There are some partnerships that seem almost inevitable. For RoseRoom Salon founders Kate D’Andrea and Amber Munoz, what began more than two decades ago as a pair of young assistants working side by side in a Beverly Hills salon has evolved into a shared career, a thriving Brentwood business and a friendship that has touched nearly every part of their lives. “I just love the trajectory of working together so closely,” D’Andrea says. “We’ve had so much growth together and a shared work ethic. After all these years, it’s rare to find two people still so energetically connected.”
The two met as assistants in the early 2000s and went on the floor around the same time. Back then, stylists at top salons typically specialized, and their complementary talents made them natural partners: Munoz focused on color, while D’Andrea developed her expertise in precision cutting and, later, extensions. “We just kind of partnered up right away,” D’Andrea recalls. “We built each other really quickly.” As their books grew, so did their reputations and a fiercely loyal clientele. “We’ve always gotten along professionally and socially, and we work the same,” D’Andrea says. “We’re always hard workers. We were always there the latest and the longest.” Munoz, who grew up in Orange County, had initially planned to pursue makeup before enrolling in cosmetology school and finding her path in hair color. D’Andrea grew up in Montana and says she always knew she wanted to be a hairdresser. Her parents encouraged her to go to college first, so she did—but the plan never changed. After graduating, she went straight to hair school.
From Beverly Hills, D’Andrea and Munoz moved west to a prominent Brentwood salon, where their careers—and clientele—really took off. Working in tandem, they became two of the salon’s leading stylists, building a devoted following. Eventually, they relocated to a smaller salon on Barrington Avenue in Brentwood Village. By then, their connection to the neighborhood was firmly established, so when that salon announced plans to relocate to Westwood, the pair knew they wanted to stay. They signed a lease for that very space, several fellow stylists joined them and nearly all of their longtime clients stayed with them as well. RoseRoom Salon was born.
D’Andrea and Munoz completely reimagined the space as a light-filled, earthy retreat with greenery, warm brass details and hanging mirrors. Their vision was to pair the level of craft and service they had honed throughout their careers with an experience that felt warmer and more personal. “We really wanted a neighborhood, community-driven place where nobody would feel intimidated coming in,” D’Andrea says, “But we still give them that Beverly Hills service.” Natural beauty became the guiding philosophy, reflected in everything from the relaxed interiors to their approach to hair. Even the salon’s original tagline—“Come as you are”—captured the spirit of what they wanted to create.
The name itself may be the most personal detail of all. Both women are mothers of two, each with a daughter whose middle name is Rose: D’Andrea’s daughter is Idyllwild Rose and Munoz’s is Lola Rose. While searching for a name, they kept returning to the idea of beauty before realizing its most meaningful expression was already right in front of them. “The most beautiful thing is our kids,” D’Andrea recalls. “The name RoseRoom just emerged from that.” The salon opened in January 2020, only months before the pandemic forced salons across Los Angeles to close—a daunting beginning for any new business. But the same westside clients who had followed D’Andrea and Munoz through the earlier chapters of their careers rallied around them once again. “We were really lucky that we had such a huge clientele in the neighborhood,” Munoz says. “They still supported us the whole time.” Through house calls and one-on-one salon visits, they found ways to keep serving their regulars during that uncertain time, eventually emerging from the pandemic with their following intact and continuing to grow RoseRoom into one of Brentwood’s leading salons. “It really kept us going,” Munoz says.
That relationship with the neighborhood remains central to RoseRoom today. “The loyalty of Brentwood is outstanding,” D’Andrea says. Even a client she has seen every two months for 20 years gets a consultation when she sits down. “We treat them like a new client every time,” she says. That philosophy—never assuming, always listening—extends throughout the salon. D’Andrea teaches her team that a great consultation should take in the whole person: her style, makeup, profession, lifestyle and, most importantly, what she wants from her hair. “It has to be a collaboration,” she says. “They know their hair better than I do. So let me learn.”
Today, RoseRoom has grown into a team of stylists, assistants and front-of-house staff, but D’Andrea and Munoz remain firmly behind the chair. Munoz’s color work centers on seamless, natural-looking results, with particular attention to hairlines, hair health and color that grows out beautifully. “I like it to enhance your natural features,” Munoz says. D’Andrea brings the same precision to cutting and extensions, favoring subtle details and a natural approach over dramatic transformations. That commitment to craft is passed down through a rigorous in-house training program, where assistants may spend up to two years learning before earning a chair, with regular color instruction from Munoz and cutting classes from D’Andrea. “We have very high standards,” D’Andrea says. “We want to make sure when they go on the floor, they’re going to stay.”
That same attention extends to the RoseRoom experience, with services ranging from color, cuts and extensions to blowouts, hair smoothing treatments, makeup and styling for weddings and special occasions. During the holidays, the calendar fills with parties, family gatherings and events, and D’Andrea and Munoz add festive touches of their own. RoseRoom’s holiday giving tree is hung with cards that clients can select for little surprises, gifts and prizes—a playful “Secret Santa kind of thing,” as D’Andrea describes it. Behind the scenes, the founders are equally focused on making sure the salon never feels hectic. They rely heavily on their assistants and front-of-house team and continually look for ways to elevate customer service, from keeping stations immaculate to ensuring each client receives individual attention, even on the busiest days.
More than two decades after first meeting as assistants, D’Andrea and Munoz have developed their craft, raised families, weathered a pandemic and built a business together. Through it all, D’Andrea says, they have remarkably never had a serious dispute. That ease between them has also helped shape the culture around them. Their staff genuinely likes one another, their clients feel comfortable and many of those relationships now stretch across decades. “I think you project that onto our staff and our clients,” D’Andrea says, while Munoz agrees that the dynamic is part of what makes the salon feel so good to the people who walk through its doors.
For D’Andrea and Munoz, there is plenty to be thankful for: the friendship that began when they were young assistants, the team they now trust to carry their standards forward and the clients who have stayed with them through every chapter. “We have a lot of support from our staff too,” Munoz says. “We trust them completely.” What began with two young stylists building each other’s books has evolved into something much larger, with RoseRoom as the fullest expression of what they have been building all along.
RoseRoom Salon
142 S. Barrington Ave.
424-293-2644
roseroomsalon.com
“We really wanted a neighborhood, community-driven place where nobody would feel intimidated coming in. But we still give them that Beverly Hills service.”