Brooke Hansen, stylist and owner of Suite C Salon in Windsor recalls always wanting to be in
the beauty industry and has been since she was eighteen. Self-labeling herself as a “girl’s girl,” she loves the instant gratification of making someone feel good about themselves. Opening a salon fueled her passion to help other stylists grow their talent as well as their client base through education and support. Cultivating a positive environment allows such growth to take place.
Co-owner and Director of Designing Beauty Academy, Jessica Martinac recounts wanting to
attend beauty school after high school. Being encouraged by her family to go to college instead, she pursued a bachelor degree and entered the corporate world, placing her beauty industry dream on hold. After marrying and having kids, she decided it was time for a change and attended and received her cosmetology license from Designing Beauty Academy, the very school she now owns. Jessica is passionate about seeing her students achieve their dreams. She thoroughly enjoys the industry and thinks it’s wonderful that her journey has come full circle since she and her family have stepped into ownership of her alma mater.
Brooke and Jessica came to know each other as a result of having neighboring businesses in
Windsor and forged a relationship because of their passion for the beauty industry. Suite C Salon is a full-service salon specializing in all things hair including extensions, luxury cuts, perms, styles, updos, specialized bonding, and custom color. Whereas Designing Beauty Academy is also a full-service salon, it bears an educational dynamic allowing its students to practice on clients by providing hair, skin, and nail care. Brooke and Jessica enjoy bouncing ideas off of each other and collaborating with one another as Brooke often informs Jessica of the type of stylists her salon may be looking for, and Jessica is able to provide the education and experience to equip stylists to fulfill desired positions. Jessica is very familiar with Brooke’s salon and is attuned to which stylists would be a good fit.
To provide extra education and mentoring to their graduated and licensed students who are
employed, Jessica’s family has just implemented Pro Studio on Main. It helps take stylists to the next level of progress, better prepares them for roles at professional salons like Suite C, and serves as a place they can go for answers to questions they may have. Brooke and Jessica value the partnership they have as it is founded on mutual support and respect. Testimony to such support includes Brooke donating a generous amount of nail supplies to the Designing Beauty Academy when Jessica first took over and including Jessica’s
soon-to-graduate students and stylists from other salons in ongoing education classes at Suite C. They both hope to cultivate that support in an industry that, at one time, was more
competitive than supportive. Brooke shares, “My biggest thing for our industry is to show other people you can work together with other salons. I've been trying to push for referring other people to other salons, working with other salons, and being more supportive of each other, supporting other women in business in general and other women in our industry.” Jessica agrees, “Our school and our business, we consider it our family business. And it's nice to meet people like Brooke of Suite C because it still feels like that - family.”
"I’ve been trying to push for referring people to other salons, working with other salons, and being more supportive of other women in business in general and in our industry." - Brooke Hansen
"Our school and our business, we consider it our family business. And it's nice to meet people like Brooke of Suite C because it still feels like that - family." - Jessica Martinac