Where We Gather

I didn't grow up with a clear picture of what it meant to be a woman. Raised by my father with two brothers, I had to find pieces of womanhood in the women I worked with, read about, or admired. But slowly, I built a life of intention, crafted with purpose.

As a wife, mother, and business owner, I believe the choices we make, the way we build our homes, the clothes we wear, the meals we prepare, these all shape the lives we lead. It's about creating a space for joy and peace, not by accident, but by design.

We'll explore the stories of people who live life with intention. People who don't wait for life to be perfect, but embrace the beauty and meaning in their everyday choices. Because living a life of faith and beauty isn't something we wait for, it's something we create. And through these stories, we discover new ways to flourish, one intentional step at a time.

There are places you return to, not just because of what's done there, but because of how you're known there. Before anyone arrives, you can already feel it. This is a place built with intention. I have five sisters, all followed in our mother's footsteps. We all became hairstylists pretty much right out of high school, each of us, and we've been working together ever since, and now it's even carried into the next generation where we have our nieces, my stepdaughters, and it's just like a huge family affair.

I feel a mother, in a sense, to a lot of them. We're starting with these women when they're very young, and they haven't even fully discovered who they are yet and what their greatest talents are. When you give them an opportunity and a platform to discover that, you can find little niche areas where they thrive the best.

I think it's just a place to come. To feel comfortable, to feel loved, to feel served, and I often have people come in and they just say, there's just something different here, and I just love seeing new girls, and I'm inspired by the working mothers and the just loving environment that they get to come into. I think the friendships and the relationships are as strong as the service that we provide. Janelle really helps you work towards being a better stylist, shows you what to do, very, very detailed, and that really helps being able to grow as a stylist.

It's just like a loving community. I don't know, it just feels like my second home at this point. I spend more time here than at home, and it feels like, you know, just happiness and peace and a revolving door of love. Honestly, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I love working with my sister. I love the Elle family. Everyone just gets along so well, and it feels Just like a second home. Hello, Jordan. Hi. Hi. Love you. This is Cecilia, my client.

Nice to meet you. We're doing a little refresher on her. Come and meet Cecilia. Hi. Hi. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. One of the things that I focus on when I'm training stylists, to not focus on what you're cutting off or removing, but kind of zooming more into who the human is, who they are as a whole. And when you kind of shift your gears towards that focus, the whole service kind of comes into focus, and you can easier see the potential with that person, their hair, and kind of tap into their emotions more.

The image of the hair is just... So tied to, like, our confidence always. Why were we created with hair in the first place? Like, such a big part of our identity. It's sacred. It's absolutely sacred. So, it's so much more than just a look or, you know, an aesthetic. It's like something from the inside coming out. I've always felt that when you focus on your staff, your team, your employees, and Care for them in a way that, you know, they feel they can find joy and fulfillment at work.

That's going to then flourish into, you know, the experience that they provide for the clients. This work didn't start with a business plan. It started at home. With sisters watching their mother care for people, one chair at a time. So, there's Jamie, and we have Juliet, and then there's Jillian. Jordan is our bubbly little sister.

Growing up with my mom doing it, and all my sisters, it's... I've never known anything else in a way. I always had people to look up to, so it helps me with my own building blocks of life. What would this job be if you worked at a different salon without them? I don't think it would have the same meaning. I love the connection with the clients and making people feel good, but doing it with my sisters is what makes it worth it.

What are some downfalls when people come in and have a hard time communicating what they want for a haircut? Ultimately, the responsibility does, I think, fall on the hairstylist. We should know some of the right questions to ask. To me, it is very evident that, you know, we were created as whole beings. What goes on with the soul is reflected. In the outer appearance. So, when I'm working on the outer appearance, I feel like it kind of reverts back into the inner soul in a lot of ways.

I think that's beautiful because while the customer knows that you're taking care of their body, you yourself know that you're really taking care of their soul by listening and caring for them. That is exactly how it feels. I've been a client here for at least 12 years.

And I'll never forget. Janelle was doing my hair when I was newly postpartum with my first, and just having a really hard time, and crying to her, and now my daughter even comes here to get her hair done. So, it's a total full-circle moment. When I come here, it's not just getting my hair done, it's talking through things, and leaving seeing things, and even my own struggles in a different way. With the way that the salon truly takes care of you and cares about you as a person, you leave feeling more valuable, and you are able to leave more of a valuable impact on whatever your world is around you.

When I'm in her chair. It is so beautiful to watch somebody let God live through them, and their talent shines, because it is not their talent, it is His talent, and they are just glorifying that. And what an inspiration to see somebody who has found her gift from God, but not seeing it as her gift, seeing it as her job to give to the world.

This chair holds more than haircuts. Over time, this salon has become a pillar of the community, a place where people come as they are and leave feeling seen. Janelle, this looks amazing because it actually shapes my face. Right. Really, you got to keep all of the length that was so beautiful already on you, but now it just kind of has like a new like bounce and lift, and you don't have to work as hard to get that shape in it. Yes, it just feels like I feel like you looked at my face, looked at what I wanted, and made it happen.

I love it. I think that's perfect for you. They're coming here for a reason. They could have gone anywhere, so there's some reason why they're coming into OWL or coming back to me. So, I just want them to always feel like they can put their best foot forward when they leave here. I want people to leave feeling loved, because they're going to go out and they're going to spread that to whoever they encounter when they're already feeling positive and loved themselves.

When you're taken care of, you can go take care of the next person. We are made in God's image and likeness, and I believe that the work that we do is just glorifying the beauty that he's already created, and I think that helps restore dignity in people, and I think that when people feel that dignity, they are just better versions of themselves out in the world. So, I believe that there's so much.

Deeper to what we are doing than the surface, but the surface helps people reveal that interior. And I think confidence is something that people have because of God and His glory, you know, but to reveal it is what we get to do.

With, you know, the building of the dignity, with the beauty, it is so easy to get caught up in the industry's lies, in a sense, of, like, it's all about the surface. You know, also stopping yourself from the comparisons. Just almost keep it in your mind to not fall into the vanity.

You know, John Paul II says something along the lines of, like, do what you're meant to do, and you'll set this world on fire. And it seems like you have such a sureness in that this is what you were meant to do.

I think God gives me what I need, you know, to, he supplies me with the energy and the know-how. When people gather, something happens. Stories overlap. Lives intersect, and care becomes habitual. People love having a place that they feel comfortable, that feels almost like they belong here. A sense of belonging, you know, and a sense of family. And so, yes, although we want to give a strong product, I think the relationships are just as strong. A home for people to come to.

We know that the way we look on the outside reflects the way we feel. Your hair or skin can be your, you know, greatest insecurity, but it can also be your greatest confidence. Well, it seems like people come to Elle for their best moments, but also their hardest moments to get their hair done, get their makeup done. Yeah, we've watched people go through, you know, cancer diagnoses, health issues.

You know, shared in all their joys, hear about their travels, hear about their families, people having grandchildren, you know, losing loved ones. Oh, boy, that's a tough one. But you really feel, again, really part of people's family. It's actually kind of beautiful, in a way, to be a part of, like, a difficult moment in someone's life. We don't have a lot of opportunities, you know, in our own lives sometimes to... Lift somebody up in a, you know, dark time or a challenging time, and it brings like a lot of humility, you know, into your life and into your day.

It always re-centers you for your own life. Flourishing doesn't always look dramatic. Sometimes it looks like consistency, like showing up, like caring for who's in front of you, like building a place where people belong.