial, half-residential building in Shelmore Village. The plan was that I would stay in the apartment when I came to town and then could just walk downstairs to go to work (which was very convenient since I was working 14-16 hour days when I was in town.) So from across the country, I gutted the commercial space and opened my first location of The Gallery a Beauty Studio.

I spent another 3 years going back and forth to that salon before we made the decision to come back to Charleston. It wasn’t easy to be gone from my boys that often, but as I have shared, my work is a part of me that I just couldn’t leave behind. It was long and often grueling hours, but I have never regretted it for a minute.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thegalleryabeautystudio.com
• Instagram: @gianna.lundgren, and @thegallery.beautystudio and @poplocks.hairextensions
• Facebook: The Gallery- A Beauty Studio
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-gallery-a-beauty-studio-mount-pleasant

Image Credits
Nicole Mickle