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Up & Comers: Sharing Your Voice And Making Money
Tracey Pearson was the prissiest tomboy ever. She loved sports and one of her favorite pastimes was picking up style trends and tips from movies. She'd comb the credits to see who did the makeup. When she was nine, Pearson poured a little peroxide into her mascara and put red streaks in her best friend's hair.
by Allison Shirreffs
January 1, 2007
Twenty years later and her training vastly improved, Pearson and her husband Erik Pearson own Soda Salon & Gallery, designated “Salon of the Year” by both Salon Today and Modern Salon Magazine. The structures (in Roswell and Glenwood Park) are part salon, part art gallery and part entertainment space. And the stylists do more than work at the salon. They work in movies, on photo shoots, television shows, and behind the scenes at fashion shows.
“Our stylists have created styles. They're not just behind a chair copying them,” says Pearson. In fact, earlier this year, Pearson, her husband and another Soda stylist worked with fashion designer Michael Kors' styling team during New York's famed Fashion Week.
Pearson has been Deborah Kumpitsch's stylist for seven years. Although Pearson's schedule books up quickly these days, Kumpitsch, an account coordinator at MarketSource, Inc., believes Pearson is worth waiting for. “She's very good at what she does and she makes everybody feel comfortable,” says Kumpitsch, even though Pearson nags her when Kumpitsch trims her own bangs.
One of Pearson's big things is education. There are apprenticeships and ongoing education programs to make sure her staff is up to date. She also teaches Soda's stylists the aspects of running a business. “They're unique in the salon world,“ says Jennifer Kujawa, a senior stylist at Soda. “We can grow our own careers and grow with Soda. They give the stylists a great environment so they'll want to stay.”
With Soda for three years, the 24-year old stylist is enamored with the environment the Pearsons have created. According to Kujawa, the staff is encouraged to come up with class ideas. Kujawa designed a custom color chemistry class that she now teaches to other stylists. Not only does “for sale” art work adorn the walls, each stylist is a member of at least one of four teams: art, education, networking or charity. The salon's charity work has had an impact on Soda's staff.
“It's opened up my eyes to my level of responsibility,” says Kujawa. “When you're a young stylist, your main goal is to make money. Here, you not only make money, but you can share your success and your voice.”
There's a reason Pearson is big on charity. Growing up in Atlanta, Pearson described life as “ stable and happy.” There were regular Sunday dinners with her extended family. She earned a full ride to play softball in college. But when she was 17 years old, her father fell into drug addiction and “we lost it all,” says Pearson. “All the sudden the cars were repossessed and the house foreclosed on.”
Rather than pitching her way through college, Pearson stayed with her mother, who was later diagnosed with cancer (she died in 2003). Pearson had to learn to take care of herself. She became a paralegal and worked on real estate closings. She learned the power of investing money and creating equity. She bought her first condo when she was 21 and her first house at 23.
When she was 20, she met Erik, a hair stylist who did a lot of work on movie and TV sets. Pearson started working with him at night and on weekends.
She made the leap to full-time stylist when she was 21. The pair got married. When she was 24, Pearson had a son. The Pearsons left another salon and opened Soda's Roswell location in 2003. And they did it all with very little money.
“No one wants to give you money when you start a business,” says Pearson. They used the equity in their house to get small loans. “We had to learn to survive on nothing to run our business.” Although she wouldn't wish her late-teenage years on anyone, they fortified her and taught her how to live in lean times.
The Glenwood Park Soda opened in late 2006. Much like its predecessor, it's an open and airy place. Art hangs on the walls, and the eight workstations are totally transportable and can be moved when the salon/gallery hosts charity events.
Pearson considers operating her business on a budget to be her biggest challenge. Her advice to those who would like to open a salon of their own is to be expected: “Learn the budget; save money; work on building your assets,” she says. “And don't start a business unless you have a nest egg-something to begin with and to fall back on. And stick with it.”
Away from the salon, Pearson and her husband are still a team. “We're completely the 50/50 couple,” she says. They bounce ideas off each other, inspire each other and help with their now five-year old son.
What's next for Soda? Right now, Pearson wants to ground the business's system and marketing and build on what's already there. She'd like to expand the business's charity component by starting the Soda Foundation in 2007. “I really want to give back,” says Pearson.
