We recently connected with Sarah Whitson Katie Keller and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah Whitson, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

We were both freelancing for ourselves and different agencies prior to joining forces and forming our own company. We had some great colleagues we knew individually, and asked if they wanted to join our team. Those first team members are truly so close to our hearts. Many of them have branched out to new locations, started families, started their own companies and product lines… we are always rooting for them. Recruiting now is a little more strategic, as we have multiple locations, and want to ensure we are providing services in a larger service range. Our training has become more specific over time, with a huge emphasis on inclusion and diversity, including styling naturally curly, coiled, kinky, and textured hair, which is often overlooked in a cosmetology school environment.

Sarah Whitson, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We’re Sarah and Katie, and we’re not just your friendly neighborhood makeup artist/hair stylist! We have 20 years of combined experience. Weddings are supposed to be a joyous time in your life, and the last thing you need is additional stress from your artists. We operate with emotional intelligence first, and prioritize all your “feels”, thoughts, and wants. There’s no such thing as oversharing here! We might be making you look amazing, but we’re also here for your heart.

We focus on training our team members to be well rounded, inclusive artists, and host continuing education opportunities on a regular basis. We offer the most long lasting, tried-and-true techniques to ensure your investment in your hair and makeup leaves you feeling fulfilled.

It’s essential for us that our clients get personalized suggestions and services from the stylist on our team that fits them the best. We have a team that is experienced with a range of skin and hair types and tones, as well as a wide range of products, including airbrush makeup and hair extensions. We provide in-studio services at our Chicago location and Tacoma location, and on-site beauty services in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and now, Washington State, Oregon, and the greater Pacific Northwest region.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

We officially formed our business in February 2020. *Pause for dramatic effect* That’s right, the month before COVID hit and everything shut down in Chicago. We really focused on providing support and kindness to our couples who had to reschedule their weddings, and explored innovative solutions and options to ensure our couples could still use our services, thus maintaining our revenue stream, and showed up consistently (digitally and physically, safely) for our couples to make it the best of a difficult situation.

Any advice for managing a team?

People want something real. Empathize when your team has a hard day, check in on them, let them know that you have their back. Nobody will ever be perfect, and human connection will always prove to be the foundation of trust in any working relationship. Being a robot version of yourself, and expecting everyone else to show up as robot versions of themselves, won’t yield warmth and high morale.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://blushandbraidsbeautybar.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/blushandbraidsbeautybar
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/blushandbraidsbeautybar
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/blush-and-braids-beauty-bar-chicago
• Other: Tiktok @blushandbraidsbeautybar

Image Credits

Alana Lindenfeld Photo