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

Alright, Julie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?
I greatly admire the celebrated French chef Eric Ripert. Years ago and in the midst of working through tremendous growth with our family business, I came across an article with an interview of Eric Ripert. In this article he discussed the choices he has made in his career and his emphatic focus on trying to live a life well-balanced and well-lived. He’s achieved tremendous success and acclaim with the restaurant Le Bernardin and the author of the article posed the question: why not push further? Why, the author asked, did this culinary legend not pursue an expanding restaurant empire, choices for new brand growth, and other career chances afforded by his renowned celebrity?

And his answer was profound to me. For Mr. Ripert, he found fulfillment and bliss in his own personal life through achieving a balance between pursuing his best in his professional work (an unmatched record of excellence, awards, and honors for his restaurant and team) and carefully making choices that allowed him the time to enjoy life in other equally meaningful ways. His thought was to celebrate and share in the restaurant’s success with his whole team whom he loved and to give himself time to continue to explore and celebrate life through family, travel, food, and more.

Eric Ripert’s philosophy towards success in work and life have guided and shaped our own journey as Jovie Salon has grown over these past years. Today we enjoy and celebrate our tremendous team through multiple Jovie Salon locations in cities and communities filled with people we love. We have said “no” to extranneous opportunities for business expansion and growth through these years, yet in every instance we did so, we chose carefully with a mind towards achieving our best in our professional pursuits and in reaching a fulfilling balance in our work and personal life.

Julie, 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?
Salon owner. Educator. Runway stylist. Julie Chung has spent the last two decades dedicating herself to natural products, hair health, and high fashion.

I was born in Paris, France and settled into Texas with my family when I was a teen and enrolled in beauty school at age 16. In 2002, my entrepreneurial spirit moved me to open Jovie Salon just outside of Dallas. We now celebrate three beautiful Jovie Salon locations in the cities of Allen, McKinney, and Frisco in the Dallas suburbs. And outside the salons, I’ve been fortunate to work my artistry at more than 60 runway shows for fashion weeks in New York, Paris, and Miami.

I am also a big believer in the importance of scalp health and fell in love with Leonor Greyl’s botanic and natural products. I’ve traveled back to France to train directly at the Institute Leonor Greyl Paris, and with Jovie Salon have introduced LG’s exclusive 11-step hair spa treatments to the Dallas area.

It’s always been really important to me that I work with people who are passionate about what they do and constantly want to learn.… I have always felt, you know, very French in that way. Each member of our team receives more than 120 hours of education and training each year. When we started, we were the first ones to introduce natural and botanical products to the area 20 years ago. I have always carried French brands and lines I felt connected to.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
Jo and I opened our first Jovie Salon location in 2002 and it’s been an incredible adventure since! I met my husband Jo when I came to the U.S. as a foreign exchange student from Paris in high school. We actually met on the varsity tennis team and began dating in high school and when my family moved to Texas. We continued our relationship and later married and welcomed our daughter Celine to our family in 2006.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I believe what has helped me build our business reputation the most in our market through these many years is my trait for stubbornness. Just the idea of starting a new business can be intimidating and scary. You have to be stubborn in your optimism and in your belief in yourself, and to the potential and promise of your new business.

From this stubbornness developed a passion for what we do and what we want to do and in this we threw ourselves wholly into our passion. We really work hard for not just our guests, who are awesome and for which we are so grateful for, but for our team and for each other. The work becomes more meaningful because you really care about the people around you. We remind ourselves that our salon business is really a relationship business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.joviesalon.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/joviesalon
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/joviesalon

Image Credits
All images owned by Jovie Salon