Deanna Everson, owner and founder of Ginger Salon, discusses how she has elevated her now three-location salon to specialize in fabulous.
Ginger Salon was born in 2008, at the height of the United States’ financial crisis. Although I've never been interested in playing it safe, it was a terrible time to start a business. But it was the perfect time to change the hair industry. We wanted to show the west coast that you could create a life-long career path for stylists and be a successful business. We wanted new hairstylists to know they could ask for a better salary, have a better life, and be fulfilled in their chosen careers – with no compromises.
What makes your salon different?
Each Ginger Salon location has just two chairs to make sure we maintain a high quality of service and each client gets individual attention. We're also the first B Corp salon in North America. A B Corp business has to meet stringent social and environmental requirements and make both their local neighborhoods and the world a better place. One of the most important parts of a B Corp is
how it treats its employees: I'm proud that my employees are homeowners, with platinum-level health insurance, PTO that extends every year, and a 35-hour full-time work week.
What keeps you motivated to carry out this mission?
The success of my employees. It feeds into my ego and I'm not ashamed of it. I want my employees to be the primary breadwinners for their families. The more successful my employees are, the better the salon is doing, the better our neighborhoods are doing, and the better our culture is doing.
Where would you like to see your salon in the next ten years?
I'd like to open a fourth location and employ 30 full-time stylists. I want Ginger Salon to be 100% carbon-neutral and start giving matching retirement bene ts to all employees. Finally, I'd like to be successful enough so that my competitors can't ignore what I've done while building Ginger Salon, and, in order to compete with me, are forced to shift their focus from the financial wealth of management to paying their employees a living wage.
Favorite KEVIN.MURPHY product you can’t live without?
My favorite
KEVIN.MURPHY product is
BODY. BUILDER. It is a weightless technology that you can barely feel in your hair and you can use it on anybody. I love it.
Ginger Salon
Three locations in Northeast, Northwest and Southeast Portland, OR.
(971) 267-4080 |
www.gingersalon.com