At just nineteen, Marisa Strazza knew she would own her own salon, and that was that. Beginning from her childhood days, she’s absorbed wisdom from every salon she stepped into. Starting at eleven, sweeping hair at a barbershop, to being a secret shopper at numerous salons, Marissa has collected a wealth of knowledge.
With a passion as strong as hers, we had to get to the bottom of what sparked Marisa’s fire for salon ownership. We discovered that it all began when she started working at her first luxury salon with owners who did not do hair themselves.
“I’m seeing all these problems. I’m seeing the solutions for the problems. I was breaking down all of the numbers, being an advocate for my coworkers, and it was very clear I had a passion for this part as well.”
Today, she has five years under her belt as owner of Rebel, a luxury hair salon in New Jersey that prioritizes training their employees from the ground up in both soft and technical skills. Through her years of learning how to best run a salon, she knows that staying passionate about stylists’ education and keeping that front and center is the key to success.
“The more you know, the more situations you can handle, the more you are well equipped to take anyone in your chair from any walk of life. The more you know, the more you can do.”
In season three episode twenty-one of Volume Up, Marisa takes a seat in our chair and shares her post-beauty school journey and what that looks like for stylists entering her doors at Rebel.
Marisa believes in hiring stylists right after beauty school. She is forever grateful for the opportunity beauty school gave her at a young age and wants to open the same doors for new stylists.
At Rebel, they focus on first building soft skills, recognizing their foundational importance. Then, with classes happening every Monday, you’ll truly have the space to learn all you want and more at Rebel.
“Seeing my assistants, grow into apprentices, and grow into stylists, and taking on new clients, and just hitting those milestones. That is the most amazing gift to see that happen in front of my eyes. And to see them start making more money, and bigger moves in their lives, all because they have learned from the beginning how to succeed in their careers.”
In this episode, Marisa also shares with us how her passion for salon education fuels her long-term goal of creating a beauty school.
Listen to the full episode here or wherever you stream and head over to our Instagrams — @readthetease and @volumeupbythetease.
