Owner of Tenaj Salon Institute & Salon Jaylee

When and why did you decide to rename your beauty school? We’ve been in business for 10 years as The Salon Professional Academy, and there is a group of schools across the country with this name that we are not associated with, so we renamed our school to align with our hair product line, proTENAJ.

What opportunity does the new name present? It gave us a chance to brand ourselves under our own umbrella.

What is the response so far to the change? Our No. 1 clients are our student body, and they were very excited with the new name and the new logo, as were salon clients. Change brings excitement and it brings a new chance to market yourself to students and clients.

What about successes? This year I will celebrate 30 years in the salon business in The Villages. We will celebrate 10 years in the school business, as well. It is a year of reflection, seeing how far we’ve come and where we can go.

What are your plans for the future? To move forward with our core vision. We set out to change the face of the beauty industry by creating a company where people can do well and make a great living for themselves and their family. [Cosmetology] is an honorable profession and should be revered

How do you accomplish this? We are all about education and being ahead of the curve. We train all day, every day. From our front desk staff to our licensed professionals to our educators and students, we are always learning and refreshing.

What is the biggest challenge? The main challenge in the past 30 years has been recruiting and retaining talented and dedicated staff members. Finding people that are like-minded has been an obstacle. We had the need for such professionals and knew that other salons in the area were facing the same challenge, and that’s why we created the school.

What advice would you give other businesswomen? Stick with it! You have to push through the hard times just as you celebrate the good times. You have to persevere. Always know that the hardships or bad times are just learning experiences. They will only make you stronger if you apply them to the future.

Quote to live by? I saw a quote somewhere that stuck with me: “I choose to remember my success and not dwell on my failures.” There are lots of failures along the way but you can’t focus on that; you focus on the achievements and positives. That’s what I choose to do.